Houston Chronicle

Montgomery ballot may see road bonds

Board may resurrect issue again for public to decide in November

- By Matthew Tresaugue matthew.tresaugue@chron.com twitter.com/mtresaugue

After weeks of saying they will wait until next year, Montgomery County commission­ers appear ready to bring another bond measure for new and improved roads before voters in November.

Commission­ers Court is scheduled to vote Monday to add to the coming ballot a $280 million bond measure that won’t include the most controvers­ial feature of the one resounding­ly rejected by voters in May.

The revised proposal omits the extension of Woodlands Parkway west of The Woodlands. The project riled residents who said it would do more harm than good for the suburb’s traffic woes.

County Judge Craig Doyal said in a statement that the commission­ers were hesitant to attempt another bond measure this year. “But the county’s mobility needs are so acute that we had to try and see if we could come to a proposal we could all support,” he said.

Doyal called the special meeting for the last day items can be added to the November ballot, which already includes a $487 million bond measure for the Conroe Independen­t School District and a $92 million bond measure for Magnolia schools.

Demand growing

The shift comes amid extraordin­ary pressure on the commission­ers to act on mobility needs in the rapidly growing county sooner rather than later. Among those calling for a November bond measure were city leaders from Oak Ridge North, Shenandoah and The Woodlands, as well as tea party groups that had opposed the bond measure in May. Former county Judge Alan Sadler also urged the board to move forward with a bond measure this fall.

Stung by the ballot-box rebuke four months ago, Doyal and three of four commission­ers had said they would wait until 2016 before bringing back the bond measure. They had said the delay would allow them to review an update on a thoroughfa­re plan, which will not be finished before January.

Some commission­ers also were unhappy with the aggressive campaign waged to defeat the last bond, including claims that the $350 million proposal was filled with “pork” and would lead to higher taxes. The bond measure was torpedoed by 57 percent of voters, with heavy opposition from The Woodlands because of the planned extension of Woodlands Parkway.

The $22 million project would extend the roadway from FM 2978 to Texas 249, just north of Tomball. Critics said the extension would compound traffic woes in The Woodlands by opening up vast acres of land to developmen­t west of the master-planned community.

Gordy Bunch, a member of The Woodlands Township’s governing board, said he would support a November bond measure as long as it didn’t include the parkway extension or money for road repairs that should be covered by the county’s operating budget.

“I would be happy to turn the 5,000 people who signed the petition into 5,000 supporters as long as certain conditions are met,” said Bunch, who led a petition drive against the bond measure in May.

No Robinson widening

The revised proposal also doesn’t include the widening of Robinson Road, the main street in Oak Ridge North. City leaders say the $9 million project is needed to relieve congestion on the two-lane road, but some residents argue that it will ruin the ambience of the tree-lined suburb.

Vicky Rudy, Oak Ridge North’s city manager, said it’s too soon to know how the city would move forward. “I feel very positive that we have time to work this out with our community,” she said.

The list of projects looks similar to one proposed by the Texas Patriots PAC and Montgomery County Tea Party. The two groups opposed the bond in May but came to an agreement with Doyal on the new proposal.

As part of the deal, the commission­ers also plan to pursue a $70 million bond for road projects in 2018, officials said.

The defeat in May marked the second time in four years that a road bond measure had failed in Montgomery County. The last one to win at the ballot box came a decade ago when the county-wide population was nearly 400,000 residents. The county is expected to grow to more than 1 million people in the next 20 years.

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