Westlake residents will pay $2 more each month for solid waste and recycling services under a rate increase approved at this week’s Board of Aldermen meeting.
Beginning Aug. 1, the town will see its first rate hike since 2001, with monthly fees rising from $8.75 to $10.75.
The $10.75 rate reflects $8 for curbside service and $2.75 for recycling.
Residents can expect to begin receiving collection carts on July 28, with trash pickup and recycling services performed every Tuesday and Friday, and bundled brush and bulk materials collected the second and fourth Tuesday of each month.
By paying more, residents will enjoy automated service after receiving 95-gallon and 65-gallon trash and recycling carts, respectively. The containers will be rolled curbside and dumped into Allied Waste trucks.
Public Art
Meanwhile, FM1938 appears the launch pad for a citywide aesthetic and structural makeover.
By unanimous vote, aldermen approved a consultation and design contract with Schrickel, Rollins and Associates Inc. to review streetscape enhancements for FM 1938. And in a separate motion, aldermen approved a public art master plan.
"We have discussed doing a visual art piece with the widening of Precinct Line Road, doing something in conjunction with that," said Michelle Corson, president of the Westlake Public Art Society.
"It really ties the projects together."
Placing art along public roadways is just one goal of the group, whose public art plan promises Westlake visual art installations, performing art events and arts education.
But the FM 1938 project, stretching from Texas 114 to Southlake Boulevard and involving Southlake, Keller and Tarrant County, could be the art group’s first beneficiary.
"That’s such a heavily traveled area," Corson said. "We were just trying to think about art and where residents would see it the most."
With public art set to grace Westlake, its roadways await new features as part of streetscaping hoped to enhance the portion of FM 1938 between the Precinct Line Road bridge and Texas 114 north to Randol Mill Avenue.
To that end, aldermen this week approved a $28,500 contract with Schrickel, Rollins and Associates Inc. of Arlington to provide consultation and schematic design for potential streetscape amenities for the project.
"We’re excited about the project and the potential to do something really unique for this corridor," said Victor Baxter, vice president with the landscape architectural firm.
The process known as "streetscaping" includes shrubs and flowers as well as street lighting, retaining walls and meandering sidewalks. Planners hope to embrace the town’s existing features in planning enhancements that stand apart from surrounding municipalities.
"We don’t want it to be like Hurst-Euless-Bedford where you don’t know where you’re at," Greenwood said.
The town hopes to preserve its identity while participating in a project promising both regional and local impact. Bidding for the two-phased, $20-million project is expected to begin in September, with construction beginning in early 2009.