GILROY
– Citing budget uncertainty, the city apparently won’t borrow
money to complete all phases of a major downtown street improvement
project in their entirety as some downtown advocates had hoped – or
at least not this year.
GILROY – Citing budget uncertainty, the city apparently won’t borrow money to complete all phases of a major downtown street improvement project in their entirety as some downtown advocates had hoped – or at least not this year.
But a special task force working on downtown issues has issued a series of recommendations that could help keep momentum rolling on revitalization efforts in the meantime.
The Downtown Specific Plan Task Force has issued interim suggestions – ranging from a sidewalk repair program to waived parking requirements – that they hope the City Council will ask city staff to review and research for future action at Monday’s meeting.
These suggestions come a few weeks after a City Council retreat where Councilmembers informally decided they would not pursue bonds needed to complete all phases of the Monterey Street streetscape project at once.
“(It’s) just in flux right now,” said Gary Walton, a local developer who chairs the volunteer downtown task force, of the city’s budget. “Until they can get a handle on where the budget is going, we’re looking at other things that can be done that aren’t that expensive.”
Many who are passionate about the downtown see the streetscape project as a crucial element of downtown revitalization because they feel an investment in the area’s public infrastructure will help spur private improvements.
It includes new medians, wider sidewalks, new decorative lampposts and street trees, and can run roughly $1.5 to $2 million per block. In the past, city officials have estimated that a 10-year bond plan to fund $4 million worth of work in the downtown core area would run the city roughly $500,000 a year.
At the retreat, Council agreed with City Administrator Jay Baksa’s assessment that the city’s general fund can’t afford the extra expense at a time when the slumping economy and several other potential factors could mean budget cuts and layoffs in future years. Bonding for the streetscape does not appear in the proposed budget for next year that was unveiled earlier this week.
The decision was not without misgivings. The prospect of more delays so irked Councilman Al Pinheiro – who has made downtown a centerpiece of his agenda – that at the retreat he briefly raised the possibility of selling the city-owned Willey House to help offset the streetscape costs.
“When times were good, we didn’t do it, and when times are bad we can’t do it,” the frustrated Councilman told his peers of the streetscape project. “We can’t seem to be able to find the will or way to do it.”
Higher-government grants paid for some of the initial phase of the improvements completed between Seventh and Eighth streets and will also fund most of the current work between Sixth and Seventh streets, where contractors could be seen doing prep work and removing trees this week. However, officials said the potential to receive future grants from the same sources is low.
While the city is slated to spend some $55 million on major capital projects such as the new police and fire stations and sports park this year, those projects are ultimately funded by special impact fees the city collects from developers. The impact fees are heavily restricted to specific purposes.
There isn’t a specific impact fee for the downtown streetscape, so officials said funding to pay for the streetscape would have to come from the city’s general fund, the pot of discretionary money that’s used mainly to pay for services like public safety and parks.
But the city has assembled a stopgap general fund budget for next year that features no new positions or programs and some minor trimming, meant to maintain core services until the economy recovers.
And if they come to fruition, several other factors swirling around the city could trigger an increasingly painful series of cuts ranging from reduced funding for tourism and economic development services to gutted recreational programs.
Meanwhile, tens of millions in repairs to pockmarked streets and crumbling storm drains also linger in the background in competition for funding with the streetscape project.
But city officials do see a glimmer of light – a new funding source for the downtown may open soon.
The city has applied for funding from a federal agency to help pay for a consultant that would help assemble a set of downtown regulations called a “specific plan.” More importantly, they hope it will open a relationship that officials say could potentially lead to millions in grant funding for capital projects like the streetscape. Answers on those grants aren’t expected until fall.
In the meanwhile, the specific plan task force – which includes Pinheiro – wants the city to explore creating a curb and sidewalk repair program with 50/50 city matching funds targeted at the downtown.
Another proposal would have the city recycle the streetlights removed from the center median in current phases of the streetscape project by installing them in Gourmet Alley and city parking lots to help thwart patrons’ safety fears.
The task force also wants the city to explore some other temporary recommendations until the long-term specific plan – which will set overall regulations governing downtown development – is complete.
They include:
• A temporarily limit on all new applications in downtown for used auto sales, tattoo parlors, tobacco paraphernalia or “head” shops and bars and dance halls that don’t have food sales.
• The purchase of an empty lot between Fifth and Sixth streets for development of a “pocket park” that would provide attractive and direct access from rear parking areas directly to Monterey Street. Downtown Morgan Hill boasts a similar park in its downtown core with some benches, landscaping and a colorful mural.
• Temporary removal of parking requirements
• Temporary waiver of building permit fee
• Temporary waiver of fees for the Historic Heritage Committee to review demolition projects, and
• A city sidewalk power-wash program to enhance a sense of a well-maintained downtown.
Monday’s meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers at Gilroy City Hall, 7351 Rosanna St.
