The Santa Barbara City Council sent a clear message Tuesday to Caltrans to come back with a better offer in their negotiations to sell Highway 225 back to the city.
With a 6-1 vote, with only Councilman Dale Francisco dissenting, the City Council agreed that it would continue negotiating with the state agency, but could walk away if the price, and an agreement over liability, aren’t agreeable.
The price of purchasing and maintaining the road, which Mesa residents have long urged the council to pay to regain local control of the highway, has soared to $1.2 million. But with no money for capital purchases, the council response was tepid.
City attorney Steve Wiley is recommending that Santa Barbara only take ownership of the road if the state agrees to take responsibility for any accidents that occur there as a result of dangerous conditions from design defects. Negotiations with the agency have hit a wall, he said, and the agency hasn’t budged on indemnification language.
The council voted to have Wiley keep working to resolve those issues, have Caltrans take care of drainage repairs on the road, and negotiate a fair price for a bridge on the road and begin repairs. If those conditions are met, the council could talk in the future about the costs of the road.
About a dozen Mesa residents spoke to the council members Tuesday, urging them to bring the road back into their purview. Public Works Director Christine Andersen, who has been at the helm of the discussions, said the deal was the best one the city was able to strike.
“This is as good as this deal gets,” she said. “If it’s not one the city is going to support, then the negotiation is done.”
But some of the council members weren’t so sure. Councilman Bendy White took particular issue with Caltrans’ seeming unwillingness to strike a deal to sell something that costs it money to maintain.
“No wonder the state’s going broke if they’re negotiating this way across the state,” he said. “I’m very frustrated with Caltrans on this.”
White said he was hopeful negotiations would be successful and urged Assemblyman Das Williams to help move a deal along.
The City Council unanimously agreed last summer to make changes it could to the road, ordering the four-lane road to be restriped to two with a center turn lane and two bike lanes, and reducing the speed to 30 mph from 40.
Councilman Dale Francisco said that while everyone wants the road to be part of the city, he cautioned that some things can’t be done even with a change of ownership.
The city would probably never be able to install a traffic light across from the SHIFCO senior home because of state traffic guidelines, which would stay the same, regardless of city ownership.
Councilwoman Cathy Murillo said that more police enforcement, and even a shuttle to help people cross the street, could be solutions.
But for the purchase, “it’s just fiscally not prudent to take on the costs and the liability right now. My heart’s with you on wanting to take that street back,” she told the Mesa neighbors.
— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
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