2017-2022 Capital Improvements Plan
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Bronwyn Beatty-Hansen's Council Preview |
The special meeting of the Ames City Council begins at 5:15 (note earlier time). The agenda includes:
- 1. Staff presentation on recommended 2017-2022 Capital Improvements Plan.
- This will be mostly informational. Council will not be asked to take any votes on the CIP on Tuesday. Public comment for the CIP is scheduled for January 24th. Council will be able to ask staff clarifying questions, and we can request more information on any given topic as well.
- The City Manager's Project Highlights outline the broad categories of spending and list a few projects of note in each category. Total CIP $184,981,974
-Public Safety - $1,718,000 - fire equipment replacement, storm warning sirens
-Utilities - $91,808,000 - 49.6% of the overall CIP, divided into several sub-categories (Electric, Water, Sanitary Sewer, Storm Sewer, Resource Recovery).
-Transportation - $85,935,974 - Another big piece of the CIP, including subcategories Street Engineering, Shared Use Paths, Traffic Signals/Calming, Streets Maintenance, Transit, and Airport.
-Community Enrichment - $5,520,000 - Parks & Rec, park system improvements, removal of the wading pool at Brookside and installation of a new one at a site yet to be determined.
-Neighborhoods, Business Districts, Human Service Agencies - $950,000 - Facade Grant programs in Downtown and Campustown, Human Service Agency Capital Improvement, Neighborhood Improvement Program - There are many worthwhile projects in the CIP. The following are some of my highlights:
-Community Solar - while not in the CIP, because capital expenses will be born by the developer of this project, it is called out in the Manager's highlights as a project underway in 2017/2018.
-Ada Hayden Water Quality Study - a new mechanism to monitor this valuable community resource, $60,000 over the next two years.
-Grand Ave. Extension (!) - Now that the environmental study has concluded, engineering, land acquisition and construction will take place from through 2019, $15,450,000
-Shared Use Path Expansion - $3,556,800 over five years for expansion of the shared-use path system, plus some other spending on traffic improvements meant to increase multi-modal access.
-Human Service Capital Improvement Program - $400,000 over two years, this pilot program is meant to spend a portion of the Local Option Sales Tax Fund balance to assist human service agencies with one-time capital expenses. - Two potential projects NOT in the CIP yet include the Healthy Life Center (which would need a feasibility study and funding strategy first) and an Emergency Response Facility (depending on the need to consider one after the Land Use Policy Plan gets updated).
Thanks for reading,
Bronwyn Beatty-Hansen
City Council At-Large
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