FULSHEAR Thursday, October 15, 2009
It was a meeting with all the players, and many of the ‘stakeholders’: Mayors and Mayor Pro-Tems, and some Aldermen from Fulshear, Weston Lakes and Simonton, Fort Bend County Precinct 3 Commissioner, Andy Meyers, TxDOT Engineer Jim Hunt, Fulshear Economic Development Director Cheryl Stalinsky, Major Area Land Developers well as concerned cititizens and news media. The newly re-decorated conference room was packed for the long anticipated discussion about three important ‘Mobility’ projects that will have a direct impact on everyone in the room.
Mobilty is important to Fulshear and the surrounding cities of Weston Lakes and Simonton because growth is not just coming – it’s here. The increased traffic from developments of Weston Lakes, Fulbrook, Fulshear Creek Crossing, Cross Creek Ranch and others east of Fulshear are forcing the County into action. Without improving the roads from the center of Fulshear to the Grand Parkway, traffic in our neck of the woods will become a mobility planners nightmare. Some have said that acting now is still years too late. Any more delay will only allow costs to rise and thus lessen the ability of the ‘stakeholders’ to pay for the projects.
Doug Konopka, developer of Fulshear Creek Crossing seemed to point his finger at Weston Lakes for hindering the alignment when he suggested that they should participate financially, saying ”I feel like I’ve been crippled in this process here because I’ve been held up and not permitted to construct “Fulshear Trace” because of the current alignment of the intersection which benefits Weston Lakes probably more than anybody, quite frankly. And, if the Weston Lakes folks who are now a city would like to have a bond referendum and raise funds and, you know, donate funds to this project, I think that would be tremendous. But, the fact is, I’m the guy being held up because of the folks to the west and I’ve been held up for three years now and I like cooperating every way I can. I just don’t want to be delayed anymore. So, I’ve also committed a significant amount of money and I don’t feel that I should have to commit any more funds to this…”
Later in the meeting, Mayor Zdunkawitz responded to Mr. Konopka, “…Mr. Konopka has said that maybe the cities would be contributing to this. Well, I’m gonna tell you, I barely met my budget this year, I’m a newly incorporated city”, “I’m just going to let you know that we’re behind you, …I have talked to TxDOT about it. We are the biggest contributor to the traffic down this highway right now. But, I don’t have the money…I live in a community that was split over the incorporation because they didn’t want any taxes and any bond issue…this is where I am. Andy Meyers responded “We understand that and we are not looking for…Fulshear, Simonton, or Weston Lakes, you know, to make any contribution to this, because we understand that you’re not like…some of the other cities that have large retail operations from which they generate a significant amount of sales taxes which certainly goes a long way to covering a lot of your expenses. You have none.”
So what are the projects? (listed in order of construction reality)
- Straightening out the intersection at FM 1093 and FM 359
- This project will likely happen first – construction start is likely 12 to 24 months away.
- Total Project Cost is estimated at 2 million dollars
- Project will be paid for by Doug Konopka, Fort Bend County and TxDOT
- Widening or FM 1093 from Fulshear to the Westpark Toll Road
- This project will likely happen second, time frame is unclear. Construction will not happen for at least 2 years
- Currently estimated as 4 lanes with an esplinade. Currently 6 lanes are being considered
- Project Cost, currently pegged at $39 million to be paid with TxDOT Pass-Through Financing
- Fort Bend County will coordinate and pay for construction and be reimbursed over a 10-12 year time frame at a rate of 7 to 10 cents per car per day. So, this section is actually a type of toll toad.
- Extension of the Westpark Toll Road
- This is the biggest “‘if” in the entire mix.
- Engineering and Environmental Studies are not yet started
- Easements and right of way’s have yet to be procured
- Some of the “stakeholders” have backed out leaving a $10 million dollar gap for the county to make up for.
Many people have heard about the project to widen FM 1093 from the Westpark Toll Road entrance a Grand Parkway. However many still don’t know that there are actually three projects on the table. Fort Bend County Precince 3 Commissioner Andy Meyers has long been considered “The Mobility Commissioner” because his precinct is among the fastest growing precincts in Fort Bend County. So, mobility has been a high priority for him. The trouble is, convincing the other commissioners to agree to spend the prescious few dollars available to Fort Bend County roads in precinct 3 has been a tough sell. Still, Commissioner Meyers has done a respectable job of anticipating growth From Katy to Fulshear and Simonton and direct funding to as many projects as possible.
While money is one thing, time is quite another. The process of building or expanding roads is intentionally slow. Commissioner Meyers doesn’t paint rosey pictures when talking about time frames. Although he acknowledges “we would like to get started as soon as possible”, he points out that property owners rarely want to make land available for roads – even though they will benefit from the improved property values which accompany road improvement. In a perfect world, property owners would donate easements for road improvements. In the not-so-perfect world, property owners would be willing to sell the easements for a fair price without hesitation. But we live in the real world where some property owners dig in and force the county to either pay a higher than marker price or force the sale through the County’s right of ‘Eminent Domain’. However, this is the last resort and the price of ‘condemning property can only begin after all other roadblocks (no pun intended) have been eliminated. The largest of these ‘roadblocks’ is the requirement for Environmental Studies. Apparantly, if the county can buy the easement, it can forego the environmental studies and construction can begin much more rapidly. This will not be the case with two of the three projects along FM 1093.
Then, there’s the process of environmental study. This process must be completed before
Why has it taken so long for the County to do anything about FM 1093?
If FM 1093 is a State Highway, why doesn’t the state pay for expanding it?
Don’t Toll Roads pay for themselves? Why is it so difficult to bring the Westpark Toll Road closer to Fulshear?
We pay road use taxes when we buy gasoline – to the Feds and to the State of Texas. Plus, we pay for roads when we pay our annual vehicle registration fees. Where’s the money?
Doesn’t TxDOT build Texas Roads?
I thought the 26.9 million dollars was going to pay for the new toll road?
