The countywide transportation committee charged with making policy and project recommendations to all local municipalities came to a consensus on its draft policy recommendations, including the hot-button issue of eminent domain.
While the policy draft has yet to be published for public review, committee members expressed plans to release the document to open the policy for public input once all the most recent changes have been made. The approval of the committee’s overall pol
The approval of the committee’s overall policy recommendation came after much dialogue on how to address the issue of eminent domain – the topic that many have pointed out was a major catalyst in forming the committee of residents in the first place – and several tweaks to the policy were suggested during the meeting last month before consensus approval.
“The committee had extensive conversations and received much public input in respect to the use of eminent domain by the city of Boerne, the city of Fair Oaks and Kendall County to facilitate expansion of existing intersections or roadways or the construction of new greenfield roadways,” Evans read from his drafted policy amendment at a meeting last month. “Eminent domain is a controversial topic for citizens and the county. And concern lines drawn on a map through property can result in property being taken by the government has caused distress.
“The committee strongly believes the construction of new greenfield roadways should be the absolute last option; not the first choice in meeting the county’s mobility needs, and alignment should be selected in such ways to minimize eminent domain.”
While Kendall County, Boerne and Fair Oaks Transportation Committee member John Kight, who has been involved with transportation planning in the city for decades, had a heavy hand in the subcommittee that drafted the policy recommendation, he took issue with some wording in the latest draft.
One of the sections in the draft policy urged local municipalities to maintain more rural and suburban roadways to preserve the unique Hill Country environment. However, Kight said the committee’s charge was not to maintain a rural atmosphere but to address congestion, which he said should be the committee’s priority.
“We’ve long lost – we’re not urban, we’re in the city of Boerne and their ETJ, and we’ve got all kinds of traffic problems,” Kight said, recalling a trip to a doctor’s office where Herff Road had traffic backed up to Old San Antonio Road. “And trying to maintain a ‘rural atmosphere’ is I don’t think what we’re trying do to. We’re trying to solve our (traffic) problems.”
While committee Co-chair Don Durden wasn’t directly opposed to all of Kight’s suggestions, he did note that some of the roads in the county are still rural where residents want to retain that character, reminding Kight the committee is working across Kendall County rather than just in Boerne.
Committee member Bitsy Pratt noted the policy addresses improving intersections to improve capacity on roads rather than making major changes to roadways. So, she said the two ideas don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
“So, we can in a sense maintain our rural character even within the city, Boerne, because it is in partly rural in origin,” Pratt said. “We don’t have to create this big honker boulevards to accommodate some of the traffic until we’re proven wrong over time in 30 to 40 years from now. For now, in the next 20 years, I think we can improve intersections and take care of the capacity problem.”
Pratt also expressed concern about the Kendall County commissioners’ involvement when the city of Boerne plans roads or infrastructure in the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction, which is the area outside city limits where cities retain some planning power.
While committee member Bobby Balli, who represents the perspective of a city of Fair Oaks Ranch resident, said there is already a public involvement process established by state law with public notices and hearings, several members of the public and the committee have voiced that such requirements don’t always lead to the most public involvement. In the end, Pratt’s suggestion was added to the committee’s policy.
Beyond all the changes identified and approved, Balli volunteered to restructure the document, noting some organizational issues.
The committee is expected to meet at 2 p.m. Tuesday, June 21, at Boerne City Hall.
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