In a split vote, the Cinco Ranch Property Association’s board of directors approved an agreement with Fort Bend County to include the community’s existing nature trail as a part of a broader multi-county hike and bike trail system.
The move came following a presentation on the proposal by Fort Bend County Pct. 3 Commissioner Andy Meyers.
MEYERS
Meyers said the plan for the hike and bike trail has been in place for a number of years, but development had to await an extensive approval process from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
That approval was further delayed in the wake of Hurricane Ike, Meyers said, while the Corps evaluated the impact of additional development within the Barker Reservoir system, including George Bush Park where eastern end of the trail will connect with the existing Harris County trail system.
The point where the trails connect will also include four new Little League fields.
Meyers told the board the county previously entered into an agreement with Cinco Ranch developer Terrabrook and its successor Newland Communities, and developers donated $140,000 toward the planning of the trail system.
TRAIL AGREEMENT APPROVED – The Cinco Ranch POA Board of Directors has approved an agreement with Fort Bend County to allow the use of the existing Cinco Ranch nature trail as a part of a larger trail/park system under development by the county. The trail will ultimately connect with an existing hike and bike trail system in Harris County’s George Bush Park.
With that agreement in place, the county believed the property owners association, which owns the Cinco Ranch nature trail, was a part of that arrangement.
Only recently did Meyers learn the POA board had not approved the agreement. What the county needed, he explained, was permission to use the nature trail right-of-way. In exchange, the county would provide amenities along the trail.
“What we’re talking about here is right-of-way. Cinco Ranch (developers) offered to donate the right-of-way for a hike and bike trail, but we also need the (homeowners association), as owners of the nature trail, to also approve the use of that right-of-way for this project,” Meyers said. “Some of the confusion occurred because of the amount of time that has passed since the county first made application for the grant to develop this project”
Meyers said the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, which is providing grant money for the project, has given the county a deadline to get the trail and park development started within the year or risk losing the funding.
He said all agreements were in place to move forward, including permission from 12 municipal utility districts within the Cinco Ranch, with the exception of the one from the Cinco HOA and the final approval from the Corps of Engineers.
Some of the amenities that will be built along the trail include a fishing station, boating station, canoe access, woodpecker habitat boxes, a pavilion, a fishing park and a wetlands education center. A majority of the amenities will be located within a 20-acre area located behind Creech Elementary School, Meyers explained.
There will also be four new Little League baseball fields at the extreme southwest edge of George Bush Park. There will also be a minimum of a 3000-foot buffer of trees between the park site and adjacent homes, Meyers said.
Meyers stressed it would be a “passive” park with the exception of the ball fields. The trail system is designed to interconnect with the Harris County trail system and, at some future point, a trail to Katy.
Several residents voiced objections to the plan, saying its proximity to neighborhoods would bring in additional traffic, noise and possible criminal activity.
Margarita Charma, a resident of the Equestrian Village 2 neighborhood, said her area is already impacted by cut-through traffic and noise because of existing park usage. Developing the ball fields and additional traffic along the trail will only make those problems worse, she told board members.
Several board members asked Meyers whether the county would provide help in patrolling the trail. Meyers said he had no ability to provide additional law enforcement and told the board they should “patrol it the way you do it now.”
He also suggested the board make arrangements for Cinco Ranch contract deputies to patrol the trail system.
Following a lengthy discussion, Board Member Tim Dore made a motion to approve the agreement with the county. Dore, Bob Russell and Board President Annabel Terrell voted to approve the measure.
Veteran board member Bob Pennington cast the lone dissenting vote, chastising his fellow board members for dismissing the concerns of residents.
“We are throwing their thoughts and concerns out completely,” Pennington said. “We are setting a very dangerous precedent.”
The fifth board member, Michael Price, was not present at the meeting.
