County paving efforts to focus on Transportation Dr., shorter streets

Some of the shortest streets in town will be resurfaced over the coming month after the Devine City Council voted unanimously to have Medina County’s Precinct 4 road crew focus their efforts there.
The decision to have Pct. 4 Commissioner Jerry Beck concentrate on South Washington Drive, Hermitage Loop, Parker Dr., and Kempf Avenue following the completion of the current work on Transportation Dr. was made during the Special meeting held last Tuesday, August 24.
Beck had previously informed Council that the Pct. 4 crew would be unable to complete all the planned repairs and asked for direction on what to prioritize (see “Road work scaled back in Devine, Natalia” in the Aug. 25 edition of The Devine News).
Paving projects require warm temperatures in order for the hot mix that’s used to adhere properly, leaving Beck’s crew about a month to work before winding up until next summer.
Mayor Cory Thompson said the original plan had been for Beck’s crew to start on the longest streets Council selected to receive double seal coats and work down from there.
“I just wish I knew how much he was estimating because Kathy [Lawler, District 4 Councilwoman] has some really short streets,” Thompson said. “Is that what he’s looking at, or is he looking at something a bit longer?”
District 2 Councilwoman Angela Pichardo suggested either starting with the shortest streets or the most heavily damaged.
“If we’re going to do the shortest, what we probably need to do is tell him to work backwards from the shortest to the longest at this point in time and see if that works for him, just because we don’t know what he can get done,” Thompson said.
S. Washington Dr. is the shortest of Council’s chosen streets at just 378 linear feet, followed by Hermitage Loop at 406 lft, Parker Dr. at 560 lft, and Kempf at 590 lft.
A Lawler-Pichardo motion to start with those streets passed 4-0 with support from District 3 Councilman David Espinosa and District 5 Councilwoman Debra Randall. District 1 Councilman Rufino “Flipper” Vega was absent.
By Marly Davis
Staff Writer