By Dan Parker

The Port Aransas City Council has decided to go another route on 11^th Street.

The council voted today, Thursday, Feb. 17, to present voters with a $6.4 million bond package which, if approved, would fund large-scale improvements to 11^th Street, a major artery for residents and tourists alike.

The vote nullifies action that the council took two weeks ago to offer up a $5 million package for 11^th Street roadwork that wouldn’t have been as extensive.

The issue now is up to voters. Election day is May 14.

The $5 million plan proposed by city staff would have involved a full rebuild throughout most of the length of 11^th Street, from Avenue G to Royal Palm Lane, where some of the most densely populated parts of the thoroughfare lie. It also would have meant inserting a center turn lane in that stretch.

The package also would have provided for installing underground drainage with curbs and gutters on the north end of 11^th Street and building a concrete hike-and-bike path along one side of the street and a sidewalk along the other side, from Avenue J to Royal Palm Lane.

The section of 11^th Street from Royal Palm to Access Road 1A would have received a new road base and new asphalt, but no underground drainage, no curbs and gutters and no center turn lane. It would have gotten an asphalt bike path.

At the Feb. 3 meeting, councilman John Price cast the lone dissenting vote on the $5 million option, saying that he wanted to present voters with a different option put together by city staff – the $6.4 million package. (Councilman Keith Donley was absent due to a doctor’s appointment, but he sent word that he also would support the $6.4 million plan.)

Price had the matter put on the agenda for today’s meeting because he said he had seen a swell of public support for the $6.4 million proposal. He asked council members to change their votes to go with that plan.

Several citizens spoke at today’s meeting, all in support of the $6.4 million plan. One of the speakers was Suzette Freeman, president of Port Aransas Chamber of Commerce-Tourist Bureau.

The $6.4 million package would mean a complete rebuild of the full length of the street, with center turn lanes inserted and underground drainage, curbs and gutters installed from Avenue J to Access Road 1A. It would involve construction of a concrete hike-and-bike path on one side of the street and a sidewalk on the other throughout the entire length of the street, except for in a relatively small area where a sidewalk already exists.

Gas and water line work were expected to be involved in both plans, but more of it would be involved in the $6.4 million plan.

Voting in favor of the $6.4 million proposal were Price, Donley and council members Glenda Balentine, Steve Lanoux, Rick Pratt and Charles Bujan.

Mayor Keith McMullin voted no, saying that he worried that voters wouldn’t approve a bond issue with such a high price tag.

The city’s tax rate currently is 33.2023 cents per $100 valuation. If approved by voters, the $5 million option would have meant taxes would go up 3.087 cents, according to Darla Honea, the city’s finance director.

The average market value of a home in Port Aransas, with a homestead exemption, is $199,471, according to Honea’s office. With a 3.087-cent tax increase, that property owner would see $61.58 added to his tax bill, Honea said.