CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A plan to downsize several future roads in the London area cleared its first hurdle at City Council, impacting two major developments: Mirabella and King's Lake West.
Instead of 4-lane roads known as C3 collectors, two developers are asking for narrower 2-lane C1 collectors, which would mean less construction cost and more space for homes.
"The C1 actually minimizes the amount of land they would be required to develop. And so they are able to have to dedicate less land to the city for a road," said Ernie De La Garza, Public Works Director.
According to the city, the developers conducted a traffic study they say, based on the lot sizes, predicts less traffic in the area.
"In our planning processes, we always try our best to use data, you know, statistical data to try to evaluate whether or not a road is the right size for development," said De La Garza.
According to the city, a C3 road sees up to 14,000 vehicles a day. A C1 road handles up to 8,000.
Some on council worry that making a change to fit what developers have already designed doesn't take future growth into consideration.
"You always want to have a slight idea of a future plan. You don't want to put the school, and then try to figure out the roads and infrastructure afterwards," said Gil Hernandez, District 5 Councilman.
Hernandez says future growth, which includes talk of potentially adding a new London ISD campus, could require wider roads after it's too late. But city staff says nothing is final yet.
"If a scenario comes up where a school comes and develops later and adds more traffic generation in the area, then since the plat is preliminary, we can adjust it again by going back to Council," said De La Garza.
The second and final vote on this item is expected to take place on Tuesday, June 24.
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