Petitioners Want Development Banned Around Proposed Transmountain Freeway

A group has turned in a petition to the city to try to preserve the land around the Texas Department of Transportation’s $85 million freeway proposed along Transmountain Road.

The Frankling Mountains Wilderness Coalition gathered more than the 4,578 required signatures to try to get city council to consider the issue.

They want city council to zone nearly 800 acres of public and private land along the proposed freeway as Natural Open Space, which would ban development.

“We need to preserve our fauna and our flora and our animals, our plants,” said Jim Tolbert, a member of the Coalition.

The Coalition also wants TxDot to move the proposed Paseo Del Norte overpass out of the area they want as natural open space. They said the overpass should be moved west.

It’s unclear if the rezoning of the land around the proposed freeway to natural open space (NOS) would hinder the freeway plans. Massive corridors are generally banned from NOS zones.

The City Clerk has 30 working days to verify that the signatures come from registered voters and put it on the city council agenda. When the issue goes before City Council, representatives can approve it, approve it with amendments, deny it or take no action.

If council denies or changes the petitioners’ plan, then the group can take the issue to the voters in May. To do that though, they’d need to gather the same amount of signatures again.

“It gives the community leverage to really be a partner in the conversation,” said City Rep. Susie Byrd.

The Federal Highway Administration has not given the final approval for TxDot’s freeway plan and petitioners hope TxDot will reconsider.

TxDot has held community input meetings and after their analysis, they’ve determined a freeway is the best design that would improve mobility.

But some on council, including Byrd, have said that a boulevard would also increase mobility and would not disturb the scenic view.