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Rowlett traffic barrier repairs cause divide
Battle lines are being drawn along property lines in some Rowlett neighborhoods, where screening walls that serve as barriers between traffic and homes are broken and need repair.
ROWLETT, Texas - Battle lines are being drawn along property lines in some Rowlett neighborhoods, where screening walls that serve as barriers between traffic and homes are broken and need repair.
The question is: who will pay for the work?
Rowlett traffic screening wall issue
Rowlett screening wall
The city has always maintained the walls, a budgeted program in place for decades, until about two years ago when the repairs stopped.
The mayor says a new city manager, in reviewing all budget issues, determined the screening walls did not belong to the city.
There are breaches in the bricks of screening walls along Rowlett's Dalrock thoroughfare.
What they're saying:
Alan Hogan has lived in Lake Bend Estates for 31 years, and he says the city has maintained the wall nearest his home ever since he moved in.
Sylvia Hogan, another resident, backs up the claim that the city manager now believes the wall belongs to the residents.
Resident Sharon Hodges, however, says she has documentation proving neither the alley nor the wall behind her home are part of her property.
Rowlett screening wall
The walls in places are down, or completely gone.
Deandre Wright's mother lives in one such spot. Wright says it's not just about a property line, but his mother's personal safety. He says the backyard was not safe to use, due to a large hole in the wall.
At some point, neighbors scribbled a message for help on plywood. The aging sign also shows the span of the issue.
Rowlett screening wall
"I’d like the city to step up and take the ownership, again they're the owners, the city needs to step up and do what they're supposed to do," said Hogan.
'It's not legal for the city'
The other side:
Rowlett Mayor Jeff Winget says the city did maintain the walls for decades, but policy review stopped that work.
"Our ordinances are actually structured in such a way that it's not legal for the city to do that type of work," Winget says.
Not legal, because the mayor says the city doesn't own the property where the walls are standing.
"The responsibility for the screening walls in those areas falls to the homeowners, or an HOA in some cases," said Winget.
While the mayor does not believe the city is allowed to do the work at the moment, he also says he doesn’t intend for that to be the final word on the matter. Winget says he is working on a plan to bring to city council.
Rowlett screening wall
"That ranges kind of across the spectrum of either the city assuming responsibility or the city relegating that responsibility back to the residents," Winget said. "There are other plans I think go along with this that lead to corridor beautification as a whole."
What's next:
The mayor says the city is working to find answers for the property ownership in question whether it might belong to the city, or whether it is a dedicated right-of-way or an easement.
He also said he is building out what he hopes might be a holistic plan the council can say yes to, to remedy the screening wall problem and produce a corridor into the city would beautify the Dalrock Corridor into the city.
The Source: Information in this story comes from residents and employees of the City of Rowlett.