Members of the University Community Planning Group (UCPG) agreed on next year’s Facilities Benefit Account (FBA) budget, one of the richest money pots in the area, and controversial because funding generated inside North University City is dedicated solely to projects in that area through its exclusive FBA account. But UCPG members said that money has become a target.
“I have used the phrase ‘honey pot’ to refer to the FBA before, but let’s look at the bigger picture,” UCPG board member George Lattimer said. “The money collected out of North UC cannot be used by the city except in North UC, and those improvements must have a linkage to North UC; where the issue of adding things to the FBA comes into play are with items like the extension of Regents Road north from Governor [Drive].”
Months ago, UCPG members alleged that Council President and District 1 Councilman Scott Peters diverted more than $15 million from North UC’s FBA account to the controversial Regents Road Bridge project, which the group advised Peters and the city not to build.
According to group members, University City is divided into north and south ” each has its own funds. Every year, the planning group reads through next year’s FBA budget and revises it, then advises the City Council about University City’s account and projects.
When UCPG Chair Linda Colley reviewed the 2009 FBA budget, she said she realized a substantial amount of money was rearranged. Colley said Peters skirted her group “” and the correct process “” when he added multi-million-dollar projects, including bike paths and road extensions, to the Regents Road Bridge proj-ect. The city also promised a portion of funds to an area of the bridge project not covered by North UC, but those funds were missing, Colley said.
So the board formed a subcommittee, reviewed the FBA account and finally voted in March to separate the added projects, along with others the group said are not within North UC.
On March 11, the UCPG voted to approve the FBA for 2009 by a vote of 12-1-1, but the group changed five items before sending it to City Council, said Charlene Gabriel, facilities financing manager for the City of San Diego.
Members voted to move the nearly $8 million allotted inside the FBA to the Regents Road Bridge project from 2009 to 2010, Gabriel said.
UCPG members took a stand on two issues regarding Regents Road and the so-called Area of Benefit. They voted to separate $4 million City Council allotted toward improvements inside Rose Canyon from North University City. According to Gabriel, members also voted that the $5 million in limited roadway changes “not be fully funded with FBA funds.”
In addition to separating the projects, UCPG voted to add two new fire stations, a move Colley hopes will unite a community at odds.
By voting to designate projects outside North UC and then separating them, Colley said, “What I’m hoping to do is make [them] go through the correct process.”
“It took us three years to get a fire station into our plan, and the city is saying safety and we need fire stations,” she said.
According to Lattimer, when city officials and engineers look at a future project, they check the location, and if it is inside North University City, funding would come from the FBA account.
Then officials plan other details, such as the scheduled completion date.
Although the UCPG allocated funding toward the bridge project, group members clashed with the San Diego City Council over several issues. According to Colley, the line between South and North UC changed.
In a January interview, Colley said, “The boundary of the University Community Plan is different than the defined Area of Benefit.” That perimeter, she said, “lies somewhere in the middle of Rose Canyon, south of the railroad tracks.”
Colley also explained how the city started the FBA account and determined which projects to include.
“The location and extent of the Area of Benefit is determined by referencing county assessor parcel maps, current tentative subdivision maps, and from information supplied by affected property owners,” Colley said. “When the City Council established the FBA in 1980, the Area of Benefit never included South University City.”
But nearly 40 years ago, officials included both the Regents Road Bridge and the Genesee Avenue Widening projects inside the FBA plan. UCPG disagrees with the city because officials allocated funds toward portions of the Regents Road Bridge project that are not inside North University City “” Transnet funds, Colley said.
So UCPG members said they were surprised in January when the city shifted nearly $5 million of FBA funds to pay for the Transnet area, according to Colley.
An area north of Lahitte Court to a south abutment of the Regents Road Bridge project then spanning toward Governor Drive has “consistently been identified in the FBA as ‘unidentified,’ presumed city funding,” Colley said. “The distribution of costs has consistently been two-thirds FBA obligation and one-third city obligation.”
“In addition to the proposed shifted costs, council decisions regarding the Regents Road Bridge added $4 million for Rose Canyon enhancements and bicycle improvements, roadway changes of $5 million and $1.5 million for right-of-way acquisition “” and roadway improvements … for the interchanges are not within the Area of Benefit for the FBA,” Colley said.
“Can the UC community rely on the word of the city? This is the issue; city accountability, reliability and consistency,” Colley said.
Other items UCPG members voted on included gaining fire stations the group has been requesting. Members moved construction of one fire station from 2013-14 to 2010 and voted to add a second fire station to the FBA and to fund it no later than 2012, Gabriel said.