While most Cibolo residents and merchants fronting Main Street support the idea of reconstruction and widening the roadway, they fear the project itself may be too much of an inconvenience, swallow a swath of private property for sidewalks and even worsen drainage problems.

As a result, Cibolo city officials are considering slightly reworking plans to rebuild Main Street.

“But the thing is we need to move forward. The street belongs to 12,000 people, not just the 20 or 25 homeowners who front it,” Mayor Pro Tem Mark Winn said Oct. 9 in response to comments made at a recent public forum about the project. Winn added the project is necessary to improve Cibolo’s overall infrastructure and business district.

Many critics said plans to acquire rights-of-way for a 36-foot-wide street between FM 78 and FM 1103 and a 5- to 6-foot sidewalk on one side may prove costly. Mayor Jennifer Hartman suggested a 36-foot-wide road may not be necessary — and could even be counter-productive — to the vision city leaders have about transforming old downtown Cibolo into a family-friendly, mixed-use hub of activity.

“This is a fairly straightforward design. It has the community feel we’ve been wanting for a long time. And when the town center comes to fruition, hopefully that and downtown will be incorporated nicely,” Hartman said.

“But it’s a quality of life issue,” she said, adding, “I agree with Mark (Winn) about going forward and I’m considering citizens’ concerns. Downtown is not just for them. It belongs to the entire city. We shouldn’t, however, ask for the greatest width. Many other cities show they’d like traffic slower in downtown so it can be more pedestrian-friendly. Yes, let’s get it done, but let’s do it right.”

City staff and engineers said the planned center-turn lane could stay put, but bike lanes would be implemented only if feasible. But residents and merchants also said they would like to see existing trees saved and perhaps more trees added.

Council members agreed to have staff and engineers work with the existing available rights-of way and plan for a continuous sidewalk on one side of the street.

A second concern is drainage. City Manager Todd Parton said the city will strive to ensure that the project will not negatively affect properties in the long run and that the plan to drop the road surface elevation by one and a half to two feet will result in an adequate channeling of any overflow of rainwater toward Town Creek. The city also plans to eliminate any bar ditches.

Another major issue is how to phase in construction, which city officials now say could take anywhere from 18 to 24 months to complete, including moving of utilities and the consideration of inclement weather. Utility providers were to meet last week about the city’s project ground rules.

“It would be a more expensive project if we block of whole parts of the road at a time. It’s still inconvenient if we just have detoured traffic, but we can get people in and out of their homes and businesses, but it could take as long if not longer,” Parton said.

Council members urged staff to keep residents and merchants fully informed in a timely manner about detours, hours of construction and other warnings throughout the project’s duration. Additionally, staff and engineers also must work out details such as traffic controls and signage for an improved road.

The reconstruction of Main is the final major project from the 2007 bond issue. Council expects to award a construction bid by year’s end on the $1.8 million project, and hopes to start construction by late January.