By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Proposed roadway routes and other infrastructure needed for a planned second international bridge will be the focus of a joint meeting of the Val Verde County Commissioners Court and the Del Rio City Council.
No date and time have been set, but county officials said the meeting will likely be scheduled for the first week in December.
Commissioners court members discussed meeting with the city about the planned second international bridge during their regular term meeting Tuesday.
County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr., though he has spoken in support of a second international bridge, has expressed reservations about the roadway routes being proposed between the bridge site and U.S. Highway 90 and State Loop 79.
County property owners who live in area near the proposed routes have also voiced concerns about how those proposed roads would affect their properties.
One of those property owners, Cookie Gulick, attended Tuesday’s commissioners court meeting and voiced her concerns during the citizens’ comments portion of the meeting.
“Ms. Gulick turned in a citizen comment form, but didn’t want to speak, so I will tell you her concern is on the second international bridge. The proposed route that goes from the bridge back to the industrial park would cut through the middle of her property, and what she is saying, she’s concerned with the amount of traffic that would go through, for one. She believes it would be unbearable, and this ranch, her property, has been in her family for more than 100 years,” Owens told the court and audience after opening the citizens’ comments portion of the meeting.
“And she is totally against the proposed route that goes from the second international bridge through (her) property, alongside the airport and to the Industrial Park,” the county judge added.
Owens said there was an item on the court’s agenda to set up a joint meeting between commissioners court and the city council about the bridge and the proposed routes, but noted that meeting probably won’t happen until the first week in December.
“We have been, I guess blindsided would be a kind word, by what they’ve done, the way they’ve taken off on this. There’ve actually been meetings between Commissioner (Beau) Nettleton and (the city’s) consultants. We had discussions with Mr. Sheedy, the city manager, and nothing was supposed to have been sent out until the city and commissioners court had a joint meeting, so everybody could sit down and listen and try to discuss which way we were running. Then there was a letter sent out (to property owners), and we didn’t appreciate that,” Owens said.
Owens said the joint meeting will be held at the civic center, and the public will be invited and will be able to voice their opinions and ask questions.
After Owens finished speaking, Gulick said she was also concerned about the valuation of her property and worried aloud that she would no longer be able to keep cattle on the ranch if it was to be bisected by a major roadway.
The court voted unanimously to contact the city and try to set up a special joint meeting in early December.
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