Woodway is back on track to get a more than $1 million state grant to build sidewalks around Woodway Elementary School, after initially rejecting the funding last month.
The Woodway City Council voted 5-2 Monday in favor of approving a funding agreement with Texas Department of Transportation for the grant, which requires a 20%, or $263,000 matching contribution from the city. The project would add a sidewalk next to the school on Midway Drive and Estates Drive, extending along Estates toward Highway 84.
Council members David Russell and David Keyston cast the dissenting votes. Council Member Gayle Avant, who voted against the agreement last month, switched this time to support it.
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Russell and Keyston said during the council’s discussion that many of their constituents had called or emailed asking them to vote against the grant. Russell said he would prefer for the sidewalk to be built in another neighborhood where residents told him they have more risk from drivers. Keyston said his constituents feel the city’s use of their tax money for matching funds amounts to double taxation since they also pay school taxes.
Grant application documents the city submitted to TxDOT say the city wants to build 1,925 linear feet of sidewalks 8 feet wide around two sides of Woodway Elementary School that face Midway Drive and Estates Drive, and continue the sidewalk along Estates Drive toward Highway 84, passing a vacant lot and a lot where a Dutch Bros. coffee shop now stands. The project as approved by TxDOT would also add crosswalks, signs and 10 curb ramps compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act standards.
Council members John Williams, Janell Gilman, Storey Cook and Mayor Amine Qourzal each said they believe TxDOT would not have approved a grant request for the sidewalk in the neighborhood Russell suggested.
Cook also said she does not think TxDOT would have approved the grant for sidewalks on the opposite sides of the streets where the sidewalks are planned. Homes line those sides of Midway Drive and Estates.
Qourzal said that after the last council meeting two weeks ago, Avant had asked to have the funding agreement for the grant reconsidered.
Qourzal also said in addition to school children, the sidewalks will be used by people from the surrounding neighborhoods who want to walk to the businesses near where Estates meets the Highway 84 frontage road.
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