By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
A county resident who has been an outspoken critic of the city’s plans for a second international bridge on Tuesday reacted to Val Verde County Commissioners Court’s latest vote on the bridge.
The court, during its January regular term meeting, voted 3-2 to oppose the city’s current plans to build a second international bridge and its accompanying connector routes northwest of Del Rio.
photo from April 2024. Grace on Tuesday reacted to a vote by county commissioners
court reaffirming the court’s opposition to any bridge location and connector routes north
or northwest of Del Rio. (Photo by Karen Gleason)
But one commissioner, County Commissioner Pct. 4 Gustavo “Gus” Flores, reversed his earlier vote to oppose the construction of a bridge northwest of Del Rio, saying he had “changed his mind,” and that he believed the county would “waste a lot of time and money fighting this.”
Flores added that Las Brisas Boulevard, northwest of the city limits, and an overpass over U.S. Highway 90 in the same area, had been constructed with plans for a second international bridge in mind.
Flores’ change of heart vote drew the ire of at least one county resident, Jon Grace, who has been a resident of a residential neighborhood northwest of Del Rio for about 20 years.
Grace, along with his wife and a handful of other residents from that area, have faithfully attended most meetings of the commissioners court, Del Rio City Council and the city’s international bridge board, frequently speaking during the citizen comments portion of those meetings to express their opposition to the city’s plans.
After Tuesday’s commissioners court meeting, Grace emailed the following statement to The 830 Times in response to a request for comment on the court’s vote:
Grace wrote: “We are extremely disappointed that the Precinct 4 commissioner has flip-flopped on his vote for agenda item #15 (discussion and possible action on second international bridge) during today’s county commissioners meeting. This means that there are now two members of the court who support the city of Del Rio in its decision to locate the second international bridge upriver (of the existing bridge), near the maquiladoras.
“We are dismayed that anyone would be in support of displacing families, bulldozing homes, taking land from people and destroying a residential neighborhood just because they are in the way of a four-lane connector highway for the second international bridge.
“We do not understand the amount of disdain that some people have shown towards the residents of Precinct 3. Almost every parcel of land along Las Brisas Boulevard was zoned as residential use only, so it seemed safe for the landowners to build a house in this neighborhood.
“Since this second international bridge and the four-lane connecting corridor have been in the planning stages for the last 20 years, Val Verde County should have originally zoned these land parcels along Las Brisas Boulevard as commercial or industrial, thereby easily avoiding the conflict that we find ourselves in today.
“I am asking the Val Verde County Commissioners Court, Val Verde County residents and the community at large for their continued support to have the second international bridge relocated to a downriver location, where an international bridge will actually make sense. This downriver location will not displace any homes, any families, or any neighborhoods and could bring prosperity to the entire county of Val Verde, the state of Texas and the United States,” Grace wrote.
County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. during Tuesday’s meeting also voted against the motion to oppose any second international bridge location other than one south of Del Rio and the existing bridge.
County Commissioner Pct. 3 Fernando Garcia, County Commissioner Pct. 1 Kerr Wardlaw and County Commissioner Pct. 2 Juan Carlos Vazquez voted in favor of the motion to oppose the city’s current plans to place the bridge and its connector routes northwest of the Del Rio city limits.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com.
