"We will not support a CDA and the RTC has proven they won't come to the table in good faith."
City at 'end point' on State Highway 121
03/24/2006
By Mike Raye
Friso Enterprise
Copyright 2006
The Regional Transportation Council's decision to table a decision on a five-government resolution to select the North Texas Tollway Authority as the builder and administrator of State Highway 121 as a toll road, waiting until November to allow other private businesses a chance to make bids, remains a sore point for the Frisco City Council.
A "consider and act" item appeared on the agenda again Tuesday night - whether to enact a resolution stating if the NTTA weren't involved the City of Frisco would stand firm against tolling the road.
"We all said when we got to this point we would be at the end point," council member Bob Allen said. "I am disappointed (the RTC) has chosen to ignore our wishes and I'm prepared to withdraw our resolution and share with the RTC our disappointment."
The heart of the issue - as it has been for almost a year - is the region needs SH 121 to be widened to meet rising traffic volume and the state transportation department, TxDOT, hasn't enough money to build it. Because of the shortage of funds, the state has been entertaining bids from other companies, even foreign interests, to build the road. The danger in that, opponents argue, is toll rates could skyrocket and commuters would face a form of highway robbery.
According to the Web site 121-info.com, the "short list" of private companies bidding on the project through comprehensive development agreements, or CDAs, are Skanska BOT of Dallas; Macquarie Infrastructure Group of New York; Texas Toll & Power of Lewisville; Pioneer Heritage Partners of Austin; and the Spanish firm Cintra, Concesiones de Infraestruturas de Transporte S.A. of Madrid.
"We will not support a CDA and the RTC has proven they won't come to the table in good faith," said council member Dr. Jim Joyner. "They have chosen a CDA in every way except signing the papers."
Frisco leaders like the council, Mayor Mike Simpson, and City Manager George Purefoy have remained in opposition of turning the road's fate over to outside entities, calling for the tolls to be locally administered and for the revenue raised by them funding local highway projects, instead of distributed around the state.
Although the spearhead, Frisco has partnered with Allen, Plano, McKinney, and Collin County to form a local government coalition to ensure the money stays in Collin County. The discussion arose whether Frisco should break ranks and stand firmly but alone, and risk becoming a pariah, or be patient and stay united with the other governments. Purefoy, the author of the first toll resolution, ultimately signed by all five governments, said "the patience of Job" should be the course of action.
"We have been marching together and there is strength in numbers," he said. "If we go ahead without telling the others what we are doing we would be seen as breaking ranks. The odds of (the RTC) steamrolling you if all five entities are united are remote."
Mayor Simpson, a bank administrator in his day job, proposed a business-themed solution to the problem, offering advice for the state's chief executive.
"If I were Governor (Rick) Perry, I'd say why don't we do what a lot of other companies do - let Collin County do the NTTA proposal and let the transportation council do the CDA process, present them, and see what comes out," he said. "The problem is the Regional Transportation Council has made decisions with or without Frisco's input."
The RTC next meets April 13 and an ultimate decision will be made by the state's transportation governing body, the Texas Transportation Commission, in November.
In the meantime, the council voted by a 4 to 1 majority (council member Matt Lafata was out of town) to table their action until their March 30 special meeting. By then, city officials said, with Frisco leading the way again, the five-government coalition will be further strengthened, taking the steam out of the state's steamrollers.
©Star Community Newspapers 2006 www.zwire.com
03/24/2006
By Mike Raye
Friso Enterprise
Copyright 2006
The Regional Transportation Council's decision to table a decision on a five-government resolution to select the North Texas Tollway Authority as the builder and administrator of State Highway 121 as a toll road, waiting until November to allow other private businesses a chance to make bids, remains a sore point for the Frisco City Council.
A "consider and act" item appeared on the agenda again Tuesday night - whether to enact a resolution stating if the NTTA weren't involved the City of Frisco would stand firm against tolling the road.
"We all said when we got to this point we would be at the end point," council member Bob Allen said. "I am disappointed (the RTC) has chosen to ignore our wishes and I'm prepared to withdraw our resolution and share with the RTC our disappointment."
The heart of the issue - as it has been for almost a year - is the region needs SH 121 to be widened to meet rising traffic volume and the state transportation department, TxDOT, hasn't enough money to build it. Because of the shortage of funds, the state has been entertaining bids from other companies, even foreign interests, to build the road. The danger in that, opponents argue, is toll rates could skyrocket and commuters would face a form of highway robbery.
According to the Web site 121-info.com, the "short list" of private companies bidding on the project through comprehensive development agreements, or CDAs, are Skanska BOT of Dallas; Macquarie Infrastructure Group of New York; Texas Toll & Power of Lewisville; Pioneer Heritage Partners of Austin; and the Spanish firm Cintra, Concesiones de Infraestruturas de Transporte S.A. of Madrid.
"We will not support a CDA and the RTC has proven they won't come to the table in good faith," said council member Dr. Jim Joyner. "They have chosen a CDA in every way except signing the papers."
Frisco leaders like the council, Mayor Mike Simpson, and City Manager George Purefoy have remained in opposition of turning the road's fate over to outside entities, calling for the tolls to be locally administered and for the revenue raised by them funding local highway projects, instead of distributed around the state.
Although the spearhead, Frisco has partnered with Allen, Plano, McKinney, and Collin County to form a local government coalition to ensure the money stays in Collin County. The discussion arose whether Frisco should break ranks and stand firmly but alone, and risk becoming a pariah, or be patient and stay united with the other governments. Purefoy, the author of the first toll resolution, ultimately signed by all five governments, said "the patience of Job" should be the course of action.
"We have been marching together and there is strength in numbers," he said. "If we go ahead without telling the others what we are doing we would be seen as breaking ranks. The odds of (the RTC) steamrolling you if all five entities are united are remote."
Mayor Simpson, a bank administrator in his day job, proposed a business-themed solution to the problem, offering advice for the state's chief executive.
"If I were Governor (Rick) Perry, I'd say why don't we do what a lot of other companies do - let Collin County do the NTTA proposal and let the transportation council do the CDA process, present them, and see what comes out," he said. "The problem is the Regional Transportation Council has made decisions with or without Frisco's input."
The RTC next meets April 13 and an ultimate decision will be made by the state's transportation governing body, the Texas Transportation Commission, in November.
In the meantime, the council voted by a 4 to 1 majority (council member Matt Lafata was out of town) to table their action until their March 30 special meeting. By then, city officials said, with Frisco leading the way again, the five-government coalition will be further strengthened, taking the steam out of the state's steamrollers.
©Star Community Newspapers 2006
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Saturday, March 25, 2006
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