There weren’t many surprises at last week’s DART meeting. The Lake Highlands North Homeowners’ Association still doesn’t want access from their neighborhood to the DART station, the LH Town Center, and the hike & bike trail. Not a shock, since residents of the ABC streets (Angleridge, Brentgate, Covemeadow, etc) have been printing yard signs and lobbying city officials for months now. But it seemed mine was the only gasp when DART reps said and City of Dallas Parks and Recreation confirmed – the hike and bike trail is no done deal.
I have attended multiple LHTC community meetings, and I had the impression that the trail was a sure thing. Sure, slow economic conditions have delayed the clamor for retail space, but – just as development of the LHTC infrastructure has moved along (road construction began last week) – I figured trail construction would proceed as well. In fact, architectural drawings already exist, complete with the amount of pitch necessary to ensure proper drainage. (An important factor, as anyone knows who used the LH trails this weekend after torrential downpours clogged them with mud and debris. Thank you, whichever city agency scraped them clean.)
The city has not funded the trail but hasn’t given up on it, either. Parks and Recreation’s Jared White says funding requests will go to the North Central Texas Council of Governments and any other group willing to consider it.
