(Following the indictment of former Cameron County Judge (and current executive officer of the Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority) Pete Sepulveda for working on Freddie Gomez Road, a private drive, some readers sent us stories dealing with similar situations in surrounding cities. This one concerns Roberts Drive, a "temporary" easement along a Resaca. Now a debate has erupted on whether San Benito can legally spend money fixing the road.)
By Fernando del Valle
Valley Morning Star
SAN BENITO — For about 30 years, San Benito residents dodged deep potholes along a dirt track running along a resaca.
Like other property owners there, Tony Rodriguez drove his pickup truck “real slow” along Roberts Drive, a dirt strip in land owned by the San Benito irrigation district.
But that stretch is their sole access to Sam Houston Boulevard and the outside world.
“The big, old potholes seemed about four feet deep,” Rodriguez said. “When it rained, it was worse. But it’s the only way in and out.”
![]()
Then last month, about eight homeowners asked the city to help fix the road, raising money for part of the job. This week, road conditions finally changed after city crews graded and poured caliche along the 1,000-foot stretch that is about 14 feet wide.
City Manager Manuel De La Rosa said he agreed to the work because the city failed to provide the Roberts Drive area with an access road decades earlier.
But City Commissioner Esteban Rodriguez questions “the legality” of the project. De La Rosa used taxpayer money to fix a road that doesn’t belong to the city, the commissioner said.
A long history surrounds the Roberts Drive area. The land on which Roberts Drive is located really belongs to the San Benito irrigation district, said Sonia Lambert, the district’s general manager.
But Roberts Drive “is not a road,” Lambert said. Instead, it’s a “temporary easement.”
About 30 years ago, Lambert said, the district granted a property owner’s request for the easement that ran along the resaca.
As years went by, more homes were built in the area. And as more homeowners drove across Roberts Drive, the potholes grew deeper, Tony Rodriguez said. Soon, he said, ambulances couldn’t adequately respond to medical emergencies.
If the city helped fix the road, the neighbors would buy the materials for the job, Rodriguez told De La Rosa.
“Driving in and out on Roberts Drive is very much like driving through an obstacle course,” wrote Tony Rodriguez, a realtor, in a Dec. 7 letter to De La Rosa. “It’s not only hard on our vehicles but it’s also a safety hazard because emergency vehicles will have a very difficult time getting to their destination on time.”
De La Rosa agreed to do the work.
“The city created a problem decades ago,” De La Rosa said.
Decades ago, he said, the city approved a subdivision plan, providing no public access to the area.
“The people are landlocked. They are taxpayers located in the city limits,” De La Rosa said. “The city did not take adequate measures to make sure they had access.”
To help fund the project, Rodriguez and about seven area homeowners raised $3,579 to buy caliche and hot mix.
From Tuesday to Thursday, city crews worked to grade Roberts Road and then poured caliche. When the job was done, the city had spent $1,315 on manpower and $3,579 on equipment, De La Rosa said.
But Esteban Rodriguez believes De La Rosa misused city workers and machinery to fix the road.
“We have no business doing that road,” Esteban Rodriguez said. “Why should we do a street that doesn’t belong to the city? We cannot use city material, personnel and machines.”
To read the rest of the article, click on link:
http://m.brownsvilleherald.
By Fernando del Valle
Valley Morning Star
SAN BENITO — For about 30 years, San Benito residents dodged deep potholes along a dirt track running along a resaca.
Like other property owners there, Tony Rodriguez drove his pickup truck “real slow” along Roberts Drive, a dirt strip in land owned by the San Benito irrigation district.
But that stretch is their sole access to Sam Houston Boulevard and the outside world.
“The big, old potholes seemed about four feet deep,” Rodriguez said. “When it rained, it was worse. But it’s the only way in and out.”
Then last month, about eight homeowners asked the city to help fix the road, raising money for part of the job. This week, road conditions finally changed after city crews graded and poured caliche along the 1,000-foot stretch that is about 14 feet wide.
City Manager Manuel De La Rosa said he agreed to the work because the city failed to provide the Roberts Drive area with an access road decades earlier.
But City Commissioner Esteban Rodriguez questions “the legality” of the project. De La Rosa used taxpayer money to fix a road that doesn’t belong to the city, the commissioner said.
A long history surrounds the Roberts Drive area. The land on which Roberts Drive is located really belongs to the San Benito irrigation district, said Sonia Lambert, the district’s general manager.
But Roberts Drive “is not a road,” Lambert said. Instead, it’s a “temporary easement.”
About 30 years ago, Lambert said, the district granted a property owner’s request for the easement that ran along the resaca.
As years went by, more homes were built in the area. And as more homeowners drove across Roberts Drive, the potholes grew deeper, Tony Rodriguez said. Soon, he said, ambulances couldn’t adequately respond to medical emergencies.
If the city helped fix the road, the neighbors would buy the materials for the job, Rodriguez told De La Rosa.
“Driving in and out on Roberts Drive is very much like driving through an obstacle course,” wrote Tony Rodriguez, a realtor, in a Dec. 7 letter to De La Rosa. “It’s not only hard on our vehicles but it’s also a safety hazard because emergency vehicles will have a very difficult time getting to their destination on time.”
De La Rosa agreed to do the work.
“The city created a problem decades ago,” De La Rosa said.
Decades ago, he said, the city approved a subdivision plan, providing no public access to the area.
“The people are landlocked. They are taxpayers located in the city limits,” De La Rosa said. “The city did not take adequate measures to make sure they had access.”
To help fund the project, Rodriguez and about seven area homeowners raised $3,579 to buy caliche and hot mix.
From Tuesday to Thursday, city crews worked to grade Roberts Road and then poured caliche. When the job was done, the city had spent $1,315 on manpower and $3,579 on equipment, De La Rosa said.
But Esteban Rodriguez believes De La Rosa misused city workers and machinery to fix the road.
“We have no business doing that road,” Esteban Rodriguez said. “Why should we do a street that doesn’t belong to the city? We cannot use city material, personnel and machines.”
To read the rest of the article, click on link:
http://m.brownsvilleherald.