Multi-Million Dollar Drainage Projects Closer to Reality in LG

At Monday’s La Grange City Council Meeting, Tim Sanders of BEFCO Engineering gave an update on the citywide drainage project.

The project is being funded with a Hurricane Harvey grant administered by the Texas General Land Office.

Sanders identified five drainage improvements involving Washington St., Main St., Franklin St., the Weikel-Schiller Ditch and Beefhead Ditch. Sanders recommended bidding the project in two parts.

The improvements on Franklin St., Weikel-Schiller, and Beefhead Ditch will be combined into one project with an estimated cost of $1.6 million. Sanders estimated completion by next September. The improvements on Washington St. and Main St. will be bid in a separate package with an estimated cost of $2.1 million. Sanders estimated a completion date of Summer 2027.

Also at Monday’s meeting, the Council approved the purchase of a new body camera and in-car camera system for the La Grange Police Department. Police Chief David Gilbreath said the department’s body camera system has reached its end-of-life and is no longer supported by the manufacturer.

Gilbreath presented a proposal from Motorola that included new body cameras and in-car cameras with a five-year warranty. Gilbreath said Motorola will also replace the body cameras with new models after three years. The total package costs $150,407.20 to be paid over five years. The annual cost will be $30,081.44.

The City has received a police body camera grant for $16,721.75, which will be applied to the first year’s payment. Council approved the purchase.

In other business, the Council heard a presentation from the consulting firm Freese and Nichols on the City’s ongoing Comprehensive Plan update. The plan is now 35 percent complete. Caroline Stewart of Freese and Nichols said her firm has completed its baseline study and community assessment. As part of that, the firm conducted a survey of wants and needs with 121 responses from community members.

Stewart reviewed some of the top responses. When asked about the most critical issues facing La Grange, respondents said job opportunities and livable wages. Respondents said the City needs to focus on housing that attracts families. They expressed interest in more entertainment options and healthcare providers. Respondents ranked drainage and flood prevention at the top of infrastructure concerns.

The Comprehensive Plan update also identified a need to update the City’s zoning ordinance and subdivision ordinance, which were adopted in 1983 and 1987 respectively. In a memo to the Council, City Manager Jack Thompson said the ordinances have undergone periodic updates, but they “are in need of a full modernization.”

Thompson recommended hiring Freese and Nichols to prepare a Unified Development Code “to align our development regulations with current best practices and the community’s long-term vision.”

Councilman Ken Taylor asked whether the new code will lead to more or less “red tape” for developers.

“What we found working with developers, it’s often not the regulation itself that they’re upset about,” said Chance Sparks of Freese and Nichols. “For them, they are in a ‘time is money’ industry. So you have to look for how you can make sure that process is operating efficiently and operating predictably.

“When they’re putting money down with their earnest money contracts, option contracts, they want to be able to do that with a level of confidence that they’re going to be able to proceed on that project without having to go back, asking for extensions and things like that,” he added.

City Attorney Angela Beck urged Freese and Nichols to work closely with her since she has advised the City for more than two decades, especially in matters related to the Code of Ordinances.

“Absolutely,” Sparks said. “One of our approaches to this, and this is part of why we don’t have attorneys on our staff, is because we have found that every city attorney has a different perspective. And so the best approach is to talk with the city attorney about what you are comfortable with. What would you like to see here? What do you feel comfortable defending? What are the issues you see popping up in the legal environment specific to La Grange? We found that leads to a really good path of success. We’d love for you to be a very active part of the conversation.”

Council approved a professional services agreement with the firm. Freese and Nichols will charge the City $176,000 for their services, plus up to $15,000 in additional special services, with a total cost not to exceed $191,000.

The Council also voted on the second and final reading of an ordinance to establish a Tax Incremement Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ). It passed with one council member, Violet Zbranek, voting against it. Before the vote, local attorney Pam Giese raised several concerns about the TIRZ.

Read more about that extensive discussion in Tuesday’s paper.