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Photograph by Paul Myers
The Fourth Street Bridge would be repaired as part of a five-year, citywide improvement project.
City council prioritizes improvement projects
By Oakley Brooks
Azule Park and the Fourth Street Bridge are the big-ticket projects among almost a dozen that the city council recently prioritized as needing improvements over the next five years.
The council has begun discussing which projects will be part of a capital improvement effort that will be planned in the next few months and will spend $2 million to $4 million of the city's budget surplus.
On June 26, the council sifted through almost 50 structures, roads and parks in need of repair in Saratoga.
Of the 11 improvements the council deemed essential, the Fourth Street Bridge would be one of the most expensive undertakings. About $300,000 of the estimated $1.5 million repair costs would come from the city's budget surplus and the rest from federal grant money.
According to Public Works Director John Cherbone, the bridge's footings are eroding, and it is seismically unsafe. Also, its width does not meet federal standards.
"Its life is up," said Councilman Stan Bogosian.
City officials are also considering reserving $700,000 of the city's park development fund for a makeover of Azule Park. Design planning for the park is already under way, and the city hopes to have a final scheme for the city council to review by mid-August.
The council meeting's lone member from the public on June 26, Azule Park Neighborhood Association Director Katie Alexander, came to push funding for Azule.
Other projects that the city council has assigned priority to include Highway 9 traffic signal improvements, Heritage Orchard upkeep and repairs to the Civic Theater roof.
The city council did consider setting aside funds to repair hillside roads. But in discussing the potential for multiple washouts during wet winters, the council agreed that the expense might have to be shouldered by a fund created by special taxes on hillside residents.
Cherbone says that roads at higher elevations already cost the city double the amount allocated for road maintenance in the flat areas of Saratoga.
The council will take up the idea of a special tax on hillside road residents as a separate item at a future meeting.
Meanwhile, the group will continue to shape the entire capital improvement plan during each council meeting throughout the summer. When the council reaches a final short list of projects--after public input--it will take the list before the planning commission for assurance that it follows city environmental and General Plan guidelines.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
