OUR TURN: EDC shouldn’t back road to nowhere

The Marble Falls Economic Development Corp.’s decision to spend $700,000 on an engineering study in a sparsely populated business park is just the latest indication the agency is not in step with the community’s needs.

Some members of City Council have already indicated the project will not get their blessing when the EDC budget comes up for a vote next month.

The council should not allow this project to go forward, at least not right now.

Spending that kind of money for what amounts to a survey of an isolated corner of the Marble Falls Business &Technology Park at a time when the whole city is reeling financially is just an unwise decision.

Yes, the study will look at how to link Innovation Loop West to Innovation Loop East, determining how to handle runoff, where to put retention ponds and other infrastructure needs.

The hope is the EDC will be ready to help more businesses move to the park sometime in the future, and they want to make sure the area is in prime condition.

But is now the time for such an expensive project when sales taxes are lagging, merchants are shuttering their businesses and job growth is at a standstill?

Look at the park itself, which is owned by the EDC. Only eight businesses are located there; one has since closed.

And even after the study is done, the road still needs to be built, and according to some the cost could be in the millions. The EDC doesn’t have that kind of money right now. So what will the EDC do in the meantime? Take that expensive survey, put it on a shelf and let it gather dust?

The engineering survey is a bad idea and just another planning blunder the EDC doesn’t need.

The agency already has a black eye over the fiasco involving the future vo-tech center at 1707 Colt Circle, which stands tenantless after Ronn Motors Co. failed to deliver on a promised payment of $150,000 June 21.

Despite spending more than $3 million on the project, the 76,000-square-building is still empty. Even worse, the EDC spent $485,000 recently to finish renovations there without submitting change orders or getting the council’s approval, an egregious error its board says won’t happen again.

These are just missteps the community doesn’t need.

The EDC is made up of volunteers, including two sitting council members. They don’t get paid for what they’re doing, and their hearts are in the right places. Most of them have spent years contributing to this community. Their intentions are good.

But as a nonprofit 4-B corporation charged with attracting and keeping businesses in Marble Falls, the time has come for the EDC to concentrate on projects that will help the merchants already here; to spend money in a way that has a direct benefit for existing needs.

They should work in step with the City Council, and that hasn’t been apparent of late.

Widening the road on Texas 71 where the proposed Scott & White hospital will someday be located is a good start, and that’s a project the EDC is backing.

So is bringing a cosmetology school and distribution center to Marble Falls, which is another EDC initiative.

Ultimately, the proposition of spending $700,000 in taxpayer-generated funds — sales tax proceeds — on a road that, for now, goes nowhere is just a dead end.

The City Council has the power to appoint EDC members and approve their budget. They should exercise their oversight powers and encourage EDC to abandon the road survey for now.

The River Cities Daily Tribune editorial board includes Dan Alvey, Amber Weems, Thomas Edwards and Daniel Clifton.