Vision 2020 Infrastructure committee members are looking beyond curb-to-curb pavement in developing a roadway to the future, according to committee chairman and Lufkin city manager Paul Parker.
"We need need to be promoting ourselves as green, clean and safe; and this overall plan will help us do that," said Lufkin Mayor Jack Gorden.
Joel Andrews/The Lufkin Daily News |
The Whitehouse Drive extension project will open another access point to the Wal-Mart shopping complex as well as allowing traffic to bypass the college area and relieve U.S. Highway 59 congestion.
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Joel Andrews/The Lufkin Daily News |
The Whitehouse Drive extension project will extend Whitehouse Drive from U.S. Highway 59 south to Farm-to-Market Road 819.
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For example, in developing plans for a bridge that will span existing wetlands for the Whitehouse Drive extension behind the Wal-Mart complex, Parker said the traditional plan included no room for foot traffic or cyclers. Then Ellen Temple, who recently joined the committee in an effort to "green" up the vision, suggested plans include room to implement such a walkway to connect to the future Hurricane Creek Trail. Now, Parker said, plans include such details.
Parker said he expects this extension project, intended to relieve U.S. Highway 59 congestion, will wrap up by the end of 2008.
The committee is looking at all aspects of infrastructure from transportation routes for walkers and bikers to roads and bridges, and from water and sewer to communication lines, he said. Ideally, they would work closely with the gas and electric companies as well. However, since deregulation, joint cooperation in local projects by utility companies in recent years has been limited, he said.
Where utilities have left a gap, nonprofit organizations like The Conservation Fund have stepped in to offer insight on implementing the infrastructure plans in a green friendly manner, said Temple.
The community is invited to attend a meeting at Crown Colony from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. on March 5 to discuss green infrastructure ideas about a Green Infrastructure Plan with The Conservation Fund experts, said Temple.
"The Vision 20/20 Infrastructure Committee supports the development of the plan," which Temple said should be completed by September. "It won't sit on the shelf, but will serve to guide our communities' decisions in the years to come."
However, the individualized Green Plan will cost about $60,000, half of which The Conservation Fund would fund. The other half would need to be raised locally, Gorden said.
"I firmly believe this plan can be used as a tool to help us get grants related to green infrastructure," he said, referring to Texas Parks and Wildlife grants that would enable the creation of new trails. When applying for such grants they would be able to use the plan and saying the study has already been done with community support. In the long run, he said the county and city will see benefits from projects like Cassels-Boykin County Park.
"The Green Infrastructure Plan is a practical step that the community can take for a greener future. The plan will capture a vision of how we can link existing and new spaces together, how we can enhance access to the Neches and Angelina Rivers and Lake Rayburn, how we can enhance our urban creeks and streams and open spaces to make the most beautiful and healthful county in Texas!" Temple said. "Growth and beauty can develop side-by-side. Angelina County and its cities, Lufkin, Diboll, Hudson, Huntington and Zavalla, are blessed with natural resources. We can sustain and enhance our abundant natural assets to build an even more beautiful and prosperous community. With a plan to guide us, our communities will make it happen."
Both Pct. 1 Commissioner Rick Harrison, who serves on the committee, and Angelina County Judge Wes Suiter say they support the green infrastructure concept.
"I really like the idea of green infrastructure," Harrison said. "Not only will it help our atmosphere, it helps aesthetics. Instead of clearing off an entire lot for a parking lot, leave a few islands for trees."
Harrison said would love to see the community protect and promote the "gorgeous" old growth hardwoods he grew up hunting and fishing in along the Neches River hardwood bottomlands.
Suiter said his first experiences with green infrastructure while working in city management in the San Antonio area was a positive one.
A certain percent of any construction had to be left natural, he said.
"And it looks good," Suiter added. "Everything is going that (direction) and grants will probably look at (this aspect) more and more."
Developers were required to build subdivisions around green-belts that have done a lot to prevent flooding and help drainage, he said.
"Anytime you put asphalt down you have to provide somewhere for the water to go," Suiter said.
The main thing Lufkin has that it needs to preserve and protect as the city grows is its trees, Gorden said. Earlier attempts to do so will need to be strengthened by a city ordinance.
"If we didn't have trees, man it would be like the Sahara Desert here," he said. "All these years we've taken them for granted. Now we need to protect them, and create an environment where trees and growth can co-exist. They have to be friends with each other."
Another aspect of the Vision 2020 infrastructure committee is smart growth.
This entails making the best use of land with utilities already in place, such as vacant lots in old neighborhoods or shopping districts, Parker said.
"Instead of continuing to go out and building more suburbia, we'll look for ways to encourage use of existing infrastructure," he said.
In place of the unsightly cow-trails — where those who travel to work, health care or school on foot have worn paths through the weeded byways of highways like the ones along Frank Avenue — the group is developing a series of trails and sidewalks connecting the neighborhoods, old and new, to each other, to business and health centers, and to schools.
In the short term, Parker said their infrastructure plans include the rebirth of downtown through the anticipated the redemption of the Old Pines Theater and the Angelina Hotel.
Also, there is the need and hope for a visitors' and convention center constructed in shopping/hotel venue south of town that feature trails of its own, Gorden said. A place to inform visitors of all that Lufkin and Angelina County has to offer, see and do, said Gorden.
In the long-term plans, it includes the nuts and bolts of beefing up the city's water plan and possibly regionalizing it, he said. The city is continuing to buy up right-of-way for its pipeline to Lake Sam Rayburn water which will provide the city water in the future, he said.
Out in the county, Harrison and Suiter agreed that a master plan is needed for future commissioners to follow in order to improve and maintain roads and bridges.
"It's like any other business, we need to plan ahead," Suiter said.
To date, the county has never before developed a master plan, he said.
"We are working with (Deep East Texas Council of Governments) for funding for a master plan for the county," Suiter said.
The county recently funded a $25,000 master plan for the airport, he said estimating that a plan for the entire county would probably cost more.
"We need to have something, some guidelines to go by," Suiter said. "We can't wait to be hit (by a population boom) and put a band-aid on it — like the jail."
Already, the new jail is out of space, as is the 1955 courthouse and courthouse annex, he said.
"The demand will be there for service and we have to be able to provide it. We need to start planning today," he said. "We need to be able to adjust if growth doesn't come, or if it comes faster than projected."
It's also time to start pushing utilities to put their hardware below ground to cut down on the amount of time residents are left without power and phone service due to storms, Harrison said.
"Hurricanes or not, we are filling the sky with power lines. This is the 21st century, let's get this stuff below ground," he said. "Most of the roads have utility easements to do this. And if not, let's tend to it."
The Infrastructure Committee is one of the few Vision 2020 committees that has met monthly since its inception nearly three years ago, Parker said.
Membership is "city-heavy" as it has been difficult to attract county participants, he said. Part of this is because so much of the infrastructure involves the city from water and roads to WiFi downtown, he said.
There are currently 15 member serving on the committee.
Anyone who wishes to serve and be heard is welcome to join, he said. Committee terms are open-ended, he said.
"I like the procedure," Harrison said. "It's a slow go but a step toward the future.
