08.04.08
SH 29 Open House/Public Forum Tonight In Liberty Hill
First a quick note. The site originally created to keep SH 29 from taking a Northern route has been renamed to show the unity the entire community of Liberty Hill has in making sure this Perry-like corridor plan is not run through their community. No matter which path the GOP county commissioners would like, North or South. The effort is now www.Keep29Local.com (K29L).
The forum is tonight from 6 – 9 PM at the Liberty Hill High School cafeteria, 13125 W. SH 29. Anyone needing more information can just go to K29L where they have the list of questions they want answered tonight. And their solution [.pdf] to this issue. Going there with a solution in hand is great way to show the elected officials in Williamson County that they’re not just at the forum to complain but to work out a solution. I would recommend to get there early and don’t forget to wear red.
Also there’s an interesting read about another site for a park in the Liberty Hill area that was in the AAS late last week, . (See previous EOW post on park issue here). This article makes it seem like that no matter which route they choose, a park will be near the route of the GOP WCCC’s plan to expand SH 29.
The county’s plan to put a park near Liberty Hill has been controversial; some residents there said the original parkland was overpriced and is part of a ploy to get right of way land for a major expansion of Texas 29.
County officials — led by Long and Commissioner Valerie Covey — are evaluating routes near Liberty Hill for the expansion, which would turn a 19-mile section of the current four-lane road into a six-lane expressway (with up to six total frontage road lanes).
Under an initial agreement with the county, Joe Birdwell, an Austin developer and owner of the 865 acres of proposed parkland, agreed to reserve 16 acres for the county to use as right of way in the event that one of the expansion routes goes near the land.
The county is considering two routes for the expansion: one north of Liberty Hill, which would go near that possible parkland, and one south of the city. The southern option would not run through the new property being considered for the park, Long said.
Long said the park and expansion are in “no way, shape or form connected.”
“A road through a park is not a good thing; it’s not adding value to the park,” she said. “It runs contrary to common sense, and the whole goal we’re trying to achieve with a park is a place you can go and get back to nature and in the outdoors.”
Either way, North or South, the county wants to build a new toll road and a park near Liberty Hill. Accountability comes in November!