By KIM ESTES, Four Points News
The Four Points Traffic Committee continues to work toward building a “Road to Vandegrift” and negotiations continue on the matter between Leander ISD and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services regarding mitigation for endangered species.
Pam Waggoner, Four Points Traffic Committee founder and LISD board of trustee president, said LISD will notify community residents when the public comment period opens regarding construction of a second road to Vandegrift High School and Four Points Middle School.
As for a timetable, “the best I got was this year,” Waggoner said. “Public interest will be absolutely necessary to progress the plan.”
The traffic committee and LISD are working together to seek an additional roadway to VHS and FPMS, as there is now only one access road to and from the campuses. The proposed road would be built along an existing infrastructure corridor that borders the Canyonlands and it would sit on a portion of the Balcones Canyonlands Conservation Plan.
USFWS is involved because the vicinity is occupied by certain species listed as threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act, according to Alan Glen, an environmental law attorney retained by LISD.
This photo shows the road Four Points Traffic Committee wants to improve and open to Leander ISD staff and students. This is the same road that runs along the edge of the Balcones Canyonlands Conservation Plan. “If you look to the left, you will see a new housing development adjacent to this road. This is land if developed, we are told, will harm some endangered species. Does this make sense to anyone,” asked Pam Waggoner, founder of FPTC and LISD board president.
