The gist
League City City Council voted 4-4 at its Dec. 17 meeting for the measure, resulting in a failed motion to award engineering consultants Halff Associates a $270,000 contract for the design, bid and construction of Heritage Signature Trail, which would connect League Park and Heritage Park.
Council members Justin Hicks, Tommy Cones, Tom Crews and Andy Mann voted against the motion. Meanwhile, Mayor Nick Long and council members Courtney Chadell, Chad Tressler and Sean Saunders voted for the motion.
The details
The 0.73-mile long trail would have connected League Park and Heritage Park, and serve as an additional north-south connection along North Kansas Avenue, according to city documents. Below are the improvements the project would have included:
- Pedestrian ramps and drainage improvements at the intersection of North Michigan Avenue and Coryell Street
- Add pedestrian barrier-free ramps and associated pavement markings on North Kansas Avenue between Coryell Street and Satsuma Street
- Add a sidewalk along the northern right-of-way lane on Satsuma Street between North Kansas Avenue and North Wisconsin Avenue
Council members Andy Mann and Chad Tressler voted against amending the motion.
Those opposed
Resident Jonathan Keith spoke against the motion saying some of the traffic fixture additions were an unwise use of taxpayer money because he felt the streets the project would upgrade are “very low traffic.”
“Part of this project, I believe. is going to deface the nature of the historical district, particularly between [North] Michigan [Avenue] and [North] Kansas [Avenue] on Coryell [Street],” Keith said. “The desire is to make it a one-way street and in the process of doing that, it’s going to add certain traffic fixtures that are going to change the historical nature of the community.”
Council member Tom Crews said in conversations he’d had with League City residents, he’d received consistent feedback in opposition to the trail.
“Most of the citizens weren’t interested in this at all,” Crews said. “They saw that there were different problems and I’m not even sure how much usage this will bring.”
Those in favor
Meanwhile, council member Chad Tressler said he felt connecting the parks would allow the city to split programming for specific events, such as the White Linen Night event held in League City’s Historic District, making it easier to walk between both League Park and Heritage Park.
“When we say that nobody wants this or that only four people want this, I think that’s a misnomer,” Tressler said. “This is a project that links two of our parks that are a walkable distance apart but don’t have a good path to walk between them.”
