Council moves to obtain land around King's Gate Bridge

After negotiations to acquire the land around King's Gate Bridge have proved unsuccessful, the Willow Park City Council voted to move forward with eminent domain proceedings at its meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 24.

The city owns a bridge located at King’s Gate Road over the Clear Fork of the Trinity River. It has become necessary to replace the bridge, which requires the purchase of property.

A small amount of property on the east side has been bought with no difficulty. However, negotiations with the landowners to acquire the right-of-way on the west side have been unsuccessful to date.

Therefore, city officials opted to adopt a resolution authorizing the use of the power of eminent domain to acquire the tract of land containing approximately 0.0807 acres (3,514 square feet). The land is generally located northwest from the intersection of King’s Gate Road and Interstate Highway 20 Frontage Road at 4200 E. Interstate 20 Service Road South.

“He’s not responded at all or communicated with us,” Willow Park City Manager Bryan Grimes said, noting that both sides are working through their respective attorneys.

Assistant City Manager Bill Funderburk told the council that a 30-day notice to reach an agreement will expire on the Sept. 30. After that, a final notice of 14 days will be issued and if that expires with no settlement, the eminent domain proceedings can begin.

FlashVote

Council approved a contract with the company FlashVote to conduct community surveys for the 2024-25 fiscal year.

The agreement is designed to help the city meet requirements for certain grant funding, stating that public surveys allow city leadership to make data-driven decisions based on scientifically sound public sampling.

“They basically do it start to finish for us,” Willow Park Communications and Marketing Director Rose Hoffman said. “In 48 hours we’ll have easily understandable results.”

FlashVote notes three ways it helps city leaders:

1. Short automated scientific surveys.
2. Do more with less and prevent mistakes.
3. Serve the many, not just the noisy.

Hoffman noted that a one-year agreement with FlashVote would allow the city to take six sample surveys in a year, giving a chance for feedback on not just parks, but other areas.

“If I had my perfect strategy we would lead with a general survey, then dive down into specifics from there,” she said.

Hoffman added that the system would reinforce to the community that their input is important in decision-making. She said it will go into effect on Oct. 1 and folks in the community will be informed via a campaign how they can sign up to participate.

“This is a far more sophisticated way of getting community input,” Grimes said.