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Town weighs CIP projects
By Ann Marie Shambaugh, Community Editor
Most people can describe what they’d like to do in the next five years. The Town of Little Elm can, too, but with 43 capital improvements in mind with price tags greater than $50,000, not all of its goals will be met.
The Capital Improvement Plan committee presented its project list to Town Council at a special work session Tuesday afternoon. Town department heads explained their specific needs as part of a purely informational meeting.
“It should just serve as a guide,” Town Finance Director Ryan Adams said of a packet detailing the requests. “Nothing is written in stone in this.”
Main Street paving and drainage topped the rankings. The proposed project would construct a concrete street and underground storm water drainage system from East Park Drive to Eldorado Parkway. The realignment of Lakeshore with Clark Street also would be included in this project.
The Main Street project will cost about $2 million total, but $1 million is already funded. Most of the design is complete, but it has been put on hold until the Town Center concept is completed.
The proposed new central fire station also ranked high on the list. Fire Chief Joe Florentino explained that the Eldorado Parkway expansion will leave the new highway at the current fire station’s front door by cutting off its driveways that connect the station’s vehicle bays to the thoroughfare.
“That effectively is putting us out of business as far as pulling trucks in and out,” Florentino said.
The fire chief also said that the department’s staff at Central Station is cramped in facilities not originally designed to house firefighters and that calls have increased by 18 percent this year. The new station, estimated at $5 million, would provide ample room for training, expanded staff, administration offices, and equipment.
“This project is built for the future, and it should take us out 15 years at least,” Florentino said.
Council Member David Hillock said that the road expansion makes this project a top priority for him.
“Everything else could hobble along if it had to,” Hillock said. “[The current station] is a facility we’re going to lose, flat out lose.”
Both the fire and police departments are dispatched through Denton County, which was appropriate when the town was smaller, but now Little Elm is one of their biggest and busiest clients. Police Chief Waylan Rhodes said that both he and the Denton County Sheriff’s Office believe it is time for the town to start its own dispatch service.
If the new $9.95 million police facility proposed by Rhodes comes to light, the department would add more services for the community. The building would also include a jail, records division, juvenile and victim interview rooms, an evidence room, and would provide constant public access.
“Anyone at anytime could walk through the front door and meet with a police employee,” Rhodes said.
The department is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, and reaching an officer through the back door is not always a possibility.
Library Director Tina Hager kicked off the meeting by describing a new library complex that would include several age-based book collections, a computer classroom, auditorium, business resource center, an interactive museum, and an enclosed mini golf area.
“We wanted to come up with something that would be unique to the lake community,” Hager said.
She hopes that it will become a destination for more than just Little Elm residents.
“We want outsiders to come in,” she said.
The 21,000-square-foot complex would cost about $7.5 million, and would provide ample space for the growing library community. Hager said that the library adds new books and patrons every month.
Parks and Recreation Director Tony Chrisman presented plans for a $2 million community center, which has already been funded but is on hold until a site is found. The center would house a multi-use meeting room, classroom and leisure activity space. The design would allow for a recreational center for basketball, volleyball and exercise to be built at a later date.
Chrisman’s proposal to construct a new roadway into Little Elm Park by extending Lobo Lane as part of the Eldorado Parkway expansion project ranked second on the priority list. The project would also extend the park road from Lobo Lane to Main Street and improve the park entrance with landscaping and signage.
Adams also presented a plan to fund the proposed projects. With $1.4 billion in fiscal year 2007 net assessed taxable value, the town could collect an additional $1.7 million by increasing property taxes by a penny per $100 of house value. At an increase of 10 cents per $100 house value, the town could generate almost $17 million.
The total cost of all proposed improvements is $52,835,500, so even with a 10-cent property tax increase, many of the projects must be put on hold. Town Council members will convene at a special session before the next regular meeting with their own priority lists.
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