The Goleta City Council this week reviewed the proposed capital improvement program budget for the next two fiscal years.
Thirty-six projects are included in the work program for the 2021-22 fiscal year, with a total estimated project cost of more than $225 million, according to James Campero, deputy public works director.
Most of the projects have grant funding and associated deadlines, he said.
Goleta’s capital improvement program (CIP) staff and Neighborhood Services staff will manage the projects, Campero said, adding that they are working “diligently” on projects.
“It’s a tall task,” he said. “We are dealing with some pretty significant projects and investments in our city and our community.”
Scroll down to view Goleta’s 175-page staff report and presentation to the City Council.
“That was a great report,” Mayor Paula Perotte said. “A lot of great information.”
The overall cost to complete the CIP budget is about $240.7 million during the next five years, city staff said.
Goleta is faced with a funding gap of about $108.5 million, given the multitude of cost and project increases over the years.
The Goleta City Council is expected to approve a two-year financial plan during its next regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday. The two-year financial plan will authorize Goleta’s operating and CIP budgets for the next two fiscal years.
The adopted operating and CIP budgets for the 2022-23 fiscal year will be reviewed next year as part of the midcycle budget process.
For the 2021-22 fiscal year, projects in the final design and/or construction phase include areas of the San Jose Creek bike path, the Goleta traffic safety study, the pedestrian crosswalk at Calle Real and the Fairview Center, and pavement rehabilitation, among others.
Campero emphasized that the final design and construction are the most labor-intensive and critical phases of projects.
“It’s an exciting time, but also a stressful time for our team,” he said.
The Ekwill Street and Fowler Road extensions project will be “constructed as the largest, most expensive project in the history of the city,” Campero said.
Construction costs are estimated to reach more than $35 million, “with a majority of that funding coming from grant funds,” he said.
The project is in the design phase, and it will construct Ekwill Street across Old Town Goleta from Kellogg Avenue to Fairview Avenue and extend South Kellogg Avenue to Technology Drive, a city staff report stated.
New streets will have two-lane roads and include bike lanes, sidewalks and parkways. Project plans also call for adding roundabouts — two at Hollister Avenue and the interchange of Highway 217, and one at the Pine Avenue and Ekwill Street intersection.
The project aims to improve traffic circulation on Hollister Avenue, as well as provide new east and west corridors in the Old Town area, according to draft plans.
Several projects proposed in the 2021-22 fiscal year budget are in the process of environmental review and the design phase, including the nearly $27 million project for the San Jose Creek bike path (northern and southern segments), plus a more than $23 million project for a new Santa Barbara County fire station for western Goleta, and an approximately $8 million project for improvements at the Goleta Community Center on Hollister Avenue.
The Goleta City Council in a special meeting Tuesday unanimously approved to direct staff to pursue financing and submit a pre-application package for financing the Fire Station No. 10 project.
Goleta staff have conducted preliminary conversations with California Infrastructure Economic Development Bank, and it has indicated that Fire Station No. 10 and the approximately $14.8 million for construction “would be a good match” for its Infrastructure State Revolving Fund program, which is the same financing program Goleta utilized to purchase its City Hall building.
If the pre-application is approved, Goleta would be invited to submit a complete application and formally apply, according to a staff report. Goleta will seek council authorization to officially submit for financing.
Improvements to the Goleta Community Center include millions of dollars that may be supported from a potential Federal Emergency Management Agency grant, according to city staff.
The Goleta City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved setting aside nearly $1.3 million in the city’s general fund “balance/reserves” for a possible match for the FEMA grant for the Goleta Community Center project, should no other federal funding or grants become available.
“It’s so badly needed,” Mayor Pro Tempore James Kyriaco said after seconding the motion.
Councilman Roger Aceves thanked city staff for their report.
“It’s extensive, and for our constituents, this is the council’s promise coupled with our budget to get things done,” he said. “We will have a second conversation when the budget comes before us to be able to prioritize and fund the projects that we are promising them.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Brooke Holland can be reached at bholland@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.