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Fate of Stacy Road project in Fairview's hands
Kelsey Kruzich / Staff photos -- The Texas Department of Transportation, city of Allen and town of Fairview have been working for more than four years to expand Stacy Road east of Highway 5, pictured here at Greenville Avenue, to four lanes. Fairview, however, has requested the project be re-designed to require less property acquisition from the town's residents. TxDOT says if the town doesn't get on board with the project as is it likely won't happen at all.
By Conner Hammett, chammett@starlocalnews.com
A project that would expand Stacy Road from two lanes to four could be put on hold indefinitely if the Fairview town council chooses not to approve a right-of-way agreement for the plan next week.
Planning for the project goes back more than four years. Environmental clearance has already been granted, and the schematic was unveiled to residents at a public hearing held in Feb. 2011.
But since January, the town has been requesting that the Texas Department of Transportation, the agency overseeing the project, look into redesigning the project schematic such that it would require less property acquisition from Fairview residents.
While enough right-of-way has already been purchased for a four-lane expansion, designing for an ultimate six lanes of traffic would require more right-of-way be taken from the north side of Stacy due to a North Texas Municipal Water District water line on the south side of the roadway.
Fairview Town Manager John Godwin said while the plan makes sense from an engineering perspective, it's a hard sell for residents who may be losing part of their property for construction that hasn't been fully planned yet.
"Our council is concerned that they're buying right-of-way from people's yards that they may or may not ever use," he said.
The town's alternative proposal has been to narrow the median, allowing the two lanes to be built from the inside and taking the additional right-of-way for two future lanes out of the equation.
But any change to the plans would require new environmental studies for the revised plans and another public hearing -- a process that could take up to three-and-a-half years, said TxDOT engineer Barry Heard.
Even if the stakeholders were willing to wait, the federal and state money that funded the first studies won't likely be at their disposal the second time around, making TxDOT less than enthusiastic about the idea of redesigning the project.
"We have worked on a cooperative effort with Allen, Fairview and Collin County, and it's not something that we have kept from Fairview," he said. "They've been involved with the project for a number of years; greater than 5 years, I know."
It is now up to Fairview whether or not they wish to proceed with the project as it stands today. The town council will vote Tuesday on an agreement which authorizes the funds for the town's 10 percent share of the right-of-way costs for the project.
If the agreement is approved, the construction schedule will continue as planned, with about two-and-a-half years of property acquisition and utility clearing coming ahead of the construction start date, Heard said.
John Baumgartner, engineering director for the city of Allen, said going back to the plans now would be a complete redirection of what the stakeholders have been working hard to complete over the past four years.
"This has been in a pretty extensive planning operation," Baumgartner said.
Godwin, meanwhile, said the town's preference for a four-lane-only plan has never been a secret throughout the planning process, and said the council passed a resolution in favor of that program as far back as September 2009.
Heard, for his part, is still optimistic that consensus will be reached and the project will continue as planned.
"I think it's going to work itself out," he said.
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