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A
statement in the Dallas Morning News attributed to Mayor Donna Arp
on Sunday, October 28 said that the city studied the area’s
traffic flow in 1998. She
said they dropped the ball by giving the responsibility of design
and implementation to Realty Capital.
Records show that the city approved the median design in
the Developer’s Agreement signed by Mayor Arp on June 20, 2000.
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Remaining median
continues to block
businesses on East side of Hwy 26
from Glade Rd
through Pleasant Run
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Former
Councilman Steve Helling said that the 1998 council was not
instrumental in this decision.
He added that to see who is responsible one only has to
check the Developer’s Agreement between the city and the
developer that was signed by Mayor Donna Arp in June 2000, in
which the median was authorized.
Serving with Helling on the 1998 council were Donna Arp,
Frank Carroll, Nelson Thibodeaux, Ginny Tigue, and Mayor Richard
Newton.
LNO
has published numerous articles pertaining to the medians since
they first became a problem in August.
A number of businesses and citizens have criticized the
medians, saying they harmed their businesses and gave preferential
treatment to the Village development.
Even with the removal of a portion of the medians, some
businesses are still blocked from southbound traffic.
A number of citizens have attempted to make U-turns at the
Glade Road/Highway 26 intersection; however the turn radius only
works for some vehicles.
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A Jeep makes
the U-Turn at Hwy 26 & Glade
to travel north bound the week
the medians
were first installed. The median section
from
Glade to Pleasant Run remains.
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Documentation
explaining the chronology of the medians has previously been
published on LNO. Recently
an additional document was discovered and provided to LNO by a
former council member that was not provided to LNO by the city in
response to an open records request for all documents pertaining
to the medians. That
document was in a city manager’s weekly packet provided to all
council members on November 19, 1999 during Arp’s first mayoral
term, and was titled “Proposed Access to the Village at
Colleyville” on the cover memorandum.
A memo from Bob Whitehead, former Director of Public Works
for the city, to city manager Bob Stripling included the following
comment. “Staff has
discussed the median issue with the developer in light of the
potential funding of SH 26 improvements.
The developer is proceeding to design temporary medians for
SH 26 to enable the intersections to function fully as designed.
The developer realizes that the temporary medians in SH 26
will be at his cost. Staff
will work with the developer and TxDOT to allow the medians unless
directed differently.” A
letter from Parsons Transportation Group referencing a status
report for the preparation of a median concept drawing was also
attached.
Click here to see a copy of the
memo.
Click
here to see page 1 of the letter.
Click
here to see page 2 of the letter.
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Median remnants of asphalt remain as an
outline of the serpentine
barrier.
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Council
members previously stated that there was a 1998 study calling for
meetings with business owners about the medians. They attempted to
blame the 1998 council and former Mayor Richard Newton for failing
to hold those meetings. Emails
to Mayor Donna Arp, Councilman Brad Rice and Councilman Joe Hocutt
requesting copies of the study calling for those meetings have
received no response. Click
here to see copies of the emails to council.
The first reference to holding meetings with business
owners concerning the medians was in a TxDOT letter to Parsons
Transportation Group, the firm hired by the developer to design
the medians, dated December 10, 1999.
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