Two lots in Rock Creek Subdivision are being divided to better conform with current needs of owners. The conformation should better meet county standards and accommodate emergency vehicles.
Steve Hudson earlier this week asked Hopkins County Commissioners Court to consider approving the re-platting of Lots 11 and 12, Block 3, in Rock Creek Subdivision. Essentially, it would combine Lot 12 and the south half of Lot 11 of the subdivision.
“The previous owner had purchased the south half of Lot 11. It probably should have been handled at that time. What we are doing is attempting to rectify that and, also, the cul-de-sac you see there on the plat didn’t have any right-of-way for it. It was just built. It was platted initially as a dead end road,” Hudson said. “The road is there. I believe Commissioner Price is working with the subdivision owner, the one who put in the subdivision to bring that road up to standard so that the county can take that private road over as a county road.”
Hudson said a lack of right-of-way for the cul-de-sac has been remedied, and now has a 70-foot radius as required.
The remaining portion of Lot 11 would be 2.82 acres, which meets property requirements, as a separate lot.
“The intent right now, the owners have a buyer for lot 10, who also wants that north half of Lot 11. So, we’re just trying to clean up some of the administrative things that were kind of lacking in the past. That’s the reason for the re-plat today,” Hudson said.
The required 75 foot right-of-way had been put in along the cul-de-sac, providing enough room for a school bus to drive on and turn around daily.
“I’ve been out there with them and I’m happy with what they’re doing, getting everything cleaned up to take over the road,” Precinct 4 Commissioner Joe Price said.
Precinct 1 Commissioner Mickey Barker asked Hopkins County Fire Chief Andy Endsley if he had looked at the property and was satisfied with it, as it would need to meet fire safety requirements.
Endsley said he had not, but a 75-feet would give plenty of turn radius for fire apparatus.
The commissioners court unanimously approved the re-platting of the two lots as requested.
Mechanical concrete
Hopkins County Commissioners Court was also told this week that the equipment needed to begin working on certain roads using the mechanical concrete process has arrived.
Tires are being stored, and enough could be available for use by the end of January or February to begin a few small projects, and potentially enough tires could be collected to begin work on Pipeline Road by the end of 2020, officials reported this week.
Hopkins County Commissioners Court and the City of Sulphur Springs inked an agreement to re-use parts of scrap tires to help improve some city and county roads. The commissioners court approved the agreement in mid-October and Sulphur Springs City Council approved the agreement at their November meeting.
Ideally, it will save money in the rebuilding process, help stabilize and extend the life of some roads, while helping to get rid of scrap tires as well, city and county officials said when considering the agreement.
Under the agreement, the county will collect scrap automobile and light truck tires at regular intervals from local tire businesses. The business would pay a tire disposal fee, which would be used to pay licensing fees for the patented mechanical concrete process, disposal of sidewalls and for jailers to supervise trustees, according to the agreement approved by the commissioners court.
Trustees from Hopkins County jail would use the machine, purchased jointly by the city and county, to remove the sidewalls from tires. They would work at a Houston Street site by the jail, using the tire ring. The cylinders would be stored at a city site. The sidewalls would be disposed of in roll-off trash containers provided by the city, according to the agreement.
The tire rings would then be used in road rebuilding to help stabilize the road bases, a process called mechanical concrete.
The mechanical concrete serves as a good road base. If there’s not much on top of a road such as asphalt or concrete, which are designed to keep water out to keep the road base from eroding. With mechanical concrete, that’s not an issue; it holds up even with water, according to Sulphur Springs City Manager Marc Maxwell.
“It’s an exciting deal,” Hopkins County Judge Robert Newsom said this week.
The tire extracting device has been purchased and has arrived. It was being stored at a city facility earlier this week, and is ready for relocation to the county site for use by inmates, according to Maxwell.
Hopkins County Sheriff Lewis Tatum said someone from his office would be sent to retrieve the device soon.
“The idea was that some time in the future we would use these tire rims on Pipeline Road. We’re about to begin the whole program,” Maxwell said Monday.
Both county and city officials have identified a few smaller roads to begin using the tires in road maintenance.
The Pipeline Road project, according to Maxwell, is expected to take close to 30,000 tires to complete. The city currently has approximately 1,000 spare tires at the city service center, which should be enough to do a few low water crossings, according to Maxwell.
“So, hopefully, this spring, we’ll be rolling and going on this?” Precinct 1 Commissioner Mickey Barker asked during the work session earlier this week.
“Yes, I think we’ll be picking up tires the end of January, February,” said Maxwell, noting he does not anticipate it taking a full year to collect enough tires for the project.
Precinct 4 Commissioner Joe Price asked if the city and county would be accepting tires from the community for the project.
Maxwell said what is anticipated is that jail “trustees would go to each of the tire stores on a periodic basis and collect the tires, collect a dollar per tire.”
“I’m sure the precinct will assist anywhere that we are needed,” Barker said. “We are very blessed to have the inmates to help and to all work together the way we do,” Barker said.
