Water district says TxDOT has not approved FM 4 conveyance; bidding process and TWDB loan unchanged

The Water District No. 1 general manager said officials with the Texas Department of Transportation on Jan. 29 told district and county representatives they "were not in a position to approve the memorandum of understanding as presented and further discussions would be needed," leaving the conveyance of the portion of Farm-to-Market Road 4 that would be inundated by the planned Turkey Peak Reservoir unresolved.

The update, delivered during a joint appearance before the Mineral Wells City Council, followed an invitation in early January for district staff to meet with TxDOT and state elected officials. The Jan. 22 meeting was rescheduled for Jan. 29 because of weather; a Jan. 24 virtual call likewise produced no agreement, the district said. The district told the council it expects to receive an appraisal in roughly five to seven days that will be forwarded to TxDOT as part of the agency’s formal review process.

Why it matters: conveyance of the inundated portion of FM 4 is part of the permitting and land-acquisition steps necessary to build Turkey Peak Reservoir. Delays in finalizing the TxDOT memorandum of understanding could affect construction timing and increase project costs, which district leaders and council members told the meeting would likely raise water bills for wholesale and retail customers in the Mineral Wells region.

Details from the meeting: - The district said TxDOT’s feasibility study counted about 900 vehicles per day on a roughly 14-mile stretch from I-20 to Palo Pinto, but that the feasibility study does not parse counts specifically for the segment that would be inundated. The district said the exact traffic count for the inundated portion is not known. - District staff said the water system to be served by the Turkey Peak project covers roughly 35,000 people. - The district described ongoing interagency work that began in 02/2007 and said it is fulfilling TxDOT’s document requests and following TxDOT’s formal procedures for road abandonment and conveyance. - On bidding and procurement: the district said its "best value" bid process is continuing. The district re-posted public notices in local media on Jan. 25 and said that if any additional general contractors come forward they will be required to attend a mandatory on-site pre-bid meeting; qualification statements from any new proposers would be accepted (the district said that step could occur in March), reviewed within five working days by the qualifications selection committee, and then an updated proposer list would be issued. The district said five contractors are already prequalified on the project. - On project financing: a district representative said the Texas Water Development Board previously approved a $200,000,000 loan for the project in July 2024 and that, based on the information available now, the approval itself will not be affected by the FM 4 conveyance negotiations. The district added that it is not uncommon for the Water Development Board to return with additional funding votes later in a major project to cover unforeseen costs.

Board and council comments at the meeting stressed two recurring concerns: (1) that protracted negotiations or legal challenges increase overall project costs and therefore water rates for customers, and (2) that the district should push for interagency coordination in Austin. District board member Beth said the governor’s declaration of water infrastructure as an emergency item and the state’s stated priorities should help the project; Beth also told the meeting she has sought help from state legislators and said she has received "positive feedback" from Senator King’s office.

Public questions and follow-up: residents who addressed the council asked about the routing and standards for any rerouted segment of FM 4 (whether it will be built to TxDOT standards and whether it might run along Ward Mountain Road), and about when and where bid announcements would be published. District staff pointed to the recently renewed public-notice postings and the mandatory on-site meeting requirement for any new contractors as the relevant public-bidding steps.

What the district did not say or that remains unresolved: TxDOT officials told the district that the ultimate decision about which portions of FM 4 will be conveyed or abandoned rests at a higher level within TxDOT; the district has not yet received a final, signed memorandum of understanding. The region-wide vehicle counts cited came from TxDOT’s feasibility study and were not broken down in the meeting to show daily counts for the exact road segments that would be inundated.