The city’s updated five-year capital improvement plan projects spending even more money in 2012-2013 on construction projects and land purchase than was spent on such things this year, but a large portion of the proposed expenditures might be off limits to Morgan Hill.
The annual CIP was submitted to the city council and the public with next fiscal year’s proposed budget this week. The largest proposed expenditures in the plan are for land purchases for parks and recreation development – notable for baseball and softball fields, and a trail up the face of El Toro mountain.
Projects in the CIP include water and sewer system upgrades and maintenance, property purchases and development of those properties for public use, street construction and repairs and storm drainage improvements.
Funding sources include impact funds financed by user fees paid by developers, and enterprise funds funded by water and sewer rate payers.
Total expenditures for 2012-2013 in the proposed CIP are about $30.4 million, which is up from $29.5 million projected for the current fiscal year which ends June 30.
The council is scheduled to approve the CIP and annual budget at a June 20 public hearing.
One key source of funding, about $19.3 million in redevelopment bonds acquired in 2008, is up in the air. That cash is supposed to pay for about $12.5 in new parking facilities, downtown street improvements and utility undergrounding on Monterey Road, according to city staff.
But the state closed the RDA as of Feb. 1, and might force the city to use the remaining bond proceeds to pay back part of the debt.
“Part of the problem is, without knowing exactly what’s going to happen with the wind-down of the redevelopment agency, you don’t know exactly what’s going to happen with these projects,” planning commissioner Joe Mueller said.
One of the highlights of the capital projects plan for this year was the completion of two asphalt sidewalks that, though temporary, improved safety for pedestrians and motorists, Mueller said.
One of these is on East Main Avenue, from the U.S. 101 overpass to Live Oak High School, and the other is on Monterey Road from the north side of the post office to San Pedro Avenue. Both stretches have been without sidewalks forever and the city has wanted to install the facilities “for a while,” Mueller said.
Other highlights from the proposed 2012-2013 CIP include:
-$7.9 million for the purchase or property for new baseball and softball fields, and the development of those fields;
-$595,000 for the purchase of property on El Toro mountain, and the construction of a hiking trail network on the hillside;
-$300,000 to relocate the city council’s meeting chambers, and audio-visual production facilities, to the Community and Cultural Center;
-$1.8 million for new sewer mains along Barrett Avenue, between Hill and Condit roads;
-$760,000 for storm drainage improvements, to alleviate local flooding problems on East Dunne Avenue and Hill Road;
-$1.1 million in water system improvements including new water mains, rehabilitation of wells and recoating water tanks.
