Trail work continues without advocate
Retired council member Smith wants loop finished ‘before somebody gets hurt.’
After serving for more than two decades as a member of the Village of The Hills City Council, J.R. Smith can claim many projects as his legacy to the community upon his retirement July 12.
Smith, a former manager at Southwestern Bell Telephone Co., negotiated the first solid waste utility contract for the village in 1999. He also prompted city leaders to add fencing around the neighborhood for safety and as a deer barrier, supported the first Youth Advisory Commission in the village that began in 2016, and contributed input that paved the way for the area’s first property tax levy in 2011.
“J.R. has meant a lot to this whole community,” Mayor Eric Ovlen said of the 89-year-old native of East Texas. “He’s the first to recognize the values of the walking trail.”
As the community’s demographics skewed toward younger families moving into the village, Smith recognized residents had no pathway to push strollers or walk except in the streets as the area lacked sidewalks, Ovlen said. In 2009, Smith called for a trail loop in the community.
“The trails were my biggest ambition, but it was also my biggest disappointment because we didn’t get to finish it,” Smith said. “I’ve left it in good hands that are committed to finishing it so that will work out OK.”
A portion of the trails — about 1.9 miles out of a total 4.1-mile project — has been completed to date, City Manager Wendy Smith May said.
“Above all, I hope we can get it built before somebody gets hurt or worse,” Smith said. “Needless to say, once that happens, I’ll be a happy guy.”
The village is receiving estimates and evaluating the funding options before discussing the concept with the City Council, May said. Part of the lag time with completing the project involves navigating the trail around the dam that flows in the village as well as a curve along the 100 block of The Hills Drive, she said.
Affected mailboxes will be relocated, and homeowners’ irrigation systems will be moved behind the trail where they will be restored to their original form, she said.
May is waiting on getting the final numbers from engineers on the project, but said she estimates it will cost $500,000 to $700,000 to finish the remaining trail. The source of the funding for the trail completion has not been nailed down yet, although the completed portion was paid for out of annual revenue, without a bond package, she said.
If the village was to continue this practice, the trail would take another 13 years to complete, may said. A property tax increase for homeowners could move up this process, allowing the remaining trail to be finished in only five years, she said.
“The best-case scenario for the city is to remain debt free in terms of bond indebtedness,” May said. “We are having a conversation in this fiscal year budget process about a property tax increase that would be for capital projects, for the specific purpose of expediting the walking trail. That’s the conversation that we’re having in this budget process right now — is a property tax increase appropriate at this juncture to finish the project faster?”