Consultant Eddie Haas outlines road impact-fee study; council keeps public hearing open

Consultant Eddie Haas opened a public hearing on Manvel's land-use assumptions and a road capital improvements plan that could form the basis of a road impact-fee program, and the council voted to keep the hearing open to allow the 60-day public inspection period required by state law.

Haas told the council the analysis uses four service areas inside the city and a 10-year forecast of known and anticipated development. He said the city's population is currently a little over 20,000 and that the forecast anticipates roughly 27,000 additional residents and about 15,400 additional employees by 2035. "This onetime charge acts as a funding mechanism to implement key facilities identified on your roadway capital improvements plan," he said, describing eligible costs such as construction, engineering, right-of-way and debt service.

The consultant said two minor changes prompted the extended notice period: a realignment of project 51 on Del Bello and removal of a segment north of State Highway 6 (Markham) from the CIP. Those edits reduce the CIP's new-lane capacity slightly (from about 52,600 vehicle-miles of capacity to roughly 51,194), Haas said. He also explained that state statute (Chapter 395 of the Texas Local Government Code) caps allowable roadway service areas and dictates the two-step public hearing and ordinance-adoption process.

Council members pressed for clarity on how large land purchases and anticipated developments (including a noted Belcher tract) were reflected in the forecast. "If that 800-acre tract comes in, some of that was already included in our assumptions," Haas said, describing the forecast as rooted in the city's water-and-wastewater master-plan numbers and approved development applications.

Resident Heidi Ziemer spoke during public comment and asked that the city make final plans and maps available earlier, saying recent changes to the thoroughfare plan had surprised landowners and created confusion about easements and whether long-standing roads would become private lanes. After discussion, a motion to keep the public hearing open until the council's first August meeting (Aug. 3) carried unanimously.

The next steps, as Haas described them, are a revised report and map posted for the 60-day review period, a second public hearing later in the calendar year that will present the cost-per-service-unit calculations, and then ordinance readings if the council decides to adopt an impact-fee schedule. "This doesn't mean you're adopting impact fees tonight," Haas said; the December meeting remains the target for possible initial consideration of a road-impact-fee ordinance.

The public hearing will remain open through the posted inspection period; council members and staff said they will meet with the advisory committee and publish the revised materials before the August continuation date.