Budgets set for next round of Town's capital improvements

Roads to get a majority of annual CIP allocations

A new Town Plaza?

By Jeff Kearns

Spending money is a lot easier when there's some in the bank. At the Town Council's special April 12 meeting for the 1999-2004 Capital Improvement Programs, the draft proposals breezed painlessly past the council in just over an hour--a far cry from three years ago, when shortfalls forced the town to do some serious belt-tightening.

The CIP budgets--one for the town, one for the Redevelopment Agency--outline spending for major infrastructure projects over the next five years.

In the upcoming fiscal year, the town's program, which makes up less than a quarter of the annual budget, will spend about half of the $6.2 million available, mostly on roads. The rest will be held over for projects in the next four years.

Money for CIP programs comes from the town's General Fund Appropriated Reserve, which is fed by surpluses from other projects.

Of the $2.9 million budgeted for the upcoming year, $2.3 million will go to the street and traffic signal program. The rest goes to public facilities, parks and a storm drainage project.

As part of continuing upgrade of Town Hall, the buildings will get a new heating, ventilating and air conditioning system and an electrical system.

Parking Lot 6, between E. Main and Elm streets, will be resurfaced. Some councilmembers expressed interest in moving the project forward to coincide with the opening of the new Old Town buildings next to the lot, but Public Works Director Scott Baker said he still needs to talk to nearby business owners to figure out when the resurfacing would be least disruptive.

Other projects include:

* A new parking lot at the Civic Center;

* Seismic retrofits for Blossom Hill Road and Lark Avenue bridges over Los Gatos Creek (The bulk of the money for these projects comes from federal programs.);

* Bringing Blossom Hill Park and both Tait and Forbes Mill museums up to Americans with Disabilities Act standards;

* A new traffic light at N. Santa Cruz Avenue and Roberts Road

* A new creek trail access point at Mullen Avenue.

The council, acting as the Redevelopment Agency, also took a look at the RDA's upcoming five-year plan.

For fiscal 1999-2000, the agency will spend $3.9 million on projects in the downtown redevelopment area. Last year's surplus is expected to leave about $721,000 in the agency's coffers at the end of June.

The new downtown parking structure will get $710,000 from the RDA next year, and another $2.8 million in 2000-01.

The agency, which is funded by property taxes inside the redevelopment area, must set aside 20 percent of its revenues for affordable housing programs. These programs are set to receive $675,090 in the next fiscal year.

Officials also plan to align Bachman Avenue at N. Santa Cruz Avenue by shifting sidewalks to match up both sides of Bachman.

This plan, set to begin next spring, may include making the intersection a four-way stop. Adding a stop sign would make it easier for Bachman traffic to enter the intersection, but could create backups for traffic on N. Santa Cruz.

Councilmembers also pushed to move up plans to revamp the Town Plaza, which had been budgeted for 2001-02. Town Manager David Knapp says he's looking into it.

Improvements could include a new lawn, lights and irrigation system, and replacing the fountain, which officials say can be dirty and potentially hazardous.

The Redevelopment Agency may get its own accountant in July 2000, if town staff gets its way. According to Knapp, complex state laws require that the agency prepare more than a dozen reports each year to be sent to Sacramento. And the agency, which is a separate legal entity from the rest of the town government, needs more staff to help meet its needs as it continues to grow.

Because it was approved in 1991--after one round of changes to state laws for redevelopment, but before another--the Los Gatos Redevelopment Agency is the only one of its kind in the state.

The final drafts of the CIP proposals come back to the council for approval May 17.

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