Is there a way to make suggestion on which roads the city need to fix? The city has been doing a lot of street re-surfacing after implementing the roadway maintenance fee, but mainly on roads that already look quite alright IMO.
txgardengirl said:
Are you referencing the roadway fee that starts billing in December?
I'm pretty sure repairs you are seeing now were funded long ago - and many of them are being done in order to make repairs to what is under the road...
What really needs to be done is improvements to Rock Prairie and Wellborn. They need to add half a lane to both sides of the road (or one lane to one side, depends on how they can get right of way). Use it to lengthen the left hand turn lane (tearing out some more median to the east to do so) and perhaps add a second left hand turn lane on the east side, and for the west side, the crossing can be reconfigured to allow three lanes crossing the railroad and two lanes able to go east across Wellborn. Also, add a median to prevent Old Wellborn from crossing Rock Prairie, with an alleyway linking Aggieland Lighting with Wellborn Road Vet for access.MeKnowNot said:
My suggestion:
Make Rock Prairie Road east-bound two lane for another ~100 feet between the Valero and the Scott & White Hospital Entrance.
It would have been a simple project to take care of while they were doing all the other Rock Prairie Road improvements that would have greatly enhanced the safety and traffic flow for minimal additional cost.
Good point. If we can't fix all the roads, we really should not fix any of them. That would be the fairest thing to do for everyone!TLIAC said:
I imagine that everyone would have great suggestions.......based on the roads they use most. Meaning what is important to one citizen, won't necessarily be important to another citizen. That would pretty much be a no win situation.
Too bad the taxpayer has to foot the bill for this. We had the opportunity for Weingarten/Walmart to pay for these upgrades years ago but we ran them off...PS3D said:What really needs to be done is improvements to Rock Prairie and Wellborn. They need to add half a lane to both sides of the road (or one lane to one side, depends on how they can get right of way). Use it to lengthen the left hand turn lane (tearing out some more median to the east to do so) and perhaps add a second left hand turn lane on the east side, and for the west side, the crossing can be reconfigured to allow three lanes crossing the railroad and two lanes able to go east across Wellborn. Also, add a median to prevent Old Wellborn from crossing Rock Prairie, with an alleyway linking Aggieland Lighting with Wellborn Road Vet for access.MeKnowNot said:
My suggestion:
Make Rock Prairie Road east-bound two lane for another ~100 feet between the Valero and the Scott & White Hospital Entrance.
It would have been a simple project to take care of while they were doing all the other Rock Prairie Road improvements that would have greatly enhanced the safety and traffic flow for minimal additional cost.
Maybe they can do all of this in conjunction with four laning Rock Prairie Road West and Holleman Drive South.
Really, you know good and well that is not what I was saying. I will add that many of the roadways that people are listing here are TxDot controlled roadways so blaming COCS is blaming the wrong entity.MeKnowNot said:Good point. If we can't fix all the roads, we really should not fix any of them. That would be the fairest thing to do for everyone!TLIAC said:
I imagine that everyone would have great suggestions.......based on the roads they use most. Meaning what is important to one citizen, won't necessarily be important to another citizen. That would pretty much be a no win situation.
Correct. The following are TxDOT roads, and coincidentally the ones everyone complains about:TLIAC said:Really, you know good and well that is not what I was saying. I will add that many of the roadways that people are listing here are TxDot controlled roadways so blaming COCS is blaming the wrong entity.MeKnowNot said:Good point. If we can't fix all the roads, we really should not fix any of them. That would be the fairest thing to do for everyone!TLIAC said:
I imagine that everyone would have great suggestions.......based on the roads they use most. Meaning what is important to one citizen, won't necessarily be important to another citizen. That would pretty much be a no win situation.
Quote:
The property owners would have to participate in the cost of construction of the new street.
Except that those people didn't ask to be annexed and they didn't ask to pay city taxes. They purchased homes outside the city limits without city taxes. When the city CHOSE to annex them against their will and collect taxes, they took on the responsibility of extending every courtesy that has ever been extended to any resident, including the courtesy of providing curb and gutter streets and sidewalks to meet city standards. The city did provide these before they began expanding beyond what they could afford. If a city doesn't want this responsibility, they need to stop taking people's property or stop taxing this land until all city services and infrastructure is in place.Vox Humana said:
If the residents on that road want it to be upgraded to add curb and gutter, storm drains and possibly sidewalks, those residents should have to pay part of that cost. Those improvements do not benefit the citizens at large but do benefit the residents who want those improvements so the citizens at large should not have to pay for the entire cost of those improvements.
That is incorrect. Renee Lane was annexed in 1995 [http://www.cstx.gov/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=15483] but still retained its rural look and feel for a number of years afterward. (Around 2005 this started to change, when a portion of Renee was removed for Santour Court and the houses around it). The newer houses closer to Barron Road were built around 2007 or later.agnerd said:Except that those people didn't ask to be annexed and they didn't ask to pay city taxes. They purchased homes outside the city limits without city taxes. When the city CHOSE to annex them against their will and collect taxes, they took on the responsibility of extending every courtesy that has ever been extended to any resident, including the courtesy of providing curb and gutter streets and sidewalks to meet city standards. The city did provide these before they began expanding beyond what they could afford. If a city doesn't want this responsibility, they need to stop taking people's property or stop taxing this land until all city services and infrastructure is in place.Vox Humana said:
If the residents on that road want it to be upgraded to add curb and gutter, storm drains and possibly sidewalks, those residents should have to pay part of that cost. Those improvements do not benefit the citizens at large but do benefit the residents who want those improvements so the citizens at large should not have to pay for the entire cost of those improvements.
NOW it is, but it didn't used to be. The city didn't always use debt to pay for infrastructure. They would use the taxes they collected from existing property taxes to build more streets. Then when houses got built, they used the extra tax revenue to build more streets, all while not carrying debt and paying interest on that debt. Not fair to take their land, force the city's prior poor decisions on those residents, and then ask them to pay for the city's incompetence and inability to pay for proper infrastructure.Vox Humana said:
The City (citizens at large) does not extend the curb and gutter courtesy. If your house is on a street with curb & gutter it was paid for by the owner of that house. The cost of development of that street was included in the lot price when it was sold to the builder.
Of the existing houses on Renee, there are only two houses on Renee that predate the annexation (these are both small houses on large lots), and only one other predates 2006 when the street began to be redeveloped. I can't find the thread but the developer was supposed to make improvements to Renee when he built the 17 close to Barron Road, but didn't. Annexation really has nothing to do with it.Vox Humana said:
When the city CHOSE to annex them against their will and collect taxes, they took on the responsibility of extending every courtesy that has ever been extended to any resident, including the courtesy of providing curb and gutter streets and sidewalks to meet city standards.
The City (citizens at large) does not extend the curb and gutter courtesy. If your house is on a street with curb & gutter it was paid for by the owner of that house. The cost of development of that street was included in the lot price when it was sold to the builder.
Annexation policies, past and present, are a whole different conversation. One where we might agree.
Okay.Oogway said:
Say, for clarity in communication perhaps use quotation marks (" insert text here") when copy and pasting from earlier posts written by others. There is a quote function, but quotation marks work too and help those of us who would like to ensure that we understand the point/view/expression that someone is trying to make. Thanks!