Published: August 19, 2008 01:57 pm         

RW County looking for a better seat at the RTC table

By Leslie Gibson

Herald-Banner Staff



Rockwall County wants a better seat at the table where decision-makers allocate Federal and State dollars to state road projects.

The table is the Regional Transportation Council (RTC), self-described as an independent transportation policy body of the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG). The council serves a six-county metroplex area expected to be urbanized within 20 years.

Sitting around that table are 40 players — each representing one or several entites.

Whether or not more seats should be added, or representation shifted, is being decided now, with a meeting set for Aug. 21.

Only eight of the cities and counties represented have their own seats — the other 69 are shared, or belong to a transportation council.



Rockwall County shares seat with Garland



Garland’s mayor represents Garland, Rockwall County, Rockwall and Rowlett, in a shared seat arrangement. Garland’s population of 200,000-plus is more than the County of Rockwall and the City of Rowlett combined. Earlier this year, the four entities sharing that seat tentatively agreed that Garland’s mayor Ron Jones would serve, then the Rowlett mayor, then the Rockwall County judge, and then the Rockwall mayor; however, the Garland city council voted against that idea, said Rockwall County commissioner Bruce Beaty in a recent interview. Beaty said the city council did the “smart” thing, and that he believes the outlying counties have been treated fairly in RTC representation.

When asked why the county would want a seat on the RTC, Beaty responded, “If we have a seat on the board then we will be in the decision-making process when those dollars go around the table. It’s not critical, but its important.”

County Judge Chris Florance is adamant on the need for a seat. “We’re the fastest growing county in the State of Texas, the fourth fastest in the U.S. so we need to have some representation to help us plan for this eastern corridor out of the City of Dallas.” Garland is “built-out” he added, and noted that Interstate 30 goes “all the way to the Eastern Seaboard.”

On the way to the Eastern Seaboard, I-30 exits Rockwall County and enters Hunt County, soon to be added, probably, to the Metropolitan Planning Area (MPA) of NCTCOG, and thus also need RTC representation. The current MPA consists of all of Denton, Collin, Tarrant, Dallas, and Rockwall counties, and contiguous portions of Parker, Johnson, Ellis, and Kaufman. Expansion would, among others, include Hunt County on the east, and Wise, Parker and Hood on the west, and bring in the remaining parts of the partially-included counties, and thus double the size of the MPA.



Hunt County may join MPA



Hunt County Judge John Horn said he and all of the county and city officials are “very, very interested” in that potential. Like those represented now on the RTC, he must wait and see if the RTC adds seats, or re-allocates the seats to accommodate the new counties and cities, and growth in the existing MPA.

“The key elected officials (of Hunt County) are very very interested to see how this is going to play,” Horn said. For transporation planning, “You really have to look beyond the headlights. You have to be visionary,” he added. “At least we would be able to pull a seat up to the table,” he said, of membership on the RTC as an MPA county.

Some kind of accommodation is being considered according to Michael Morris, chairman of the RTC by-laws committee, and director of transportation of NCTCOG.



Seat allocation difficult



Seat allocation is difficult, Beaty noted.

“They either have to increase the numbers by say, 10, and let Rockwall, Kaufman and Hunt County take up those seats, reducing voting strength of the original counties. Or, you are taking seats away from those guys in the core (core counties) if you reallocate seats,” Beaty said.

“It takes quite a bit of diplomacy.”

Rockwall County’s traffic consultant, John Polster, and Beaty said metroplex cities do not want to give up representation.

“Basically, the big cities don’t want to let go,” Polster told the Rockwall County Consortium, a group of elected officials representing each Rockwall County city, and the county. Six persons who fill various seats are either councilmembers of or citizen members of the City of Dallas, which has more than half of Dallas County’s population. The cities of Arlington, Fort Worth, Grand Prairie, and Plano each have their own seat.

The counties of Collin, Denton and Tarrant each have their own seat.

Dallas County, with 2.5 million people, has a seat.

About 358,000 population total, one-third of that in Garland, is represented in the combinaton seat which includes Rockwall County.

McKinney, Allen and Frisco, combine for about 300,000 population, represented by McKinney’s mayor.

Forney and part of Kaufman County share with Balch Springs, Seagoville, and Mesquite, whose mayor represents them. Mesquite has 137,000 people and Forney just more than 12,000.

But by 2030, populations in many of the currently smaller areas will have jumped more than 200 percent. To be ready, those areas need dollars now to get long-term state projects going.



Money allocation amongst big players



As in any MPA county, Rockwall County’s traffic pressures are great. Those counties have population densities greater than 100 persons per squre mile; have 30 percent or more of workers commuting to the five core counties; and expected population growths of 50 percent or more during 2005 to 2030.

Also, being in the Dallas district of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) means Rockwall County’s state roadways compete for or cooperate with big players for state road funding.

Of the seven counties in the Dallas district, five of them are in the list of the top 100 fastest-growing counties in the nation, according to the 2007 U.S. Census. Six of them lie in the MPA.

In addition to Dallas County, the Dallas district serves the MPA counties of Collin, population 748,000; Denton, 614,000; Ellis, 147,000; and Kaufman, population 100,000. (The population data cited comes from NCTCOG.) Navarro County, of about 50,000 per the U.S. Census, is also in the district.

Other TxDOT districts serve less population and congestion. Almost 66 million vehicle miles were recorded daily through Dec. 31, 2007, in the approximately 5,000 square mile Dallas district, according to the TxDOT website. In contrast, approximately 10 million vehicle daily miles were recorded for the same time period in the approximately 6,000 square mile Paris district, which includes Hunt County.

That is why less populated places sometimes have more lanes of improved state roadway per capita than the crowded Dallas district, Beaty noted. “We don’t have a loop around our city, and we need one,” Beaty said.