Kendall moving forward with plans for Herff Road

The Friends of the Cibolo Wilderness received a windfall this week, while neighboring property owners were put on notice they have limited time to negotiate Herff Road right-of-way agreements with Kendall County.

Kendall County commissioners on Monday took two separate actions that will advance the road project after weeks of delay. They OK'd the purchase of the first parcels for the expanded road, with $239,774 going to the Friends of the Cibolo Wilderness for three parcels.

Commissioners also authorized Pct. 2 Commissioner Gene Miertschin to represent the county at closing, set for today.

In a separate agenda item, the commissioners reconvened after a closed-door executive session and decided to hire the law firm of Davidson, Troilo, Ream & Garza of San Antonio/Austin to proceed with condemnation of two parcels on which the county has not been able to get agreement.

“There's a process you have to follow any time you do a condemnation,” said County Attorney Don Allee. He said his office did not have the time or staff to comply with all the provisions the process requires and recommended commissioners hire outside counsel to assist in the eminent domain acquisitions.

Patrick W. Lindner, attorney with the Davidson Troilo firm, said a recent change in legislation requires the county to follow a procedure outlined by the state before a condemnation suit can be filed.

That process involves presenting a final offer to the landowner and notifying the landowner of a waiting period for a response.

Miertschin reported the county has received two donations of right of way and that agreement has been reached on the Cibolo Wilderness tracts.

“This is going to be our first closing for the Herff Road project,” Miertschin said. “The Friends of the Cibolo Wilderness have three parcels along the roadway, two in the middle and one down on (Texas) 46 where the bridge is gonna go, so at this time we need to authorize the cutting of checks for those three parcels of land.”

Miertschin said the cost of the parcels to the county is $97,585 for Parcel 7, $112,597 for Parcel 8 and $29,592 for Parcel 11. The sums represent the appraised value of the properties, he said.

Herff Road, a 1.5-mile ribbon of pavement across the southeast side of Boerne, is being touted as an economic development bonanza that will benefit the entire region.

In May 2011, voters OK'd a $10 million bond issue to finance the Herff Road expansion. City officials now say that they anticipate 100 percent of the funding may come from the bond money, although developer Marlin-Atlantis and its successors or assigns pledged $2.3 million toward the cost because of increased traffic coming from its planned Esperanza subdivision.

While city officials have said they are pleased the county has taken over responsibility for the road, Boerne City Manager Ron Bowman expressed frustration at a drawn-out land acquisition process.

At the March 26 City Council meeting, Bowman said he's concerned that the slow pace of land acquisition could have an impact on the final costs of the project. Officials had hoped to receive competitive bids in what's been called a favorable bid climate in the recent past, but Bowman did not know if that would still be the case once the project actually is bid.

Almost a year ago, on May 15, city and county officials announced the project was in the final design stage. At that meeting, Allee called the project “one of the biggest economic development projects ever” for the county.

Officials then estimated it would take several months to acquire right of way. If the expansion had gone on schedule, the project would have gone out for bids in January and motorists would have been driving on the new road in June 2014.

That deadline can't be met, with purchase of four more parcels required before the project can be bid, Miertschin said.

The total acreage sought by the county for the road is 13.75 acres, he said.