Woodlands Parkway extension focus of heated road bond forum

FROM CONROE COURIER  Catherine Dominguez | Posted: Thursday, April 2, 2015 11:16 pm

While the topic was the road bond as a whole, the discussion quickly turned to a single project that has remained at the forefront of the bond’s list of 77 projects. The proposed $22 million extension of Woodlands Parkway from FM 2978 to Texas 249 continues to divide residents and county leaders.

Former State Rep. Steve Toth, Montgomery County Tea Party Board Chairman Ken Vaughn and The Woodlands resident Laura Fillault all urged voters to cast a no vote on the bond, noting the extension would dramatically increase traffic in The Woodlands and increase debt too much for the county. The three also claimed the bond was only a “patchwork” of fixes and the county should go back to the drawing board to develop a more comprehensive plan for the mobility future of the county.

“Who builds 80 percent and calls that mobility?” Fillault said. “The county has no overall plan.”

However, former Township board member and chairman of the Montgomery Road Bond Steering Committee Nelda Blair, former Oak Ridge North mayor Joe Michels and County Judge Craig Doyal asked voters to get the facts and be aware of scare tactics being used to pit voters against the extension and, ultimately, the bond.

“In the next 20 years, expect the county to double in population,” Doyal said, adding the projects on the proposed bond address mobility needs where the county is already behind following the failure of a $200 million road bond referendum in 2011. “We need to be preparing for it today. To think we are not looking ahead is false.”

Doyal told the crowd of about 100 people the county has had a major thoroughfare plan in place for more than 30 years that included the Woodlands Parkway extension.

“We have got to take care of the growth coming,” Doyal said, adding that if the county doesn’t build every north, south, east and west corridor it can, “we are shooting ourselves in the foot.”

Opponents of the extension have contended the county should not pay for a road a developer should build. One audience member questioned Doyal about what he and the developers would gain personally by building the extension.

Doyal pointed out that developers who own the property on the west end of the extension do not need the extension to develop the property since the tracts both have access to Texas 249 and Dobbin Hufsmith Road. Doyal added that the rights of way for the extension have been purchased by the county up to Dobbin Hufsmith and no further because the developers have agreed to donate the right of way from Dobbin Hufsmith Road to Texas 249 and construction of the road.“We are not going to spend money on developer property,” Doyal said.

Toth called Woodlands Parkway an “abysmal mess” and said traffic is often bumper to bumper. However, he said the residents of Magnolia need FM 1488 fixed more than they need the extension.

“To call (the extension) an additional corridor for the people of Magnolia is a disservice,” Toth said. “They need FM 1488 fixed once and for all.

“(The extension) is not a solution to the people of Magnolia.”

Blair reminded the audience that the bond is not about one project or one community.

“This is a county, not just a neighborhood, not just a community,” she said. “This is an entire county of half a million people who are your neighbors.”

Blair pointed out the bond has critical projects included, like addressing the intersection of FM 1774 and FM 1488 in Magnolia, widening Rayford Road in south county and widening Texas 105 in east county.

“(Rayford Road) will be denied along with 76 other projects if we do not pass this bond,” she said. “I would like to open your minds and open your hearts … to listen, to really listen, even if you came here with your mind made up. At least listen, because there are scare tactics out there that simply are not true.”

Early voting begins April 27 and runs through May 5. Election day is May 9.