August, 2007

In this month’s Dominion News, I will update you in some detail about two of our priorities for the 2007-2008 year...the TXDOT project at our front door and fire and EMS service. And I will brief you on our actions to address overall drainage issues that affect Dominion homeowners.

TXDOT Project:

On Friday, July 20, 2007, the Dominion HOA and the Dominion Civic Awareness Committee hosted a meeting for City Councilwoman Diane Cibrian at the Club.  Senior TXDOT officials discussed the entire project with the attendees, including representatives from Valero, UTSA, The Rim development, Pape-Dawson Engineering, and other land owners in the area.

We learned there are actually two projects involved: first, the Dominion Overpass and second, at Camp Bullis Road.  Both projects are fully funded and all right-of-ways have been secured.

Dominion Overpass

This is a $20.3 M project and is scheduled for completion in December, 2008. Dominion Drive will be extended from our entrance straight across to the access road running along IH-10 East.  Now under construction is the east-bound overpass that will go over this Dominion Drive extension.  After that is completed, the west-bound overpass will be constructed. A west-bound turn-around lane will be constructed as part of the overpass system at Dominion Drive.

When both overpasses are completed (possibly as soon as January 2008), the west-bound access road along IH-10 will become one-way from Camp Bullis Road to Dominion Drive and the east-bound access road along IH-10 will become one-way from Dominion Drive to Camp Bullis Road.  From Dominion Drive to Boerne Stage Road and beyond, both access roads will remain two-way. There will be stop signs at the intersection of Dominion Drive and the access roads.

Since the access roads will be two-way west of Dominion Drive, you will be able to still turn right towards Rudy’s or go under IH-10 and turn right towards HEB and return to the Dominion without having to drive on IH-10...and you will be able to turn left on the east-bound access road and enter IH-10 East.

TXDOT officials agreed to study the possibility of allowing fire and EMS emergency vehicles direct access to The Dominion under IH-10 as soon as both overpasses are completed, but prior to completion of the entire project.

Camp Bullis

This is a $34.0 M project that is scheduled for completion in December, 2009.  The entire overpass at Camp Bullis and IH-10 will be completely rebuilt and will include both west- and east-bound turnaround lanes.  A Dominion Drive exit ramp on IH-10 West between Camp Bullis Road and Dominion Drive and an entrance ramp to IH-10 East between Dominion Drive and Camp Bullis are included in this project.

Summary

When completed, these two projects will enable Dominion residents to bypass The Rim and Camp Bullis Road traffic while still having access to Leon Springs without having to use IH-10.  As one of the TXDOT officials said..."you will be a bit inconvenienced in the short term, but the accessibility and convenience you will have to and from IH-10 will make it all worthwhile in the long-term.”

Fire and EMS Service:

EMS

Ms. Cibrian has met with Fire Chief Hood in order to determine the status of improved fire and EMS service for The Dominion. We must correct a statement made in our letter to you in May summarizing the HOA Board meeting with Chief Hood.  In that letter we stated that the process of assigning paramedics to all fire trucks with complete EMS equipment would begin on July 24, 2007.  That was incorrect...the reorganization of the Fire Department began on July 24, 2007.  What I can report to you is that the combining of fire and EMS services will begin on October 1, 2007...and that the first Fire Station to have this combined service will be our #47 station.

Ms. Cibrian has worked effectively on our behalf to make this happen. Dominion HOA officers will participate in a public ceremony/announcement at the station during the first week of October.

We will do everything possible to enable emergency vehicle to access The Dominion under the IH-10 overpasses as noted above so that our fire and EMS service will be the very best at the earliest possible date.

Fire

The HOA has cleared all shrubs and bushes from around fire hydrants and we are in process of installing blue reflectors so that fire hydrants can be located quickly in the dark.  All street lighting has been repaired and lighting will be installed on all street islands on Dominion Drive between Galleria and Vineyard Drive so that emergency vehicles can identify all streets.

There is something that you can do as homeowners to insure fire and EMS vehicles get to your homes as quickly as possible in an emergency….insure that your house number is lighted and clearly visible from the street.  There are many older homes where trees and shrubs have covered the house number.  We ask that you remedy this problem if it has happened at your home.

Drainage:

With the rain over the last few weeks, drainage issues are on everyone’s minds.  As I watched television coverage of San Antonio neighborhoods experiencing serious flooding problem, we can be grateful that has not happened to us.  Nonetheless, we do have issues of concern.  In conjunction with the TXDOT project and all of the development in our area, a major Leon Creek flood and drainage study has been conducted.  Mr. Tom Wendorf, Department of Public Works for the City of San Antonio, attended the meeting on July 20th and spoke about the study in general terms.  The HOA Board will schedule a meeting with Mr. Wendorf in September to discuss this study in detail.

The HOA continues to address issues with our drainage easements. For example, the easement between the Pavilions and the Golf Course Estates is being cleared of brush trees and debris. We are working with the Chateaux developers and Pape-Dawson Engineering to develop a plan for the easement from Dominion Drive at Admirals Way to where it drains onto the golf course on hole # 12.  When completed, we will review this plan with all affected homeowners.

Did You Know? 

As mentioned earlier, representatives from UTSA and The Rim development attended Ms. Cibrian’s meeting.  We learned that UTSA is now the fifth (5th) largest university in Texas with an enrollment of 28,000 students and that in 2007 there are more students from Harris County (Houston) than from Bexar County.  And there is $300,000,000 in construction under way on the UTSA campus.

When The Rim is completed, 5,000 people will be employed and over $1.0B will have been invested.

With all that in mind and the traffic involved, we can be even more grateful for the long-term benefits of the TXDOT projects.

Thank you very much for the positive feedback on The Dominion News and our efforts to keep you informed.  If you have questions or input, please contact your Neighborhood Outreach Committee representative or any HOA Board member.

Sincerely,

Brigitte B. Saidi, Chairman
Dominion Homeowners Association

Page 14 of 20 pages « First  <  12 13 14 15 16 >  Last »