Questions and Answers on the Substandard Road Program
and Wells Branch roads
What is the history of the Substandard Road Program in Travis County?
- Court approved a policy for Substandard Roadway Specifications and Acceptance Criteria in February 1994.
- TNR completed an inventory of unaccepted roads and ranking criteria in 1995. At that time the Court funded all costs but limited their program allocation to $373K in its annual CO budget request. The acceptance criteria adopted by the Court in 1984 allowed only roadways which were platted before 1980 and built before 1984 to be considered for funding through the substandard roads program.
- The City of Austin informed Travis County via a CC on a January 11, 1995 letter to the Developer indicating that the City determined that the streets, drainage, water and wastewater construction requirements had been fulfilled in accordance with the construction documents approved by the City. The City indicated that it would inform the County of this and advised that a one year warranty against defects in workmanship or materials began effective the date of the letter.
- Court approved revision to 1994 policy in 1997 essentially to allow more roads to qualify and to provide more design flexibility to keep costs down.
- Court included approximately $3.0M for multiple substandard road projects in the 1997 bond program and they were successfully completed but problems were encountered that took excessive staff time to resolve and increased project costs.
- Court approved revision to the policy in 2007 to introduce cost sharing and to allow more design flexibility to reduce costs and impacts upon established neighborhoods. Cost sharing was recommended by TNR because in many past cases property owners would not cooperate with easement dedications, the removal of obstacles they placed in public ROW, or they demanded certain design accommodations. It was felt that these issues would be minimized if the property owners were at least partially funding the project, and they have been for the most part.
- Court approved $500K in CO’s for substandard road projects in the FY 07 CO request. Funds are available to be spent in any precinct and about $300K remains.
- A request for $1.0M has been included on the draft 2011 Bond projects list.
What areas of the county also suffer with substandard roads?
All Precincts have unaccepted substandard roads. Precinct 3 has the most.
What are the worst of these substandard roads?
Precinct 3 has most of the roads that are in severe condition. In many cases in the mid-eighties the roads were only rough-cut by developers before they went bankrupt.
What is the history of participation in the program?
· In cash and in in-kind
We require a Participation Agreement for each project. HOA’s typically offer cash but one HOA has provided in-kind engineering services. In that case TNR determined a value for those services and added it to a cash contribution to determine their participation percentage. Note that the current rules don’t require cost participation but they do assign a higher priority to those that contribute. So, if an HOA proposes no cost share they may be passed over by another HOA that proposes an amount and is therefore more feasible from a budgetary perspective. However, once a Participation Agreement is executed the project is no longer in competition with other proposals and the project will move forward.
· What criteria are used to determine minimum level of participation?
The amount of contribution is determined by the HOA. There is no set minimum amount in the rules but generally the HOAs we’ve worked with contribute between 30% and 50%.
· What if the area has high need but low ability to financially participate?
We’ve completed several projects in one low-income area. The residents of the subdivision hold fund-raisers. Although the residents have not been able to contribute every year, we have completed two projects with them and we’re working on a third. An alternative discussed with the residents was the creation of a road district which would levy an assessment on the residents to recover the County’s cost for the improvements. The residents preferred a pay-as-you-go arrangement for the completion of about 4 miles of road improvements.
With this trajectory of participation, how long will the fund last?
The currently available funds ($300K) will likely be used within the next year.
What is the acceptance history of the roads in Wells Branch?
Most roads have been accepted. With regard to the roads in question, the Developer neglected to request street acceptance. The unaccepted Wells Branch roads are not in bad shape - the condition of the sidewalks and driveways that are a part of the sidewalk are the most costly issues. Accepting the streets would require upgrading to ADA requirements to eliminate liability.
· Is their history typical or atypical?
We have several subdivisions that have unaccepted streets in a similar condition. In some cases the Developer neglects to request street acceptance and in some cases the property owners prefer to keep the streets unaccepted because they have more control of access to their subdivision.
What is the cost to bring the Wells Branch W2A roads into acceptable condition?
The total cost is between $194K - $210K. Generally the HOAs we’ve worked with contribute between 30% and 50% of the total cost.