A relief from the otherwise long meeting, the city council
unanimously approved a $663,000 federal grant to repair cracked
walkways.
A relief from the otherwise long meeting, the city council unanimously approved a $663,000 federal grant to repair cracked walkways.
“This is probably the easiest vote on sidewalks we’ve ever taken,” Councilman Perry Woodward joked before a smiling council voted.
The money will come from President Obama’s stimulus bill. Gilroy received funding because it had plenty of projects ready to go, including new routes to schools, installation of ramps, replacing curb and gutters, and repairs of existing sidewalks. But the money won’t fund repairs for sidewalks damaged by trees because removing those trees would trigger a number of environmental studies that would delay projects, and the federal money can only fund “shovel ready” projects, according to a memo from Transportation Engineer Don Dey.
The 11 street secitons that will see work include:
Welburn Avenue – Santa Teresa Boulevard to Wayland Lane
Murray Avenue – Lincoln Court to Lewis STreet
Sixth Street – – Wren Avenue to Eigleberry Street
Princevalle Street – Sixth Street to Luchessa Avenue
Westwood Drive – First Street to Third Street
Eighth Street – Uvas Park Drive to Monterey Street
Forest Street – IOOF Avenue to Sixth Street
Wren Avenue – First Street to Mantelli Drive
Miller / Wayland Avenue – Arnold Drive to Eighth Street
Mantelli Drive – Santa Teresa Boulevard to Lions Creek Drive
Chruch Street – First Street to Las Animas
Last December, when the city was cutting money for softball supplies and laying off dozens of employees, four City Council members stuck to their expensive campaign promises to fix sidewalks.
Councilwoman Cat Tucker cast the deciding vote to spend $350,000 this year to help residents fix their sidewalks, bringing the city’s year-to-date expenses to $875,000 at the time. The additional money is about how much three full-time employees cost the city, including benefits. Another $350,000 became available July 1, when the current next fiscal year began. The money mostly comes form the general fund but also comes from the city’s gas tax fund.
There are dozens of property owners on the waiting list for the city’s 80-20 program, whereby residents evenly split the cost of sidewalk repair with the city and then pay nothing for new curb and gutters, asphalt and tree removal – which ends up with residents footing about 20 percent of the total cost. The average repair costs about $5,100.
The council directed staff to come up with $2 million for sidewalk repair nearly a year ago when it also decided to eventually fund 100 percent of sidewalk repairs provided it can later agree on how to fund the program. The 80-20 program will continue until the council identifies a new funding mechanism to cover 100 percent of residents sidewalk repair costs. There will be no reimbursements for property owners who have already fixed their own sidewalks.
When it comes to the finances of sidewalk repair, some of the residents who have participated in the 80-20 program hired their own contractors and then billed the city for its 80-percent portion while others had the city do all the work and then sent in a check for about 20 percent. When the city does the legwork, it adds costs to bid the project, clear out the physical area, set up traffic controls and inspect the work, according to City Engineer Rick Smelser. A resident can get things cheaper, though, by avoiding overhead costs and government wage requirements that the city must abide by when it sends large projects out to bid.
Smelser’s department has estimated it will cost $11 million to repair all the city’s broken sidewalks will cost if the city hires contractors, versus the $7 million if residents hire the labor. According to a summer sidewalk survey, though, the city likely has millions more in costs and more than 14 years of repairs at the current pace.
