The city of Wichita Falls is beginning early stages of work on an extension of Maplewood Avenue from Lawrence Road to McNeil Avenue.

The street work is part of a bond proposition that passed in May for $17 million toward street repair and maintenance. The streets proposition was the only one of seven propositions that passed in the bond election.

Public Works Director Russell Schreiber said Thursday that the city is in the process of acquiring right-of-way rights on small portions of land on either side of the proposed extension of Maplewood.

There are five tracts of land on which the city would need right-of-way that are currently claimed by property owners in this area. Through the property administration office, the city will offer fair market value for these portions of land so they can complete the road.

Schreiber said these strips of land are mostly small, about five-feet wide, and will not cause any property owners to have to relocate their businesses.  

The Maplewood connection is set to be wider than the section of about two blocks of the road off McNeil. The road would be extended up and meet with the other section of Maplewood at Lawrence Road.

 A timeline for the work, Schreiber said, will depend on their partner in the project – Overland Property Group (OPG).

OPG first proposed the extension to benefit a potential expansion of one of their properties, The Reserves at Maplewood. The group is in the running for state-level tax credits that would allow them to create The Reserves at Maplewood II – a low- and moderate-income apartment complex.

To gain city support for their project, OPG offered to fund a portion of the road work which will run adjacent to this complex.

Winners of the tax credits are set to be announced in mid-July. If OPG’s project is chosen, the city will continue design work and construction could begin in January 2019.

Work on this extension would include: widening the portion of road already constructed, addition of about half a mile of road, gutters and storm-water drainage and possibly traffic signals at McNeil and Maplewood.

The Wichita Falls City Council will meet Tuesday to consider this resolution and six ordinances.

Other items of business include:

·        A resolution allowing the trustee property at 803 Webster Street to be sold for less than the total amount of the judgment against the property.

·        A resolution amending Resolution 28-2018 authorizing the submittal of a grant application to the State Homeland Security Grant Program via the Office of the Governor for National Incident Management System (NIMS) training.

·        A resolution authorizing the city manager to execute all documents necessary to purchase 135 Hewlett Packard computer workstations from CDW Government LLC and 135 Microsoft Office 2016 Standard Licenses from SHI/Government Solutions, Inc. in the amount of $121,344.75.

There are three resolutions approving the programs and expenditures of the Wichita Falls 4B Sales Tax Corporation Board of Directors and amending the budget to include funding for:

·        Up to $20,916 to Downtown Wichita Falls Development, Inc. for infrastructure repair and upgrades to the Wichita Falls Farmers Market.

·        Up to $22,000 to Upstate Ireland, LLC for historical preservation and infrastructure improvements at 614 Seventh Street.

·        Up to $300,000 for an Extension Agreement with Gatehouse Capital for Professional Services related to development of a full-service hotel and conference center.