Facelift coming to Broadway

By Glynis Crawford Smith
The Highlander

Broadway Street in Marble Falls is soon to live up to its name, residents learned Tuesday night, July 12.
Residents of the street that would have been Eighth Street, if city fathers had not dubbed it Broadway, were invited to a meeting conducted street-side near the historic Hoag-Faubion-Fuchs House at the Avenue F corner. The topic was street improvements, west from Avenue G to Avenue D.
“We had 16 people on an evening that was 102-degrees at 7 p.m.,” said Assistant City Manager Caleb Kraenzel. “There was interest.”
He, City Engineer Eric Belaj and Public Works Director Perry Malkemus called the meeting as part of a community engagement initiative of the city. The projects they had come to discuss are part of the progression of the Marble Falls Capital Improvement Plan, work already budgeted from existing bonds.
“We will be replacing 70-year-old water lines in the fall,” said Kraenzel. “From now through the design (of street paving, curb and gutter and sidewalks), should have us taking bids in November and beginning construction in 2017.”
“We want to give residents an opportunity for feedback and to understand how they might be inconvenienced,” he said. “The plan now is to go from Avenue G to Avenue E, but we hope to find a way to go all the way to the end of Broadway Street, at Avenue D.
The project will be conducted entirely in city right-of-way, so no easement will have to be purchased and the goal is preserve all the trees along the street, according to Kraenzel.
The Broadway residential zone gives way to commercial zoning not far east of Avenue G. The currently residential structure at 617 Broadway Street was formerly a home to Jamin' House Restaurant and Noon Spoon Cafe now occupies 610 Broadway Street.
In each case, parking at a popular restaurant has been a nuisance to neighbors and a traffic hazard.
“We will be creating parallel parking on both sides of the street, similar to what Shane Stewart has done on Highlander Circle behind Starbucks,” said Kraenzel.
He said people had come to the meeting with concerns, primary among them whether or not Broadway residents would pay an assessment for the improvements.
“No one will pay anything extra for paving or curbing or sidewalks,” said Kraenzel.