By: BETH KUHLES
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
orginally published in The Chronicle This Week on August 9, 2007

The Woodlands Community Association voted Wednesday to take the first steps to build a sound wall in Glen Mill, but it will seek a legal opinion on whether the community will have to pay an estimated $69,000 to relocate utilities in the area.

The homeowners association voted to begin the process to get county easement agreements from 12 property owners on North Deerfoot Circle and The Woodlands Development Co. to build a 14-foot sound wall on the fence line to reduce noise from the expanded Interstate 45 freeway and flyover. It is the first step in the process required for the Texas Department of Transportation to build the $750,000 sound wall.

"It's kind of an infrastructure-type thing," said WCA member Tom Campbell. "It behooves us not to have the community impacted by noise that is deteriorating it. It's to our advantage not to have less than a desirable area because of the noise."

Miles McKinney, director of legislative and governmental affairs for the Community Associations of The Woodlands, said TxDOT gave the community until last month to decide whether it would proceed with the project. McKinney estimated it would cost the WCA about $75,000 to complete the steps necessary to make the project happen.

The bulk of the cost, $69,000, would cover the relocation of utilities - such as electricity, phone and cable lines - as well as surveying work to locate the lines, McKinney said.

WCA member Cheryl Crandall Tangen said the community did not create the noise problems in the neighborhood and therefore should not be responsible for paying any of the costs. Tangen sponsored a motion to hire Jim Blackburn, an attorney who had consulted on the issue, to provide a legal opinion on the legal responsibility of TxDOT to pay for utility relocation. Blackburn will be paid up to $7,500.

"Every step we get into there seem to be a little sleight of hand," Tangen said. "They (TxDOT) caused the noise. It is reasonable and feasible for them to buffer the noise. It is their responsibility to do so."

McKinney said his research indicates that cities or communities that have sound walls always have picked up the tab to relocate utilities.

Greg Collins, a resident of North Deerfoot Circle, urged the association to do something to ease the noise that plagues the neighborhood from the highway and feeder road businesses. Residents of the 300-home subdivision have been complaining about the noise level since 2002. "I can't see why it is taking so long - it's a government project," Collins said. "Give us a break, help us out."

Some members of the WCA began to balk at the $75,000 price tag to help 12 residents of Glen Mill reduce their exposure to the noise. McKinney said the community has so far spent about $15,000 to address the problem, not counting staff time.

"It is starting to get to the upper limits of what we, I, feel comfortable doing," WCA President Jeff Long said following the meeting. He added the $75,000 was an estimate and he was concerned that the price could go much higher.

Bruce Cunningham of the Grogan's Mill Village Association said the community has an obligation to help residents when a noise complaint is driving down their property values. "Someone dropped the ball in not building the wall during the road-widening project," Cunningham said.

The project began with 27 homes in Glen Mill that back up to the freeway, but many residents opted out because it would mean the loss of trees and vegetation along their property line. The project now includes 12 homes, which stretch from 82 to 124 N. Deerfoot Circle. Once the process gets rolling, there probably will be no opportunity for other homes to opt in, McKinney said.

TxDOT approved plans to build a 14-foot wall on the property line of homeowners, which would require a 5-foot easement agreement with Montgomery County. Half of that would be on residents' properties, while the other half falls on land owned by The Woodlands Development Co. Since the wall has to be contiguous to be effective, if any of the 12 do not approve the agreement, the project might not go forward.

The wall, which would be the first of its kind in the Houston region, would help reduce noise five to nine decibels. According to a state survey, noise levels in the neighborhood are expected to reach 68 to 75 decibels by 2025, which roughly equates to the sound of a vacuum cleaner.