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MANSFIELD — Planning for a bond election a year away, staff members told the City Council that they can’t wait that long for $4.5 million worth of urgent traffic congestion remedies.
The council, voicing support for quicker action, told the staff late Monday to draw up plans to sell certificates of obligation — debt that doesn’t require voter approval — and propose the financing at its next meeting Nov. 9. The funds would be used on seven projects "that we believe you have to do," City Manager Clayton Chandler told the council. The package includes turn lanes, traffic signals, medians and other fixes for intersections with the worst congestion. About $2.5 million would be used to design the reconstruction of the U.S. 287 overpass at Debbie Lane to make room for more lanes, including U-turn lanes beneath the highway. Work could start as soon as this summer on the intersections of Debbie Lane and Matlock Road, Cannon Drive and Matlock Road, and Cannon Drive and East Broad Street if the quicker financing is approved, Public Works Director Steve Freeman said.Other targeted sites are Regency Parkway and East Broad Street, Miller Road and East Broad Street and a stretch of West Debbie Lane from U.S. 287 to Farm Road 157, which would get a median.Meanwhile, Chandler presented a list of 10 potential bond election projects totaling $133.7 million, about $26 million less than in his initial draft last month.It includes $30 million for other street work, $20 million for a police and fire training facility, $19 million for a central library, $28 million for another activities center, $10.8 million for linear park trails, $4.5 million for another community park and $1.2 million for quiet zones at railroad crossings. The council decided that its members would each prioritize a list of 10 potential bond projects, then have the staff merge the results into a list of those with the broadest support. The council plans to discuss those at the next meeting.No budget amount for the bond election has been determined. The election could be held as early as May, but officials said the economy makes November 2010 more likely. Councilman Mike Leyman voiced reluctance about using certificates of obligation rather than allowing the public to vote on the congestion projects along with the other bond projects. "If you present what the need is, it will pass," Leyman said. "But I also understand that it’s rolling the dice." Staff members said they are more concerned about the time element. "I do not believe this set of projects would have problems passing," Freeman said. "But these particular intersections are problems now, have been for a while and continue to get worse."
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