Council approves adjustments in Crown Road area

Following complaints from several residents in the Crown Road area at the past couple of meetings, the Willow Park City Council voted at its Tuesday, June 11 meeting to address some of the issues in that part of town.

The original 2022 street improvements project consisted of removing and replacing the existing asphalt pavement with concrete paving on Crown Road and Ranch House Road. The project also included roadside ditch grading, driveway replacement, and new bike lanes.

However, not everything has gone according to Hoyle, some residents have noted. For a third consecutive meeting, numerous folks from that area showed up to address the council, with their main complaint being about driveway widths following the construction.

And while that subject was put on hold, council did move forward with maintaining grass and mowing in the area, along with taking a major step to solve the speeding problems.

Mayor Doyle Moss offered a calming message to those from the area who attended the meeting, “I think the council made a statement tonight. This is not a dead issue.”

Mowing

At a meeting on May 14, several residents stated that the roadside ditches are now too steep and cannot be maintained. Due to resident concerns regarding the side slope of the new roadside ditches, city staff requested I&E Services, Inc. to mow the rights-of-way on Crown Road and Ranch House Road.

The city actually began doing this work prior to the May 28 meeting, at which some residents offered their appreciation.

Now, going forward, council has approved the city being responsible for mowing all grass and otherwise reasonably maintaining the aesthetics of all land within the roadside ditch area on these roads. The city will mow the roadside ditch once a month, or as needed during the growing season.

The council also voted to put hydro-mulch in place on Crown Road, a revegetation tool to keep soil in place and help grass grow, along with watering the area.

Speed humps on Crown Road

After numerous complaints about speeding in the area, a speed survey was conducted on Crown Road. City officials determined the installment of speed humps is essential for traffic calming, specifically the 30 block to the 100 block of Crown.

The engineering firm of Jacob Martin completed a rendering to detail how the speed humps should be constructed and placed on the roadway, as well as details of advanced warning markings. They are also currently working on where the speed humps should be placed along the roadway.

When asked about emergency vehicles on the road after the installation of speed bumps, Nic Kirk of Jacob Martin noted that the speed humps will create about a three-second delay on each hump for an unburdened vehicle and about a 10-second delay for one with a patient inside. 

Along with this, the Willow Park Police and Public Works Department deemed it necessary to establish a street hump installation policy.

Chief Daniel Franklin researched neighboring communities, including Weatherford, Azle, and Fort Worth, who have already established policies and created a policy for Willow Park that the council approved Tuesday.

“It’s our recommendation speed humps be installed at the locations Jacob Martin recommended,” Franklin told the council.

The policy establishes who can request speed humps, provides a procedure for requesting and notification of the neighbors, specifying time periods and cost sharing between the city and the neighborhood.

The first step in the speed hump installation process is to determine whether a specific street is eligible. Streets meeting all of the following conditions shall be eligible for street hump installation:

• The street is constructed on a dedicated right-of-way. Street humps will not be installed on private roads or drives.
• The street must be either a concrete street constructed as a residential roadway, or an asphalt street constructed as a residential roadway.
• The property adjacent to the street is either wholly or primarily residential if developed or, if undeveloped, the adjacent property is either wholly or primarily zoned for residential uses. Public parks, public schools, churches, and drainage easements are considered residential uses for the purposes of this policy.
• The street has no more than one moving lane of traffic in each direction.
• The traffic volume on the street is less than 5,000 vehicles per day.
• The street has a speed limit of 30 miles per hour.
• The street is not a primary route for emergency vehicles. Both the fire department and the police department shall have veto authority on any street they consider critical for emergency response.

Driveway expansion put on hold

Likewise, several residents have stated that the new drive approaches are too narrow. However, the city did not approve any more work in this area for the time being.

The city's subdivision ordinance states that residential driveways shall be not less than 11 feet wide, measured at the property line. The radius of all driveway returns shall be a minimum of 5 feet.

The city recently did work on some driveways to make sure they are now at least 12 feet in width - with the exception of one, which is about six inches short. 

City officials determined the driveways reconstructed on Crown Road and Ranch House Road met or exceeded the city’s design criteria. After an engineering analysis, city staff recommended not widening the drive approaches, but instead implementing traffic calming measures and re-evaluating the drive approaches at a later time. 

Grimes agreed with staff recommendation, noting that it will take about 90 days for the speed humps to get installed and then another 30 to 60 days to allow for traffic speed adjustments in the area. In short, when folks aren’t going as fast when they approach their driveway it will be easier and more accessible for entry.

Grimes said he believes the issue is more with “aprons” than the actual driveways. These are approach areas extending out that have now been taking away because of the roadside drainage ditches. 

“You’ve been cutting corners to get in there. When we made that deeper that took that away,” Grimes said, adding, “We can certainly come back and look at approaches. Let’s get the speed under control first.”

When someone from the audience called this into question, Grimes responded, “I did, in fact, turn into your driveway in a half-ton pickup.”

At the request of Mayor Pro Tem Lea Young, council voted to ask city staff to prepare a set of standards for driveway approaches.

“We cannot go out and look at every driveway and add something,” she said. “Otherwise, we’re arbitrarily saying this doesn’t look right and this doesn’t look right.”

Annexation

Council approved the annexation of two tracts of land totaling approximately 232 acres, one tract being approximately 3.208 acres and the tract being approximately 228.4 acres. The properties, owned by Brothers In Christ Properties, LLC are proposed for future development and the owners requested annexation into the city.

The property owners have requested water and sewer service, which the City of Willow Park can provide once the properties are within its extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ). 

In order to complete the annexation, the city will also annex approximately 11 acres of East Bankhead Highway, which borders the property.

Also, per state law, the city will schedule public hearings to take place before a final decision on the annexation is made.

Certificates of obligation

Council authorized publication and posting of notice of intent to issue certificates of obligation to pay for upsizing the water and wastewater lift station and rerouting a sewer line to provide service to some properties. 

The COOs will be in the amount not to exceed $5,135,000.