Belmont officials ID infrastructure needs

Councilman Warren Lieberman was in agreement with other councilmembers when he expressed enthusiasm for projects that would affect resources residents use often.

“I share the view that visibility on how we use this money is a good thing,” he said.

Tuesday’s study session was the council’s first opportunity to discuss how the excess infrastructure funds would be used since they were identified at its June 13 budget discussion. Though $1 million of the reserves was pegged to match the city’s collection of Measure I, a half-cent sales tax increase to be used for infrastructure projects, the council still had $1.1 million to allocate to other unfunded infrastructure projects.

Though Vice Mayor Doug Kim acknowledged the estimated $1.3 million expected to pad city coffers each year from Measure I was a start toward improving the city’s aging roads, he said he favored funding projects that tackle the city’s many road issues with the excess funds.

“I do tend to gravitate to some of the roadway projects,” he said.

Councilmembers agreed to put $300,000 behind patching and resurfacing of an eastern stretch of Ralston Avenue and $600,000 behind designs for improvements to a stretch of Alameda de las Pulgas and another western segment of Ralston Avenue.

Lieberman voiced support for dedicating funds toward patching and applying an asphalt seal to smooth existing pavement on segments of Ralston Avenue between Highway 101 and South Road when Public Works Director Afshin Oskoui confirmed grant funding had already been secured for the project. Oskoui said completion of the project could put that section of Ralston Avenue in a position for grants to fund further improvements, such as refreshing the pavement.

Though Councilman Eric Reed and Councilwoman Davina Hurt were initially more supportive of shovel-ready projects, they ended up supporting designs for Ralston Avenue and Alameda de las Pulgas improvements, which Oskoui said would help tee up construction of the projects and ready them for grant applications.

Lieberman also asked Oskoui how quickly potential slippage on Belmont hills — especially those near homes — should be investigated.

“The conservative part of me says the sooner the better,” he said, adding that studying the hillside area would shed light on whether future work was needed.

Mayor Charles Stone asked his fellow councilmembers if they would be comfortable dipping below $1 million in reserve funds used during emergencies to dedicate $150,000 toward field improvements at Ralston Middle School. Contingent on the city and the Belmont-Redwood Shores School District reaching a joint field use agreement, the funds would be aimed at improving safety on grass fields where students have been injured, said Stone.

“I view all of these through a quality of life and safety lens,” he said, adding that any projects affecting the safety of children rose to the top for him.

Finance Director Thomas Fil said funding the five projects would put the city’s reserve at an estimated $750,000, which city officials agreed would be an acceptable level.

The council also looked at how street improvements funded by Measure I would be prioritized. Though Oskoui explained that planning and implementing the more intensive improvements possible with the new funding source could take several years, Stone wondered if the council could weigh in on where the funding could be used earlier to kick-start much-needed improvements.

“We need to make the decisions on where this money is going to be employed [as soon as possible],” he said.

Oskoui said early 2018 could be a good time to revisit how projects are identified for future work after a report on the city’s road conditions from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission is slated to be ready by November.

Kim said he was hopeful the city could revisit the criteria it uses to identify streets for improvement and include benchmarks that may not be captured in an analysis of empirical data, noting where streets are aging and frequently used, in particular school zones, have failed to rise to the top of the city’s existing analysis.

“There needs to be layer on top of this that touches some of those intangibles,” he said. “I think we need to balance this with a little bit more of the human intelligence.”

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