Long Running Dispute Over McKeever Road May Be Resolved

The Arcola City Council has approved an agreement with Fort Bend County to make improvements to the portion of McKeever Road within the Arcola city limits.

The city and county have been at odds over the county’s proposal to make repairs to McKeever since last year.

The issue of greatest contention has been Arcola’s refusal to agree to an extension of South Post Oak Road from Highway 6 to McKeever Road unless the two thoroughfares connected with a “T” intersection. The “T” intersection would, according to some Arcola city officials, ensure that McKeever remained open through to the downtown commercial area of the city.

While Arcola and Fort Bend County may have reached an agreement, Houston Southwest Airport owner Jamie Griffith may still block the deal by refusing to sign off on it.  

Griffith has been holding out for a sweeping curve design for South Post Oak that intersects McKeever at a point near the western edge of the airport’s runway.

Some in Arcola strongly objected to that design, saying it would set the stage for the county to eventually close the portion of McKeever that runs along the northern edge of the airport to allow for expansion of Houston Southwest’s single runway and permit the development of other airport facilities. They claimed the closure of McKeever would divert traffic away from Arcola and hurt future development.

At one point, the dispute became so contentious that former Fort Bend County Commissioner Tom Stavinoha threatened to put all interlocal agreements between the county and Arcola on hold until the dispute over McKeever was resolved.

When negotiations to reach a compromise stalled, the county moved ahead with making improvements on the portion of McKeever west of Arcola, but halted all work at the city limits line.

Since current County Commissioner Richard Morrison took office in January, a flurry of negotiations between Arcola and the county led to the two hammering out an agreement. The “T” intersection was included in the latest version of the agreement, along with an assurance that McKeever would remain open. 

Despite the inclusion of those concessions, Arcola City Attorney James Dougherty said the new agreement still contained some items that concerned him. One item Dougherty said concerned him was that Fort Bend County would retain jurisdiction over the new South Post Oak extension.

“That creates a legal question when you have a county road within the city and sets up a potential conflict for the city in the future,” Dougherty said. “It tells me the county wants to control the road.”

Another item of concern was a requirement that the city and county must sign the agreement first, followed by Griffith. Griffith owns the property through which the South Post Oak extension would run and is donating the right-of-way to the county. He has previously been quoted as saying he would not agree to the deal if it included the “T” design.

“The effect of that is to give the landowner control over the agreement. I think that’s a problem,” Dougherty said.

Despite those concerns, Councilman Tom Hilton, who has been an outspoken advocate of the “T” intersection design, made the motion to approve the agreement. He said the county is already working on McKeever and feared once crews demobilized, they would not return.

“This agreement gives us what we wanted. McKeever will get the repairs it needs, there will be a “T” intersection with South Post Oak and McKeever will remain open,” Hilton said. “Now it’s up to Mr. Griffith to sign off on the agreement.”

Attempts to reach Griffith for comment have been unsuccessful. In the past, he has said he would not agree to any deal unless it included the sweeping curve design for South Post Oak.

The Arcola City Council approved the agreement on a unanimous vote.