San Carlos weighing budget priorities

To help plan for the city’s growing number of infrastructure projects — which include a redesign of the Holly Street and Highway 101 interchange and ongoing repairs to the city’s sewer system — two additional staff members for the city’s Public Works Department were recommended by staff. In response to priorities the City Council pegged earlier this year, dedicating $800,000 toward a strategic plan for the city’s downtown and $750,000 to an effort to study ways San Carlos can incentivize housing was also recommended by staff.

Among the priorities councilmembers considered for future funding were several projects related to large, mixed-use developments taking shape in the city, such as the 202-apartment, eight-building San Carlos Transit Village nearing completion at the San Carlos Caltrain station and the 109-unit Wheeler Plaza taking shape downtown.

Mayor Mark Olbert wondered when an effort to improve Laureola Park at 503 Old County Road might begin to take shape, noting funds had been pegged for the park just south of Holly Street as a way of improving the neighborhood where more than 200 new residences would be built as part of the Transit Village project. With new residents soon to move into the development, Olbert asked why none of the $600,000 available for the project through park in-lieu fees paid by Prometheus, the Transit Village’s developer, have been spent. He added it might make sense for the park improvements to coincide with new residents’ arrival to the neighborhood.

Olbert also wondered how a $83,000 fund pegged for improvements in the Greater East San Carlos neighborhood fit in with a commitment from Prometheus to plant trees there and on the berm on which the Caltrain tracks stand. Community Development Director Al Savay said the developer was required to plant 70 trees on the berm and contribute $1,500 to the neighborhood’s improvement fund for every tree the developer wasn’t able to plant, acknowledging a project to electrify Caltrain has taken shape since the project was approved in 2013.

Savay added a neighborhood meeting held in recent weeks has helped shape a plan for planting trees on the Caltrain berm and discussions of where else trees should be planted would follow in subsequent community meetings. Olbert urged city staff to continue monitoring the obligations developers agreed to when their projects were approved to ensure that planned improvements take shape, adding a plan to install cameras at a public parking garage that opened last year at Wheeler Plaza is something for which the developer should have paid.

“We’re giving them another way to fulfill their obligation and I don’t personally want to cut them any more slack on that,” he said, according to a video of the meeting.

A recommendation to dedicate some $200,000 to help establish a community foundation in San Carlos sparked a discussion among councilmembers about whether funds to cover its startup costs should be appropriated when the city reviews a budget proposal in the coming weeks or later this year when organizers have had more time to conduct community outreach.

Former mayor Cameron Johnson, whose last term on the council ended in January, has with a 15-person steering committee spearheaded an effort to form a fund supporting local nonprofits and initiatives since the council opted to commit $2 million of a $6 million settlement the city reached with PG&E in 2017. Though councilmembers largely supported the committee’s efforts, some felt they should hold off on dedicating funds to the organization’s startup marketing and fundraising costs until the committee has had more time to coordinate with other nonprofits and community organizations. Councilwoman Laura Parmer-Lohan recused herself from discussions of the community fund.

Councilwoman Sara McDowell said she supported the formation of the community fund, but hoped to see a more detailed budget outlining how the startup funds would be used as well as more community outreach done before dedicating $200,000 to it.

“I think it’s a great thing for our community, I want to set it up to be successful,” she said. “I think that there’s just a significant amount of work that needs to be done.”

Parmer-Lohan said she felt the budget represented the San Carlos community’s priorities well, and said she was encouraged by staff’s predictions the city would be able to support several critical projects within its own budget. Having read reports about an impending economic downturn, Parmer-Lohan also advocated for officials to prepare for conditions in which business growth might slow.

“All good things come to an end eventually and I just think it might be worth us considering putting together some kind of … guidelines to prepare for a potential economic downturn,” she said.

anna@smdailyjournal.com

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