09272004 Regular Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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.".. 'I'~ 81. Regular Meeting September 27, 2004 Page 11 Staff (City tract I 14 acres located at IH35 and Davis Lane; and SMCISD Itract - Travis Elementary School at Post Road and Bert Brown). Mr. Bose stated he feels the flow of water down Post Road, the traffic on Post Road and Lime Kiln Road will continue to increase with or without the Convention Center. He stated he feels this land exchange would be safer for the SMCISD and the City. Mr. O'Leary stated the City's portion of property is parkland. He stated if the Council is interested in the land exchange, then the City will need to get an appraisal. Mayor Narvaiz stated the Women's Center is located near the IH-35 property and feels they should be contacted regarding the land exchange. She also stated she supports continuing the discussions with SMCISD for the land exchange. Mr. O'Leary stated Staff is still investigating the City's ability to exchange dedicated parkland. Mr. Thomaides stated he has concerns of land exchange for dedicated parkland. The Council agreed by consensus to continue discussions with SMCISD. Mayor Narvaiz introduced a discussion regarding the status of the Traffic Synchronization Project. Laurie Anderson, Director of Engineering, stated this project will replace the signals and the controllers at fifty-one intersections in the City and will link those controllers by radio to the Municipal Building to allow the City to have control over the traffic signals. She stated currently most of the traffic signals are about forty lIyears old and the technologies in them are out of date, which cannot be upgraded to provide a variety of sensors to address synchronization. She stated there are fifty-one intersections and thirty-two of those lights are on TxDOT's systems and the remaining nineteen signals are on City streets. She also stated this plan is ninety-five percent complete and the current cost estimate is $1.7 million dollars. She stated $300,000.00 is the City's cost for the nineteen lights and the remainder of the $1.4 million would be divided between the City and the State. She stated this project proposes the City would take over the maintenance and operation of the lights once the threshold of $50,000.00 has been met. She stated TXDOT will no longer maintain the lights on state facilities within the City other than those that are on the Interstate. She stated she feels the City will be taking over the maintenance early. She stated the proposed agreement states TxDOT and the City would share the cost of upgrading the controllers. She also stated the City will receive some reimbursement from TxDOT for the maintenance and operation of some intersections. She stated TxDOT has reviewed some of the plan, and they have stated there are several intersection improvements which exceed $50,000.00, and once the cost exceeds $50,000.00 then that intersection will need upgrading to meet ADA compliance. She stated once we get into the ADA renovations, the costs can escalate quickly. She stated she will be meeting with TxDOT and a representative of the Texas Department of ILicensing and Regulations, which oversees ADA compliance, regarding ~btaining variances for certain intersections. She stated the next step ~s for the approval of the agreement with TXDOT, which is currently being