Planning Commission hopes for public input on city's 2009 Capital Improvement Plan

The Nevada Planning Commission voted unanimously Tuesday afternoon to postpone consideration of the city's 2009 Five-year Capital Improvement Budget until their Oct. 13 meeting, with the hope of getting some public input.

"I hope we can get additional public participation" planning commissioner Jeff Tweten said.

"I appreciate the extra time, since I did not get a chance to look at this until this afternoon," Jim Erpenbach, planning commissioner, said.

The meeting notice and agenda for the Sept. 9 planning commission meeting was not posted on the city's Web site until Friday, Sept. 4.

At this point they have no public input, since there was no one other than the media present for the meeting Wednesday.

Nevada City Manager Harlan Moore told the planning commission that the 2009 capital improvement budget, which is something like a child's Christmas list with estimated costs, has projects approaching a total cost of $36.2 million over the next five years. This includes $5.1 million in proposed projects for 2010, $7.2 million for 2011, $3.4 million for 2012, $3.4 million for 2013 and $14.8 million for 2014, which includes the future debt service carrier over.

Moore told the commission that the list of projects comes from department heads and then he and other staff members go over these lists and pares it down to what is the best of the projects that can be covered by available money.

Since the 2010 city budget is not finished, Moore told the commission that he would not know which of the proposed projects for 2010 will actually be done until the budget is completed later this year.

The list proposed for 2010 has a wide variety of projects that the city will pay for from existing taxes, grants or new bond issues, including $500,000 in street construction, $25,000 in sidewalk improvements, $175,000 for the design of a replacement police-fire department building, $30,000 for the design of a new animal shelter, a $84,000 payment for replacement pumped for the fire department, $280,000 for golf course building improvements and $40,000 for an emergency generator for the Neal Center.

The city is also proposing to spend $200,000 in both 2010 and 2011 for replacing the storm sewers in the downtown area.

According to information furnished with the capital improvement budget the proposed funding for the 2010 projects includes: $205,000 in general obligation bonds; $868,887 from park sales tax; $500,000 from the transportation sales tax; $1,087,600 from grants; $737,536 from the State Revolving Fund loan; $55,000 from the State Energy Revolving loan; $95,000 from privately funded improvement districts.

If the remaining $1,292,700 is available it would come from the general fund operating revenues and water sewer rates.

Moore told the commission that the budget also includes several projects that will be paid for through private investments with Tax Increment Financing or Neighborhood Improvement Districts. These would include things like designing an extension of Johnson Drive to south of Division Street, design the proposed Joe Kraft Boulevard from the West Highland off ramp at U.S. Highway 71 to Ash Street, design an extension of the water and sewer lines south of Austin Boulevard, paralleling U.S. Highway 71.

The construction of these projects is proposed to take place in 2011 with the engineering for the projects to be done in 2010.