Joseph Ham, a Sleepy Hollow resident, told the City of Lake Jackson City Council on Oct. 6 that deteriorating pavement and patchwork repairs in the Sleepy Hollow subdivision have created safety hazards and that the neighborhood has been misled about the schedule for reconstruction.

"This bond was approved by voters back in 2021 and funds have long been available," Ham said. "After 4 years since the bond was passed, the fact that construction won't even begin until next spring is unacceptable." He showed council members photographs of large potholes and patched sections he said leave children at risk when biking in the neighborhood.

The concern came during discussion of the Sleepy Hollow Reconstruction Project, a bond-funded street repair program that residents said has repeatedly been described to them as close to completion even though major steps — bidding and contractor selection — were not completed. The neighborhood's petition asked the council to accelerate work and provide clearer public updates.

Why this matters: residents said the potholes and uneven road grades are causing falls and vehicle damage, and they warned that continued delays could increase liability and repair costs. Several speakers emphasized that children no longer ride bikes in the area because of the road conditions.

Haley McGrady, who identified herself as living at 113 Sleepy Hollow, said the conditions have harmed her children. "It's not safe to do that anymore," McGrady said. "I don't let them ride their bikes anymore around the neighborhood. It's not safe." Resident Terry Berry asked the city to inspect erosion around his property at 309 Van Winkle.

City officials and council members described technical and scheduling reasons for the delay. The mayor explained the project requires a full engineering approach — curb, base preparation and a chemical base treatment the city has investigated — and noted the city sold the debt for the project's second phase in December 2023 and hired the engineering firm in March 2024. "We hired the engineering firm in March 2024. So that's the start date," the mayor said in response to public questions about when work began.

Staff and council acknowledged the job is behind the hoped-for schedule. The mayor said the city will try to accelerate work where feasible but cautioned that speeding up contract timelines often raises costs. He described a recently posted bond-tracker web page intended to give residents a running account of bond expenditures and schedules.

On traffic-safety requests, the council agreed to a multi-step response: conduct a neighborhood survey, ask the Traffic Commission to review the Sleepy Hollow area for a possible reduction from the current 30 miles-per-hour limit and to consider speed bumps and other traffic-calming measures if the commission's criteria are met. The mayor said the city must document why a neighborhood should get a 20 mph limit before that change could be extended elsewhere in Lake Jackson.

Council members also asked staff to inspect the erosion report at 309 Van Winkle and to consider targeted code enforcement for parking issues residents flagged. Several council members encouraged residents to participate in the survey once it is released; staff said a short delay was possible because the staff member who runs surveys is temporarily out.

The city emphasized that Sleepy Hollow's planned work is a full-engineering reconstruction; staff said the chosen approach uses curbing and a treated base intended to reduce the sloughing that has affected other local resurfacing efforts. Officials said some schedule slippage resulted from switching engineering firms and from additional testing required for the chemical base treatment.

The city did not set a new, firm construction start date at the meeting; staff said the earliest realistic start would be after the current bidding process is complete and following contractor award and bonding steps.

Residents were encouraged to leave contact information if they wished to be notified when the Traffic Commission considers the item and to attend commission meetings. The mayor asked council to keep the bond tracker updated so the neighborhood can see schedule changes.

The council did not take a formal vote on policy changes at the meeting; instead it directed staff to survey the neighborhood, forward the traffic request to the Traffic Commission, inspect erosion complaints, and pursue code enforcement as appropriate.