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By David DeKunder
Staff Writer After serious discussion, the Cibolo City Council Sept. 23 decided not to go ahead with a proposal in which the city would have taken all or parts of the maintenance of Loop 539 from the Texas Department of Transporta-tion. Instead the council directed City Manager Todd Parton to seek a potential municipal maintenance agreement with TxDOT that would allow the city to make improvements to Loop 539 as it relates to its $2.7 million Main Street reconstruction project, which is expected to be completed in June 2009. Main Street intersects with Loop 539 at the corner of the City Municipal Building. The improvements Cibolo wants to make at the intersection include putting in curbs, gutters, pedestrian crosswalks and possibly street lighting, and to make it handicap accessible. As part of any potential agreement, the city would assume full responsibility for maintenance and repair work on any improvements it makes to the state road. The possibility of the city taking over Loop 539 came about as part of the discussions with TxDOT over the city’s request to make improvements to the highway. Loop 539, which is eighth-tenths of a mile, starts at one point of FM 78, goes through downtown Cibolo and past the City Municipal Building before ending on the other side of FM 78, which bypasses downtown Cibolo. Parton said a stumbling block on the city taking over Loop 539 is the drainage and flooding problems concerning Town Creek, which flows underneath the FM 78 bridge, east of the City Municipal Building, and the Loop 539 bridge, just west of the municipal building. “If we were to take this (Loop 539), TxDOT would have to step up and address the drainage issue,” Parton said. Parton said TxDOT has considered the possibility of making drainage improvements if the city would agree to a timeline in which it would not take full responsibility of Loop 539 until 2010. The city manager said the state highway department is considering hiring an engineering consultant to look at the drainage issues and recommend options. Over the last year, the highway department has made a couple of repairs to the road, including major repairs to the Loop 539 bridge, single-course seal coat, base repairs and striping. Taking over the maintenance of Loop 539 would provide some benefits for the city, Parton said to council members. “The advantages are Cibolo would have the control and access for Loop 539,” he said. “We would be able to design and improve Loop 539 to the standards of the city of Cibolo. The design and construction of Loop 539 could then be consistent and specific to the standards of the old town Cibolo concept.” Parton said the disadvantages are the city would have to find the funding and manpower for the highway’s upkeep. “We would have to take over the mowing, maintenance, drainage, base repair and re-striping of the roadway and the maintenance of the (Loop 539) bridge,” Parton said. Mayor Pro Tem Mark Winn said the city does not have the resources, both financially and manpower wise, to take over the maintenance of the road at this time. “No question,” Winn said, “some day I want this road in our city. It just doesn’t seem reasonable to take in this road now. We don’t have the money for it.” Councilman Ron Pedde said if TxDOT were willing to meet the city halfway on the drainage issue, he would favor the city taking over the road as soon as it could. “I see this as a golden opportunity,” Pedde said. Councilman Dick Hetzel said Cibolo has too many other projects, such as Main Street, that it has dedicated resources and money to and that it cannot afford to take over the highway right now. “If we take this on we are asking for trouble,” Hetzel said. Winn said TxDOT will offer the highway to the city at any time, which means Cibolo could consider taking it over in five to six years when downtown is developed and the city has more revenues in its coffers. In other business, the council heard from Tex Farnsworth, chairman of the city’s Street and Drainage Commission, and Parton about clarifying the limits of a school zone located on Borgfeld Road between Dietz Road and Main Street. Since the new Wiederstein Elementary School opened on Borgfeld in August, there has been confusion from some motorists as to where the school zone ends and begins, especially since another school, Dobie Junior High School, is located at the intersection of Dietz and Borgfeld. Parton said the city is going to rework the signage that should clarify the boundaries of the school zone to motorists. Once funding is available, signage that informs people not to use their cell phones during school hours will be put into place. |
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