33.Costs for upgrading and widening State Highway 24

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DRAFT 2/21/2012 ORDINANCE NO. AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS DECLARING SUPPORT FOR FUNDING A PORTION OF THE RIGHT-OF-WAY ACQUISITION COSTS AND UTILITY RELOCATION COSTS FOR UPGRADING AND WIDENING STATE HIGHWAY 24 FROM THE CITY OF COOPER, TEXAS SOUTHWEST TO THE DELTA-HUNT COUNTY LINE IN AN AMOUNT ANTICIPATED TO BE $1,450,000; MAKING OTHER FINDINGS AND PROVISIONS RELATED TO THE SUBJECT; AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE WHEREAS, the expansion and improvement of the transportation infrastructure leading to the City of Paris, Lamar County, Texas from the Interstate 30 corridor is vital to the economic development of the City of Paris, City of Cooper, Lamar County, Delta County, and the Paris Economic Development Corporation as well as to the safety of the traveling public; and WHEREAS, for over 30 years, community leaders from the City of Paris, City of Cooper, Lamar County, Delta County, the Paris Economic Development Corporation, and the North East Texas Regional Mobility Authority have urged the Texas Legislature, Texas Department of Transportation ("TXDOT"), and the Texas Transportation Commission to upgrade and widen State Highway 24 from a 2-lane highway to a 4-lane divided highway from Interstate 30 to the Paris city limits; and WHEREAS, the only stretch of State Highway 24 that has not been upgraded to a 4-lane divided highway is the remaining 10.4 mile gap from the City of Cooper, Texas southwest to the Delta-Hunt County line; and WHEREAS, in 2001 the Texas Legislature enacted legislation to create Regional Mobility Authorities to focus transportation needs and available funding for transportation projects on a regional basis; and WHEREAS, in 2002 the counties of Delta, Hunt, Lamar, and Hopkins formed the North East Texas Regional Mobility Authority ("NETMOB") to focus on transportation needs in the four county area and to advocate these transportation projects to TXDOT and the Texas Transportation Commission; and WHEREAS, upgrading and widening State Highway 24 from a two-lane highway to a four-lane divided highway between Interstate 30 and the city limits of the City of Paris, Texas has been a top priority project for the NETMOB and the Sulphur River Regional Mobility Authority (as successor entity to NETMOB); and WHEREAS, TXDOT has now pledged Thirty Million Dollars ($33,207,000) of funding to complete the final 10.4 mile stretch of State Highway 24 from the City of Cooper, Texas southwest to the Delta-Hunt County line, but will require approximately Four Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($4,500,000.00) of local participation for the project to pay for right- of-way acquisition and utility relocation and the cash contribution of $877,269 from the 95447415.2 1 . 230