(Seguin) — There’s a growing push for the city of Seguin to do more to improve the condition along Link Road next to the Navarro ISD schools. Much of the roadway is in Guadalupe County’s jurisdiction, but the portion closest to the schools is inside the Seguin city limits.
Local resident Joel Frederick says Navarro ISD families have seen the conditions on Link Road worsen with the growth that’s occurring in the district. He says it’s time now for the city to try to figure out a way to make some improvements along that roadway.
“I have been in this school district for gosh, 20 something years. The long and short of it, when my daughter started going to elementary school there in 2005-2006 – somewhere in there, her class had 75 people in that class. She graduated with 150 so her class size doubled. My son’s class size has doubled. Those class sizes are getting more and more full of students and it’s creating a safety issue. The teachers are standing out there every day trying to direct traffic, the constables, the sheriff’s (deputies) all of that sort of stuff, it’s a danger zone. It just is. I am the guy that started to put that out there. I’m beginning and pleading with you guys. You have full control. We know that. Everybody in Navarro knows that you have control over what happens on Link Road,” said Frederick.
Former Councilman Jim Lievens, who is again running for city council, also spoke out about some of their concerns with Link Road. Lievens says Navarro ISD is often ignored by the city, even though a significant portion of its citizens reside within the Navarro ISD.
“Often times, Navarro ISD feels like the forgotten ISD in this community. I remember, was it four or five years ago, the Lucille water tower project if you remember the commotion about that – about what artwork do we put on the tower. Should it be the Seguin High School Matadors? Should it be the city of Seguin’s It’s Real logo? I remember there was a former Matador coach who I think his slogan was ‘One Town, One School.’ Somebody was using that to advocate that it should be the Matador and I was fine with it being the Matador. I have nothing against that. I think it was a great idea but what I did have issues was is this is not ‘One Town, One School.’ Fifteen percent of the households in this city, within the city limits are Navarro ISD taxpayers and so sometimes, we feel forgotten,” said Lievens.
Lievens says it’s up to the city to fix this portion of Link Road and help improve the traffic conditions near the Navarro schools. He says this is like the steps that the city took during the construction of the new Seguin High School campus.
“Link Road is in the city limits. At least the portion that serves the existing campuses, it is in there. I also remember by the way about four or five years ago when the new high school was being built at Seguin High School, the city fast tracked Cedar Street to get it ready in time for the start of school. I wish somebody could fast track Link Road. It’s been an issue that has been growing and growing,” said Lievens.
The city is aware of the issue and said that it recently met again with Navarro ISD officials. The city needs to find funding for the road improvements, part of that could come from a multi-family housing project that the city is working on with a private developer. (See headline Seguin looking to solve a pair of problems with new city owned apartment complex).