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Rockwall County appoints steering committee, schedules town halls for master thoroughfare plan update
Summary
The commissioners authorized Commissioners Maklick and Lichty to select an 8–12 member steering committee and set dates/locations for the first round of public meetings, moving a 16‑month update of the county’s master thoroughfare plan into the public engagement phase.
County officials on Jan. 27 authorized the creation of an 8–12 member steering committee and scheduled public outreach for the county’s master thoroughfare plan update.
Erica Bridges, Rockwall County’s county engineer and the project manager for the update, told the commissioners the plan — last adopted in 2019 — needs revision to reflect growth and changing development patterns. “It is a 16 month project,” Bridges said, describing a current data‑collection phase, demographic work by consultant Friese Nichols and a public engagement phase that will include an online survey and two town halls planned for April.
Bridges said the county has requested data from the North Central Texas Council of Governments and will hold individual 45‑minute interviews with each commissioner and the judge to gather local input. She asked the court to appoint a project steering committee to help guide stakeholder outreach and implementation.
Commissioner Lichty proposed a compact, working steering group and moved that Commissioners Maklick and Lichty be authorized to recommend and seat members and to select dates and locations for the first round of public meetings. Judge New called for nominations and the court approved the motion 5–0.
Commissioners said they expect stakeholders to include TxDOT, NCTCOG, municipal representatives, school districts, HOAs, the development community and water/drainage districts. Bridges said consultant work on demographics should be finished by February and that the online survey will run for about 30 days; the first steering committee meeting is expected in February with public town halls in April.
The court directed commissioners to submit suggested committee members promptly; Commissioner Lichty asked colleagues to provide names “by the end of this week” so the appointing commissioners can finalize selections. The county will follow the steering committee’s work with formal town halls and a later public hearing before adoption.
Next steps: commissioners will provide candidate names for the steering committee, Friese Nichols will complete demographic analysis, and staff will post the public survey and public‑meeting schedule ahead of the April town halls.
