Plans would join trails, easements to add convenience, safety for transportation
When Bee Cave homeowner Terri Mitchell wants to go for a bike ride, she said she is forced to load her bicycle in her car and drive to a traffic-free zone.
However, city officials are working on a way for residents to safely traverse the city on two wheels instead of four.
On Oct. 27, Bee Cave staff issued a request for proposals for a hike and bicycle connectivity plan joining existing trails and easements throughout the city. The plan idea was presented to city council members on Oct. 14 by Morningside neighborhood developer Scott Morledge, president of Ash Creek Homes.
"Per the survey of [Bee Cave] citizens, this is what they want," said Mitchell, referring to the Comprehensive Plan Survey conducted by city staffers earlier this year. The survey showed connectivity is a top priority for citizens.
Morledge's plan includes joining the Falconhead and Ladera subdivisions to Lake Travis High School, enabling students to walk or bike to school and removing some of the car traffic from RR 620 at peak times, he said.
Council members agreed the city needs to have a connectivity plan in place so developers can add walkway segments to their proposals as part of their construction approval process with Bee Cave.
"The trails plan will be addressed with incoming developers up front," Councilwoman Marie Lowman said.
The proposed plan will change as developers plan their projects, said Councilman Bill Goodwin, who advocated hiring a third party trails planner for the project.
Morledge said he worked with land planner Lee and Associates to determine the best paths for the project by surveying easements the city could purchase to connect with existing walkways and fill in with new paths where needed. He said a public relations plan would enable residents to learn about the trail system as well as have route maps in place as the system develops.
"We are utilizing the infrastructure already available in the city and trying to minimize the amount of construction and city dollars that would have to be spent [on the project]," said Jenna Edge, project manager for Ash Creek Homes.
Morledge told the council the first step to completing the connectivity project is to create an overall trail plan. Then staff can obtain easements from property owners and shelve the plans until the city is ready to fund the connections either through a grant or by an agreement with a developer to build the connections as part of its overall neighborhood design plan, he said.
"Some [parts of the proposed connectivity map] show the use of existing [community] streets, such as Falconhead, and other [trail areas] are where we still need to acquire easements from property owners to proceed with construction," Edge said. "Scott Morledge has been working on this [plan] for years. He thinks it's a really big benefit for the city—a plan that the city can actually implement."
