News: Bucks Flats crashes
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Wednesday, September 4, 2013
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Buck Flats upgrades By Jackie Lieuwen Houston Today
BRIDGE Repairs
Jackie Lieuwen/Houston Today
Contracted by LDM, Formula Contractors jacked up Buck Bridge #1 and replaced two support beams last Thursday and Friday. Buck Flats Road residents were notified and the road was closed both days, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. See story at the right hand of this page.
Jacking up the bridge and replacing two bridge beams is part of the maintenance and upgrades on Buck Flats Road. Funded by the Ministry of Tr a n s p o r t a t i o n and Infrastructure (MOT), Lakes District Maintenance (LDM) fixed Buck Bridge #1 and gravelled and widened Buck Flats Road from Harding Road to 6 km, said Bradley Boyden, District Operations Technician with MOT. F o r m u l a Contractors was contracted by LDM for the bridge work. They notified residents and closed the road past Buck Bridge #1 last Thursday and Friday from 10 to 4 p.m. to do bridge maintenance work. “It’s routine maintenance… because of
the natural aging of the structure,” said Tyler Patterson, Bridge Project Foreman. Patterson says two of the horizontal beams under the bridge, called caps, needed replacing, and because of the nature of the bridge - a concrete deck and wooden cap - they had to jack up the bridge to replace the caps. He says they jack the bridge up an inch, cut the caps loose, excavate the road out on the end and remove the old cap. Then they use the excavator to lift the new beams into place and set the bridge back down. Patterson says they have an emergency response plan in place during the road closure, where emergency crews contact the flaggers, workers lower the bridge and replace necessary dirt so that the emergency vehicles can cross. See ROAD on Page 2
Council proposes a Development Review Committee By Jackie Lieuwen Houston Today
Council wants to encourage development in Houston by forming a Development Review Committee. At a public meeting last Thursday, council presented the idea to over thirty people
who attended, to gauge public opinion. “I think it’s great, it’s been a long time coming,” said Tanya Margerm, local landscape architect. “It gives the town leverage on helping maintain a standard in the community. “If you have a development permit, it’s
like a partnership with [the District and] those people who are developing in the community, rather than just letting them do whatever,” she said. Margerm says that without a development permit process, a developer can come in and do whatever they want, a fantastic job or a a re-
ally poor job. She adds that this process will also give council the ability to ask for specific, simple things that developers can work into their plans, like putting in one large tree per home, for example. “If they know that up front then they budget for it and it makes it
happen,” she said. The process will also solidify a direction in terms of the community character that the town wants to bring out, and it will stay consistent even as council changes, Margerm said. “This will make it more cohesive so that no matter who is work-
ing here - because we always have people come and go in the District office - the theme and the direction and the character of the community is being maintained,” she said. John Guenther, Interim Community Planner, explained the process:
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First, the developer would lay out concrete plans assisted by a consultant. Then they would present a development permit application to the Development Review Committee, made up of the Fire Chief, the District Engineer and a Town Councillor. See PLAN on Page 10
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