This speech couldn't wait for the light of day to be shared with you.
Hello, I am Scott Cleland, a Morriss Rd subdivision homeowner.
While classified identically on paper, Morriss Rd is a profoundly different roadway from FM 1171, 2499, and 3040. Those roads are 6 lane thoroughfares with minority residential frontage, and where they exist, most neighborhoods have additional right-of-way setback from vehicular traffic.
This is not the case for Morriss Rd and we should not allow our Town road planners to treat it identically. Morriss Rd has overwhelmingly more pedestrian traffic than the Town's major thoroughfares. There are over 3400 single family homes within 400m of Morriss Rd. That is over 10,000 residents. Over 4400 of our children attend schools along Morriss Rd. This is not a commercial avenue. From 3040 to 1171, 85% of the road frontage is neighborhoods, schools, and parks. Morriss Rd defines our Town.
Most sidewalks along Morriss Rd are just 3ft from vehicular traffic. Between College and Dixon Ln, most sidewalks are directly against the roadway with no buffer. I attended Marcus High School and Lamar Middle School, frequently walking and running along its roadway; I know what it is like for an adolescent to walk this road. I am a father of 3, and my oldest daughter will be walking to Forestwood Middle School along Morriss Rd in a few years. I shudder to think of her making that trek along a road the likes of FM 2499, just 3 ft away from 35,000 cars a day zooming by. No parent would choose that. Joggers and bikers too will not want to traverse the roadway. We will see either grievous accidents or an end to all pedestrian traffic on this roadway. This does not serve the needs of our citizens.
Yes, this Town must address future vehicular traffic needs. I lived in Flower Mound in 1989 when FM 1171, 2499, and 3040 were 1 lane blacktops; the Town has made tremendous progress in upgrading those roadways to accommodate current and future traffic needs. Today, I too idle in my car on our roadways during peak traffic periods. Our citizens, myself and my fellow Morriss Rd neighborhood residents, expect our Town leadership to make intelligent planning decisions to accommodate greater transportation demand from continued growth.
But not by cramming 6.5 miles of concrete through the center of our town and telling us that was the plan in 1981. There are safety issues created by 27 years of development that has been contrary to the vision of a 6-lane major arterial thoroughfare. For 27 years, we have been building neighborhoods, schools, and parks. For 27 years, we have been putting in curb cuts and median pass-throughs.
It is incumbent upon us that we let our Town leadership know that they cannot treat Morris Rd like 2499. Any roadway additions must have consideration for the important safety concerns associated with a road so closely populated by such a large number of our Town's residents. Just paving over the median is a solution that benefits commuters only, not our community; increases thru-traffic, not our citizens' safety; and is not in the best safety interests of our Town's residents. Thank you.
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Scott for Mayor! This man has hit the nail on the head.
ReplyDeleteThe city leadership has obviously been sold by "Free Road Upgrade".
City governments are supposed to be responsible to the residents, they claim we should have opposed this during these meetings on the master plan etc. Did anyone receive a single communication from the town government that said, we are considering expanding Morriss road to 6 lanes and we would like your input. Here is the date and time of meetings and people you can contact if you have any concerns?
No. We see vague postings on signs at intersections where you have to drive by and can not slow down to even read them unless you're lucky to get stopped right up at the light. The town has no issues publishing a newsletter with our water bill each month, yet they only vaguely mention master plan upgrades.
Case in point. There is a new development for houses going up near the intersection of Forrest Vista and Morris road. 2 years ago we received a letter stating that the zoning was going to be changed to allow 800k homes to be put into this small lot by our homes. The homes were vastly different from what was around this lot some 20 years old.
We contact the city and they assure us that it's just a formality and nothing concrete was decided and we would be notified again should the developer come back to continue the project.
6 months ago the digging started. I contacted the town government and asked why we were not notified and even included the previous emails from the town stating we would be notified.
They said they town sent the notices in error and people only within 200 ft of the development should have been notified. Looking on the map that's a total of about 30 homes.
It is clear the town government has an agenda to not notify the public about it's actions. Town meetings are not uniformly posted on the website. Some are actual searchable pdf files that google indexes well, but there is a mix of them where they instead scan images of the meeting notes. Those are not searchable. I can understand for old records before they started this, but these are recent meetings.
We all have jobs and the 60k + residents of this town can not all attend these meetings, many of which go into the early hours of the morning in some cases.
We have to hold our elected officials to a higher standard and demand transparency in our town government.
Well said Corey. Our current Town Council has been doing these sorts of things since I moved to Flower Mound and it's time they were stopped. We need some folks who really care about what's best for our city to be voted in this May. I finally said enough is enough and that's why I decided to run for City Council this year and believe me when I tell you, I'm in it for the people and town and no on else. I'm just Joe Q. Citizen that lives down the street from you with no ties to the town management or any planning and zoning boards or commissions. All we really need is some common sense when looking at the expansion of our city, not a bunch of people with hidden agendas. I’m running for place 3 and if I get elected, things are going to be different with the way our Town Council conducts itself. Keep the passion going!!!!
ReplyDeleteGreat point Corey... the Town was attracted by the lure of "free money". I don't want to demonize the Town leadership here; they secured $11MM in "external" funding for us. They probably were looking at 2030 traffic "projections" and saw this money as a way to add lanes at minimal cost to Flower Mound taxpayers. Perhaps their intentions are indeed in the right place, but they failed to adequately solicit input from their own constituents.
ReplyDeleteAnd we do have to be realistic. I don't think any of us claim Morriss Rd is perfect as-is, nor that it won't need to ever be altered. Heck, the concrete is already 20+ years old. But absolutely not a FM 2499 look-a-like. Let's all be practical and do what is right for our Town and residents. Don't just pour concrete because you found some money.
-Scott Cleland
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