Court schedules vendor presentation and public hearings as county thoroughfare plan moves off hold

County planning staff and the consultant team updated commissioners Tuesday on the status of the Guadalupe County Master Thoroughfare Plan, which has been in a holding pattern since late November while the county refines scope and budget for public release.

Mr. Black, who has been coordinating the project, said the contract work began July 26, 2022, and was revised through 2023 and 2024 after commissioner feedback. He said early plan drafts used a grid approach that did not make efficient use of existing infrastructure; later revisions took local development patterns into account and sought to limit new-location right-of-way where possible. He said the subcontractor Peyton Dawson has been working on the mapping layers and that staff has coordinated with the cities of New Braunfels, Seguin and Cibolo and with Comal County planners where relevant.

Commissioners emphasized the need to move the plan to public review so landowners and developers can comment, but also asked for an opportunity to receive a vendor presentation first. Court members agreed to invite Peyton Dawson to give a presentation at a dedicated workshop on Feb. 11 (an 8:30 a.m. start was proposed) to show the work performed to date, including three separate map layers (existing expanded roads, new-location rights-of-way, and existing roads) and to identify next steps, scope refinements and public hearing dates. Staff said the remaining budget should be sufficient to complete the plan once a tightened scope is agreed and the subcontractor provides a cost estimate for the remaining work.

The court directed staff to coordinate Peyton Dawson’s presentation for Feb. 11 and to return on the Feb. 25 meeting with a proposed scope and cost estimate that would allow the county to set public hearing dates and bring the plan to a public-comment period by spring.