Despite receiving an advance report that poll results show residents of Cinco Ranch are overwhelmingly opposed to their plans, board directors of Cinco MUD 12 have decided to move ahead with an effort to build a series of new monuments signs to mark the entrance of Cinco Ranch.
Bruce Thomas, chair of a Cinco Ranch Neighborhood Representatives Committee working group to study the proposed signs, told MUD directors this week that results of two online polls showed Cinco Ranch residents strongly oppose the sign project.
At the request of both the Cinco Ranch Residential Board of Directors and the Landscape Maintenance Association, polls were conducted asking residents their opinion of a proposal to use sales tax money to fund the approximately $1.4 million sign project. The Landscape Maintenance Association controls all right-of-way in Cinco Ranch and must give its permission for the MUD to build the signs.
With only a few hours remaining for residents to vote in two online polls, Thomas said a total 630 votes had been cast to keep the existing signs, while 121 favored the MUD’s proposal to build new ones.
Of that total, 613 votes were cast on a password-protected site available only to Cinco Ranch homeowners, while 138 were cast on the more public “Cinco Ranch Connects” website. Thomas pointed out that opposition ran strong in both polls.
“On the password-protected site, there were 518 votes to keep the current signs and 95 to replace them,” Thomas said. “On the Cinco Ranch Connects site, there were 112 votes in favor of keeping the existing signs and 26 in favor of the (MUD) proposal.”
Votes cast in the Autumn Grove neighborhood, the residential area closest to the proposed project, showed only three residents in favor of the new signs, while 21 preferred to keep the existing signs.
Thomas said the final results will be presented to the Neighborhood Representatives Committee meeting Monday evening. The tallies will also be given to the residential board of directors and the Landscape Maintenance Association board.
The landscape maintenance board is expected to make a final decision on granting permission for the signs at its Dec. 3 meeting.
The MUD board’s attorney Steve Robinson told the directors that a request for that permission was pending with the LMA board and asked if, in view of the poll results, the MUD board wanted to reconsider.
“Is there any desire to change your pending request?” Robinson asked.
Board member Alan Bauer said he stood behind the request and appeared to doubt the poll results.
“We’ve come this far; I don’t feel we should respond to anything that may or may not be valid,” Bauer.
Board member Stephanie Faulk took a similar stand.
“The survey certainly isn’t what we wanted to see, but if we want to defend our decision, we can defend our decision,” Faulk said. “Or we can buy a fire truck.”
Faulk’s fire truck remark was a reference to a recent request by the Willowfork Fire Department for financial help in purchasing an aerial fire truck. The department does not currently have an aerial truck and asked the MUD board for funding since a number of multi-story structures are being developed within the MUD.
The board voted unanimously to move ahead with the sign project.
The $1.4 million sign proposal has been controversial since it became public last summer. Many Cinco Ranch residents complained that the board designed and developed the project without public input. Others questioned the whether new signs were needed and why the MUD board would decide to fund signs instead of other projects, such as the fire truck, that would benefit a greater number of residents.
Some residents like Jerry Anderson have openly questioned whether the MUD board is just using tax money to benefit the LaCenterra and other commercial interests.
“I find it really suspicious that the MUD board, who are supposed to represent the interests of the people, can turn their noses up at a request for a fire truck – something that affects the safety of everyone – for a million-dollar sign that only benefits LaCenterra,” Anderson said. “Sounds like LaCenterra has the MUD board in the back pocket.”
Anderson was not alone in his criticism of the proposal. Marianne Williams agreed.
“We have large, beautiful signs there now. Why in God’s name would anyone with good sense want to spend a million dollars to build new ones? It’s an absolute waste of money,” Williams said. “This is why we taxpayers need to keep an eye on our so-called elected representatives. That’s out money they’re spending.”
The Landscape Maintenance Association has already started hearing from residents opposing the sign proposal.
Jim Norasky told LMA directors at a recent meeting that the new signage may have appeal for the commercial part of the MUD, but not necessarily for residents.
“It may be an attraction for the commercial area, but it may also be a distraction among some residents,” Norasky said.
Resident R.J. Linton had an even stronger opinion, saying he felt like the sign proposal was a done deal.
“I feel like I’m walking into a poker game with the deck stacked against me,” Linton said. “Homeowners have been left out.”
He added the proposal seemed like a “fait accompli”
Resident Eric Jacobson voiced a similar opinion, saying it looked like “this deal was done behind closed doors before the public ever knew.”
“Only after some residents got wind of this and started making noise was there any public input. Now the MUD board is saying they’re going forward in spite of that input,” Jacobson said. “It’ll be interesting to see if the LMA shows any backbone and supports the residents.”
Jacobson added that at least one member of the LMA board may have a conflict of interest.
“I understand at least one (LMA) board member works for the company that manages LaCenterra,” Jacobson said. “That certainly brings in to question where their loyalties lie.”
A full report on the final poll results will be presented to the Neighborhood Representatives Committee at their Monday night meeting at the Cinco Ranch Library. That meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the library meeting room.
A final decision from the Landscape Maintenance Association is expected at their Dec. 3 meeting. That meeting will take place at the Cinco Ranch Offices, 4025 S. Mason Rd., beginning at 8:30 a.m.
