Fort Bend County officials approved the designs and cost estimates for the expansion of three Katy-area roads, but not without debate and a final vote of 3-2. The dissenting court members focused on a $6
million overrun due to right of way issues. The funds were not included in the 2007 mobility bond election.
In a special workshop included in last week’s court session, three engineering firms had representatives seeking approval from the court for the road designs and costs. All of the roads being discussed lie in the jurisdiction of Precinct 3 Commissioner Andy Meyers near Katy.
Prior to the actual presentations, both County engineer Jesse Hegemier and Precinct 3 County Commissioner Andy Meyers said when a mobility bond planning committee formulated the bond package a year ago prior to taking the referendum to the voters, committee members understood that the price tags
they came up with were for the design and construction of the projects and purposely did not include the costs for right-of-way acquisition nor utility line relocation.
Precinct 4 County Commissioners James Patterson vehemently disagreed.
“(The) county judge (Bob Hebert) was chair of that committee and I was assistant chair of that committee. That discussion didn’t go on,” Patterson said. “So don’t put yourself in a bind because we have to go out to buy somebody’s house and we’ve got to move a million dollars worth of pipeline. We
can’t ignore it. So don’t say what the committee said without asking at least the chair and assistant chair.”
However, County Judge Bob Hebert stood by Meyers and Hegemier, saying there was no way to project the costs of right of way and therefore the committee did not recommend inclusion of those costs in the amounts put to the voters. He further explained that the bond issue had fixed amounts the
county committed to for the “partner” projects with the cities but chose to deal with additional right of way costs “as it came up.”
“We intentionally didn’t create a big amount of money towards the right of way and utilities based on lack of knowledge of what those costs would be,” Hebert said. “But I don’t believe anybody on the committee anticipated that there wouldn’t be (additional) cost there.”
Patterson questioned Keith Neshyba, an engineer with Chiang, Patel & Yerby, on the need for 9-inch thick concrete paving for Katy-Flewellen, believing six inches would suffice. Patterson asked him what that design was based upon. Neshyba said the thicker concrete was for truck traffic anticipated
on the road. Patterson wasn’t convinced there is sufficient truck traffic to warrant the thicker material. He said mostly school traffic drove the roads.
Patterson honed in on the proposed 30-foot wide median for Katy-Gaston, comparing it to 14-foot-wide median planned for the other two projects. With the Jacobs design, Katy-Gaston would be enlarged to 100 feet wide. Meyers said the proposed 30-foot width was basically a continuation of the other
medians in the area, which are also that width.
“We are looking at a shortfall of $1.6 million from the bond issue for this one project,” Patterson said. “A 14-foot-wide median is a wonderful, safe median. Our bond is about safety and mobility. A 30-foot median is not about safety and mobility.”
Precinct 2 County Commissioner Grady Prestage suggested that acquiring substantial right of way now would address future needs and that was important because the northern portion of the county is experiencing and will continue to experience substantial growth.
Precinct 1 County Commissioner Tom Stavinoha said he agreed with Patterson on the 30-foot median being for looks rather than safety.
Patterson stood his ground, saying “We are at $6 million we don’t have anywhere, so I’m going to vote against this.”
“I don’t think we are going to save $6 million just by narrowing the median. You can vote against it if you wish. That’s fine. That’s your privilege to do so. When we make a promise to our voters we need to keep it. We need to keep our promises. The reason we are here today is because this wasn’t
addressed (at the time of the bond referendum) and now is not the time to complain, “ Meyers said, obviously agitated.
“Then just remember, when we get to Harlem Road , and we don’t have any money to build it, then our promise goes up in the wind,” Patterson said.
Hebert, apparently tiring of the dispute, said “Well, I will vote for it. We intentionally didn’t vote for specified right of way funds and it is now up to us to work our magic and get it done. We will get it done,” he said.
Votes for the Greenbusch and Katy-Flewellen projects were approved unanimously, but Patterson and Stavinoha voted against the Katy-Gaston design.
The three roads -- Greenbusch, Katy-Flewellen and Katy-Gaston -- are among 47 projects in the $156 million mobility bond package voters supported in May of last year.
The expansion will include a 2.7-mile segment of Greenbusch from Falcon Landing to Pin Oak, a 1.5-mile stretch of Katy-Flewellen from Katy-Gaston to Pin Oak, and a 1.7-mile section of Katy-Gaston from Cinco Ranch Boulevard to FM 1093. The roads are currently “two-lane rural” roads and they will
be upgraded to four-lane “boulevard” style roads complete with divided medians, curbs and gutters.
