Two years after passing a ballot measure to raise funds for stormwater infrastructure, San Mateo is exploring other ways to attain funds for expensive and high-risk projects, such as replacing the Marina Lagoon Pump Station.
The city has a long list of infrastructure needs, some of which are considered the highest priority, including upgrades to the 42nd Avenue pump station or 16th Avenue channel. While property owners passed the Community Flood and Stormwater Protection Initiative in 2023 — a monthly fee among property owners — the initiative only generates $4 million annually, a small amount compared to long-term needs.
The priciest improvement is the Marina Lagoon Pump Station, which, long term, will cost an estimated $121 million, more than half the entire city’s capital improvements budget. The project entails building a new station, while upgrading the existing one.
“While the pump station’s reliability can be sustained for additional years through routine maintenance, the facility is nearing the end of its service life and continues to experience periodic equipment failures,” a staff report said, adding that even though a pump station can accommodate “a 100-year design storm, its capacity is not sufficient to address 100-year tide levels or 2050 and 2100 sea-level rise scenarios.”
Without the Marina Lagoon project, the remaining highest-priority projects “represent a more manageable funding obligation,” about $39 million, according to the report. There are about nine “very high” priority projects excluding the Marina Lagoon, include 42nd Avenue underpass improvements and the Laurelwood Culvert.
To help close the funding gaps, the City Council said it supports bonding, using the stormwater revenue to borrow more capital to get started on some of the highest-need projects.
“I am supportive of bonding against stormwater revenues, provided it’s done conservatively, transparently and focused on the highest risk projects where delay creates exposure to the residents,” Councilmember Danielle Cwirko-Godycki said. “This would be a financing tool to use existing stormwater revenues to review and deliver the highest priority projects as soon as possible while still keeping up with the maintenance.”
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