(ROCKWALL, TX — May 29, 2018) During the Rockwall County Commissioner’s Court regular meeting last week, Commissioner David Magness announced the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) and TxDOT’s LBJ East project has been approved by the Regional Transportation Council and Texas Transportation Commission and will move forward into a design/build contract.
The project calls for the reconstruction and widening of IH 635 from US 75 to IH 30 (a distance of 11 miles known as LBJ East) to five general purpose lanes, two dynamically tolled managed lanes, and two to three frontage road lanes in each direction. To provide lane balance transitions, the managed lanes near IH 30 will be reduced to one in each direction. The project will also reconstruct ramps, frontage roads, cross street bridges, and cross streets. The proposed frontage roads and cross streets will provide continuous sidewalks and shared-use lanes for bicycles.
The project will also include the reconstruction of the IH 635/IH 30 direct connecting interchange and some improvements to IH 30. The estimated cost of the project is $1.8 billion. A visualization of the project can be found here: https://youtu.be/xrfjYc-Ubr0
“The project should stop that queuing up all the way back to Belt Line Road that we see every single time we go through there. It’s really a great event for that to be approved and to get started for those who drive it,” Magness said.
Magness said the IH 30 projects through Rockwall County will not be affected by this project, other than that it will allow the county to move forward in securing funds for the IH 30 service roads project across the lake.
The Commissioners Court also unanimously approved an Industrial Park located at SH 276 and Blackland Road. The park includes 10 buildings for industrial/office space on a six-acre tract of land.
Rockwall County Environmental Health Coordinator Ron Merritt addressed the court on using one septic system to tie together all of the buildings at the park.
“I did a little research in other counties that have had this same situation. We’re always worried about buildings being sold separately in the future. We can file an affidavit that no building can be sold separately without the approval of this court. I think that will allow the septic system and all buildings to be tied together under one common owner, and can never be sold to anybody individually,” Merritt said.
“Really if you think about it, even if they sold the property it could never be developed without a septic system of its own, and certainly they wouldn’t sell the septic system they installed,” Magness said. “I don’t see any problems with this. Between the documents that Ron has, the logic of our subdivision rules and regulations and the on-site service system, I think we’re good to go.”
Merritt said he believes one septic system can handle all of the buildings.
“In an office industrial setting like that, it’s about 10 gallons of water per day, per employee. I can permit up to 4,900 to 5,000 gallons a day, so it won’t be anywhere close to that,” Merritt said.
The Commissioners Court also approved donations received by the Rockwall County Library in the amounts of $14,500 and $11,600 to go towards specific programming laid out for the Friends of the Rockwall County Library, as well as a mural project the Friends of the Library will do with the teens and a local artist. The donations will also go towards the Reading for Adults program for tutor training, scholarships for testing, and materials including 12 laptops equipped with Windows 10.
In other action, the Commissioners Court unanimously approved:
– an agreement with PropertyRoom.com to provide online auction services for the Sheriff’s office unclaimed/abandoned and forfeited property
-Amendment Number 01 to the Department of State Health Services Cities Readiness Initiative Grant Program
-an Interlocal Agreement with the Emergency Services Corporation for use of the Rockwall County Interoperability Radio Network
-the adoption of a special budget for grant money in the amount of $35,173.22 from the
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) pursuant to Section 111.0106 of the Texas Local Government Code
The Commissioners Court’s next regular meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 12, 2018 at 9 a.m. The Commissioners Court meets on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month on the third floor of the Historic Downtown Courthouse (101 E. Rusk St., Rockwall, TX 75087). Meetings are open to the public.
Submitted press release.
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