Street fight brewing in west Houston

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- There's an old saying that good fences make good neighbors. Well, two west side subdivisions are at odds over a project to cut down on speeding traffic through one neighborhood.

One group says the city gave them the OK. The other says they had no idea what was going on.

"The vehicles were traveling some 50, 60 miles an hour," said Rivercrest Subdivsion resident Brian Womac.

Womac says residents of the Rivercrest subdivision wanted to reduce cut through traffic and speeders along East and West Rivercrest Drives. They failed in a fight with the city to buy the streets outright but did get approval for another plan.

They would block access to East and West Rivercrest from Westheimer. The Rivercrest homeowners association says it had all of its ducks in a row.

"We had the plans prepared by an engineer," said Womac. "The plans were inspected by the city, approved by the city. Permits were issued."

Construction was 90 percent done when the city stopped all work Friday.

"We ran up against a brick wall with our neighbors to the west of us," he said.

People living in the neighboring Briar Grove say no one told them about this project.

"The first thing we knew about was these signs, the detour signs and the barricades down there," said Briar Grove resident Susan Stanton.

Briar grove residents worry the move will increase traffic on Seagler Road.

"They are mainly concerned about the children going to the two schools that are associated with the churches and the fact that this is our subdivision," said Stanton.

The Briar Grove folks also want to know if they can do the same thing to their road. Meantime, the city halted construction to make sure all the project received the proper authorization and gets the OK from the fire chief.

"Our job is to serve our citizens, not to pit them against each other," said Houston Councilmember Pam Holm.

The traffic project sits in Holm's district. She told us she is trying to track down the permits the Rivercrest residents say they received from the city.

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