{"id":229455,"date":"2017-05-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-05-19T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/little-movement-on-ncpi-budget-priorities\/"},"modified":"2017-05-19T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-05-19T07:00:00","slug":"little-movement-on-ncpi-budget-priorities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/little-movement-on-ncpi-budget-priorities\/","title":{"rendered":"Little movement on NCPI budget priorities"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Doug Curlee | Editor at Large
\n
\nEvery year about this time, Navajo Community Planners, Inc. (NCPI) compiles a list of badly needed projects in the Navajo area.<\/p>\n

The planners do this because, every year about this time, the San Diego City Council is in the throes of figuring the budget for the coming fiscal year.<\/p>\n

There is always hope that, somehow, needed projects will pop up in the budget. Once again this year, it appears those hopes are not going to be realized.<\/p>\n

The NCPI listed four needed projects that have been under consideration for years.<\/p>\n

At the top of their list are two projects that are at least still breathing \u2014 the design and resolution of the Alvarado Creek storm water and flooding issues, and the realignment of Alvarado Canyon Road.<\/p>\n

\"Little
A map of the study area for the Grantville Trolley Station\/Alvarado Creek enhancement project (sandiego.gov<\/a>)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Alvarado Creek matter is under planning and design consideration now, with community meetings and workshops designed to get consensus about how to go about it, along with the study about redevelopment around the Grantville Trolley stop.<\/p>\n

City Senior Planner Lisa Lind heads up this effort, and she said they\u2019re getting good information and looking ahead. The planning should be completed by September, which will put the project at the 30 percent done level \u2014 the level of completion that will allow the city to apply for state and federal grants to help pay for construction.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I don\u2019t see anything coming up in this year\u2019s [city] budget,\u201d Lind said. \u201cWe\u2019re not really ready for the money yet.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a long process, and we\u2019ll just have to see what happens once we get through the planning and design work.\u201d
\nPart of the problem with these efforts is that there are other agencies and interests involved. The Metropolitan Transit System owns part of the Alvarado Creek route; CalTrans is involved to a degree with the work around the freeway areas; the Regional Water Quality Control Board has oversight. There are also a number of private property owners who have to be considered as well.<\/p>\n

Getting them all on the same page is a major effort.<\/p>\n

A more complete update on where the project is in the process will be presented at the June NCPI meeting, Lind said.<\/p>\n

The Alvarado Canyon Road realignment is somewhat simpler, in that it\u2019s basically a city project that will move the road from 380 feet east of the Fairmount Avenue and Camino Del Rio North intersection to the Fairmount Avenue and Mission Gorge Road intersection. The project calls for building a structure over the existing concrete drainage channel, removal of some pavement, and traffic signal modifications.<\/p>\n

The project carries an estimated $19 million price tag.<\/p>\n

\"Little
One of the proposed realignment plans for Alvarado Canyon Road (sandiego.gov<\/a>)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

David Smith of El Dorado Properties, one of the private parties involved with both projects, said he\u2019s happy about the fact that both projects are still alive, but wonders why the law governing developer impact fees cannot be used in the very area \u2014 Grantville \u2014 where they were collected in the first place.
\n\u201cSince 1988, about $3,700,000 in developer impact funds have been spent throughout the district. Of that, only $128,000 has been spent in Grantville,\u201d Smith said. \u201cWouldn\u2019t it make more sense to spend some of that money to jumpstart Grantville projects that would only bring in more developer fees?\u201d<\/p>\n

A case could be made for that, but the law doesn\u2019t allow it.<\/p>\n

There is some good news for the realignment project. Councilmember Scott Sherman\u2019s director of outreach Liz Saidkhanian announced at the May NCPI meeting that the city has set aside $1 million to start developing a plan to complete the project. The money is a drop in the bucket, considering the total price tag, but without it the city would have a hard time convincing other agencies, such as transit or state agencies, to help fund it.<\/p>\n

There were actually four projects on the NCPI\u2019s wish list. The final two might have an even a harder time getting funds form the city given the well-aired budget constraints.<\/p>\n

The Pershing school joint-use facility in San Carlos, which has an estimated cost of $7.6 million \u2014 $6.5 million of which are unfunded; and the demolition and replacement of the Allied Gardens Recreation Center, with an estimated price tag of $10.6 million. Dollars. Both projects are now on the shelf, with no immediate plans active.<\/p>\n

You can look up the financing plans for these projects on the city\u2019s website, and the problem is obvious. At the bottom of the project descriptions is a box, showing where the funding for each comes from.<\/p>\n

On all of them, you\u2019ll see the word \u201cuniden.\u201d That\u2019s short for \u201cunidentified funding source.\u201d<\/p>\n

What that means is, \u201cWe don\u2019t have the money to do this, we don\u2019t know where the money is going to come from to do it, and we don\u2019t know when the money will come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hard words, but that\u2019s how it works \u2014 or doesn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n

\u2014Doug Curlee es editor general. llegar a \u00e9l en doug@sdcnn.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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