By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
City council members recently took another step in a project to construct a sidewalk along more than a mile of North Bedell Avenue.
The council during its July 14 meeting voted 6-0 to approve a resolution authorizing and directing Interim City Manager Manuel Chavez “to execute an advanced funding agreement of $2,300,000 with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) for a 2025 Transportation Alternatives Set-Aside Project.”
Mayor Pro-tem Randy Quinones asked for a motion after City Secretary Mari Acosta read the heading of the agenda item, and Councilwoman Carmen Gutierrez made the motion to approve the resolution, with Councilman J.P. Sanchez giving the second.
Quinones asked Chavez to give the council more information about the project.
Chavez told the council, “This is actually an exciting project. Staff has been working with TxDOT on trying to get to this point. Michael Garcia (assistant to the city manager and city grants writer) has been working directly with them and can provide a more detailed explanation on this particular project.”
Garcia said he and the city’s public works department staff, including Public Works Director Greg Velazquez, have been working on the project for six months, meeting with TxDOT officials, basing their priorities on comments from citizens and deciding to apply for TxDOT’s Transportation Alternatives Set-Aside Program.
Garcia added the project will be 100 percent federally funded.
Gutierrez said, “It is 100 percent funded. It is a reimbursement, though. How are we going to get reimbursed? Are we going to submit as the work is progressing or how do we get reimbursed?”
Garcia replied, “That is correct. It will be on a reimbursement basis, so for us, we have to spend the funds, and then we will submit a reimbursement payment to TxDOT, they will review and if everything is correct, then they will send the funding back.”
Gutierrez asked, “So this will be as the project is ongoing, not until end, right?”
“That is correct,” Garcia said.
Chavez asked Garcia to speak about the area where the project will be carried out.
Garcia said, “This project has two different segments. This project is to construct sidewalks along the right (east) side of North Bedell Avenue. The first segment begins at West First Street on the right (east) side of North Bedell Avenue and ends at Dotson Avenue. The second segment begins at U.S. Highway 90 West along Braddie Drive and also ends at Dotson Avenue.”
Garcia said the project will be for 7,610 linear feet – about 1.3 miles – of five-foot-wide sidewalks, adding, “This project will include ADA ramps and crosswalks at intersections to ensure accessibility.”
Quinones asked Garcia to clarify what he considered the “right” side of North Bedell Avenue, and Garcia said the sidewalks would be placed “on the hospital side,” the east side, of the street.
Councilman Leno Hernandez Jr. asked, “Will the citizens who live along (Bedell) be notified as far as when the work is going to happen and what type of impact it might have on their property?”
Garcia responded, “Yes, sir, they will be notified. At this point, and once we execute the contract, the public works staff and myself will be attending different trainings and once we conduct those and get that process finished, then we will start notifying the citizens and property owners that live on that side, so they will know about what is the timeline when we will begin construction so they know exactly the process this project will entail.”
Hernandez said, “I just want to make sure there was adequate communication with them, because I have received some discussions from some folks who live on that side of the street that want to make sure their properties are going to be okay.”
Velazquez added, “That’s always a concern, just like the Highland Subdivision. We have right-of-way in that area, just as we do in most subdivisions in the city of Del Rio. When Michael brought this to me, the AFA (Advance Funding Agreement)… we want to develop a connectivity network between Highway 90 and Highway 90, and being that this is a centralized—I call it the medical area—you have elderly folks, you have low-income housing, and you also have the hospital people, the workers, the employees, and then you also have connectivity going to Walmart, so we wanted to create that connectivity. We veered off to the right on Dotson because we just didn’t have enough space past Dotson, so in the future, we want to see if we can connect that piece, but… we don’t have that much right-of-way on Bedell, but we have a plan in the future for coming in and expanding that street; however, it’s very limited.”
Velazquez added the city will put out public service announcements before the start of the project, adding he would also be willing to host a meeting with area residents.
Councilman LeRoy Briones asked Velazquez how the sidewalk project would fit in with Val Verde Regional Medical Center’s plans to construct a second building south of the existing hospital.
Velazquez replied, “I’d like to give you an answer to that… I haven’t seen their site plan in regards to if they’re going to remove that head-in parking. It would be ideal to eliminate that head-in parking, because you have a lot of traffic moving through that area. If they were to, let’s say, make it a fire lane, that would be great. Then I come in with a tapered sidewalk and meet the ADA requirements.”
“So that sidewalk would be running right through their parking lot,” Briones said.
“That is correct, and it will connect to those apartments,” Velazquez replied.
Briones asked, “Are they (the hospital) aware of what we’re planning on doing?”
Velazquez replied, “I’m not sure if they are aware because, like I said, I haven’t seen the site plan, so I don’t know.”
Sanchez added that the sidewalks would be constructed on city right-of-way, not on the hospital’s property or on private property.
Quinones asked if there were any more questions, and hearing none, called for the vote. The council unanimously approved the motion.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com.
