DATE:
May 16, 2023
TO:
Paul Buddenhagen, City Manager
FROM:
Mohamed Alaoui, Public Works Director
SUBJECT:
Capital Improvement Program (CIP) 2023-2028
Recommendation
Staff recommends that the City Council receive the following staff report and provide input on the 2023-2028 Capital Improvement Program (CIP).
Background
For the last forty years, the City has used the CIP to implement the vision, goals, and priorities of the Emeryville community. The CIP is a five-year plan that guides Emeryville's investment in its public buildings, parks, streets, sewers, and other facilities. City staff use the CIP as a roadmap to design, construct, and repair City infrastructure that support a livable, sustainable and joyful Emeryville.
Projects included in the CIP are large-scale, long-term investments that build, replace, or improve public infrastructure. The prior FY 2019-2024 CIP was adopted in June 2019, and included 85 projects budgeted at $91 million that were supported by a variety of funding sources. These 85 projects were subdivided into eleven main project categories: Community Facilities, Facilities Maintenance, Housing, Information Technology, Marina, Pedestrian/Bicycle, Public Art, Sewer, Streetscape System, Transportation, and Vehicles.
The 2023-2028 CIP will build on this prior CIP as well as other long-term planning source documents that set specific plans and priorities for the city. Examples of source documents that are connected to the CIP include the General Plan, Public Art Master Plan, Affordable Housing Bond Administration and Expenditure Plan, and the draft Active Transportation Plan.
In addition, for the 2023-2028 CIP, staff are seeking an intuitive approach to make the CIP more legible and accessible to the public. As such, staff have proposed updated CIP project categories, values, and priorities. For instance, project categories will be consolidated from eleven to six new categories, which will be Community Facilities, Essential Infrastructure, Housing, Information Technology, Sustainable Transportation, and Urban Greening. The values will be Climate Action, Connectivity, Equity, Maintenance, Quality of Life (including Art and Innovation), and Safety.
Public Works staff facilitated a Study Session for the City Council during the October 18, 2022 Council meeting, and sought Council’s direction on the proposed CIP timeline, CIP Values, and CIP Categories. Staff also facilitated another Study Session during the March 7, 2023 Council meeting and requested Council’s input on the public feedback survey and provided updates about the remaining steps in the CIP development process. Since October 2022, staff have completed various steps in the CIP development processed outlined in Table 1 below.
Table 1: Timeline of CIP Development Process
Date
Event
Description
October 2022
City Council Study Session
Public Works staff presented and facilitated a conversation with Councilmembers about the CIP. This included sharing a timeline, as well as seeking direction on source documents, new CIP categories, and CIP values.
November 2022
City Staff Discussions
Public Works staff facilitated internal discussions to identify project and funding needs, as well as CIP values, with other City staff from:
Community Development (P & B)
Community Services
Finance
IT
Police
Alameda County Fire
December 2022
Public Outreach Campaign
Staff launched a public outreach campaign before Committee meetings in January to alert constituents of the CIP process and opportunity for input.
January 2023
Present to Committees
Staff presented to the City Council and Community Committees where members and constituents could share ideas for projects. Public Works Staff attended the following meetings:
City Council Committees:
Sustainability (1/9/23)
Transportation (1/12/23)
Community Services (1/23/23)
Community Advisory Committees:
Commission on Aging (1/11/23)
Public Arts Commission (1/12/23)
Economic Development Advisory Committee (1/18/23)
Park and Recreation (1/18/23)
Planning Commission (1/26/23)
Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (2/13/23)
February to March 2023
Feedback Survey
This public survey collected community feedback on the draft project list, which helped staff prioritize projects during financial analyses throughout the spring. 120 responses (approx.1% of Emeryville’s population) were received.
Spring 2023
Staff Perform Financial Analysis
Throughout the spring, Public Works staff worked closely with Finance staff to perform financial analyses of projects and create a list of proposed projects.
April 2023
Budget Committees
Public Works staff presented at the Council’s Budget and Governance Committee as well as the Budget Advisory Committee.
May 2023
Planning Commission, and City Council Study Session
Staff will facilitate a study session for the Council Budget Committee and for the full Council in May. Staff will also present to the Planning Commission seeking approval that the CIP is compliant with the General Plan.
June 2023
City Council Adoption
Public Works Staff will bring the CIP to City Council for adoption along with the City’s new budget.
Discussion
During this study session, staff are seeking the Council’s input on the proposed new CIP projects, which are outlined below. Draft content for each new CIP project’s page is available in Attachment A.
Community Facilities
This category includes projects to construct, improve or rehabilitate City-owned facilities, including buildings and the public marina. This also includes public art projects.
COF-1: Facility Resiliency Upgrades: This project is focused on upgrading City Facilities to meet our adopted Climate Action Goals. This will include solar upgrades, and energy storage solutions that reduce our carbon footprint and harden City Facilities for response to emergency events.
COF-2: Civic Center Upgrades: With funding from former project FM-05, this project places an emphasis on technology improvements at City Hall that provide information and other features to the public.
Essential Infrastructure
This category includes projects to improve the City’s bridges, electric vehicle facilities, and sanitary sewer infrastructure, including storm drains.
ESI-01 Stormwater Management: This project combines the Storm Drain Cleaning and Repair Program, the Storm Drain Inventory and CCTV Inspection Program, and Additional Storm Drain Inlet Capture Devices projects since all functions are generally delivered by the same contract.
ESI-02 Bridge Maintenance Program: This project is a combination of the Structure Deck Seal, Repair and Maintenance Program, the Amtrak Pedestrian Bridge Preventative Maintenance, and the Powell Street Bridge Seal Coat and Joint Seal Replacement projects. All these projects utilize the same type of contract and include the same work.
ESI-03 Powell Street Sewer Project: This project will fund the replacement/repair of the gravity line that serves Emeryville residents west of the I-80 freeway. This project replaces project SS-01 and increases funding to a total of $2.2M based on recent initial investigations from design consultants.
ESI-04 Hydraulic Separator Units: This is an unfunded project for the installation of hydraulic separator units at new locations in the City. Currently under consideration is the outfall located near the Powell Street and Frontage Road intersection. This project will help meet the City’s Water Board mandate of 100% trash capture by June 30, 2025, and is a primary candidate for the Cooperative Implementation Agreement grant program administered by Caltrans.
ESI-05 Fire Station Alert System: The existing fire alert system is more than 20 years old and antiquated. The new alert system will help stations improve response times in accordance with NFPA170 recommendations. It will come with backup power for redundancy, include SMS and email alerts to personnel, maximize uptime through NFPA 1221 complaint alerting pathways, allow IT support teams to remotely configure and deploy software upgrades, offer agency wide monitoring of all station peripheral equipment, and report any failures to the host monitoring system.
Housing
Housing Projects were previously included in a discrete section of the CIP. In recognition of the comprehensive approach to affordable housing represented by the Affordable Housing Bond Administration and Expenditure Plan (“Expenditure Plan”), and because affordable housing projects are not typically capitalizable assets of the City, the 23-28 CIP addresses housing by incorporating references to the Expenditure Plan. The Expenditure Plan, in turn, identifies priorities for affordable housing spending and informs the City’s biannual Operating Budgets, which include specific spending authority for affordable housing projects and programs. This approach allows for the spending on affordable housing programs and projects to be addressed in a single, comprehensive policy document and provides the flexibility necessary for projects involving real estate transactions.
Information Technology
This category includes projects to enhance and upgrade the information and communication systems capacity of the City.
INT-01 Applications and Development: This project provides a means to develop and maintain software applications, licensing, workflows, and cloud-based solutions to support various department needs, including a complete redesign of the City’s public facing website. This project consolidates previously separate projects into one, allowing staff the flexibility to concentrate resources where needed and respond to department requests nimbly.
INT-02 Council Chamber Audio/Visual Improvements: This project is to upgrade existing systems in City Council chambers to better facilitate hybrid meetings, while improving broadcasting and streaming.
Sustainable Transportation
This category consists of projects to construct new pedestrian, bike ways and transit stops, modify and update existing traffic signals, and reconstruct sidewalks and curb cuts.
SUT-01 Sustainable Streetscapes: This project is the primary implementation mechanism for the ATP plan. It includes the scope of the City’s Annual Street Rehabilitation Program, Green Infrastructure Projects, Sidewalk Improvement Program, Bike Share Station Program, Bike and Pedestrian Plan Implementation, and Transit Stop Improvement projects. New Sustainable Streetscape projects will include all the elements in the legacy component projects but deliver them in one comprehensive streamlined package depending on project location and context.
SUT-02 ATP Studies: This project is dedicated to further study items in the Active Transportation Plan that have identified a need for more exploration.
SUT-03 Traffic Signals and Street Lights: Combines Signals and Streetlights work into one project since this work is generally delivered under the same contract.
SUT-04 The Emeryville Loop: A major project identified in the ATP plan that installs a cycle track and bus lanes in the commercial core of the City. The project is unfunded but is considered a prime candidate for bonus point dollars from development projects, and/or grant money.
SUT-05 The 40th Street Multimodal Project Phase 2: Bay Trail Gap Closure: This project continues the two-way cycle track currently under design in the 40th Street Transit-Only Lanes and Multi Modal Enhancements project. The cycle track would continue north along Shellmound Street to connect with the southeastern corner of the Emeryville Loop project. The project has partial funding of over one million dollars and is a prime candidate for bonus points and/or grant funds.
Urban Greening
This category includes projects to rehabilitate and maintain City parks, as well as improve the appearance of city streets with landscaping and street trees.
URG-01 Parks Projects: This project is intended to fund both small and medium-sized parks projects. It is to improve various park features and increase the tree canopy of our parks.
URG-02 Parks Studies: This project is to facilitate the visioning, community discussion, and concept design of new park features.
URG-03 Northwest Linear Park: This is an unfunded placeholder for the development of a linear park along what is currently La Coste Street. It is considered a primary candidate for bonus point projects from nearby development projects.
URG-04 Urban Tree Planting Program: This project is largely identical to the previous CIP project ST-07 with an increase in annual funding from $10,000 per year to $75,000 per year with an additional one-time $1,000,000 transfer from the General Fund for the first year.
FISCAL IMPACT
The City uses restricted and unrestricted resources to fund capital projects. Restricted funds include developer impact fees and contributions, revenues from other agencies/special funds, grants, voter-approved bond proceeds, and funds provided by the Successor Agency. Unrestricted funds include tax increment revenues, commercial transfer tax revenues, discretionary General Fund, and operating budget program contributions.
Provided below are the high-level summaries by categories from the prior CIP (Table 2) and the proposed new CIP (Table 3).
Table 2: 2019-2024 Summary by CIP Category
Category
FY 19-20
Budget
FY 20-21
Budget
FY 21-22
Projection
FY 22-23
Projection
FY 23-24
Projection
Total
Community Facilities
$ 1,153,000
$ 250,000
$ 525,000
$ 125,000
$ 125,000
$ 2,178,000
Facilities Maintenance
680,516
400,000
250,000
250,000
250,000
1,830,516
Housing
678,300
7,075,000
6,420,000
150,000
22,650,000
36,973,300
Information Technology
150,000
205,000
205,000
250,000
150,000
960,000
Marina
-
250,000
-
-
-
250,000
Pedestrian/Bicycle
761,000
395,000
460,000
1,034,000
284,000
2,934,000
Public Art
155,000
-
-
-
-
155,000
Sanitary Sewer
300,000
300,000
300,000
300,000
300,000
1,500,000
Streetscape System
535,000
143,000
13,700,000
58,000
250,000
14,686,000
Transportation
1,925,147
8,249,500
2,436,436
12,289,000
990,000
25,890,083
Vehicles
672,000
330,000
166,000
1,239,000
1,066,000
3,473,000
Total
$ 7,009,963
$ 17,597,500
$ 24,462,436
$ 15,695,000
$ 26,065,000
$ 90,829,899
Table 3: 2023-2028 Summary by CIP Category
Category
FY 23-24
Budget
FY 24-25
Budget
FY 25-26
Projection
FY 26-27
Projection
FY 27-28
Projection
Total
Community Facilities
$ 2,274,430
$ 1,100,000
$ 500,000
$ 5000,000
$ 500,000
$ 4,874,430
Essential Infrastructure
3,624,100
3,500,000
2,344,000
378,000
355,000
10,201,100
Information Technology
515,000
380,000
295,000
295,000
295,000
1,780,000
Sustainable Transpo.
11,178,300
1,725,000
28,232,000
1,660,000
1,660,000
44,455,300
Urban Greening
2,248,840
3,900,000
150,000
150,000
150,000
6,598,840
Total
$ 19,840,670
$ 10,605,000
$ 31,521,000
$ 2,983,000
$ 2,960,000
$ 67,909,670
Note: This table does not include the Housing category since it is funded through the Affordable Housing Bond Administration and Expenditure Plan (“Expenditure Plan”).
Staff Communication with the Public
Staff presented the information in the discussion section to the City Council’s Budget and Governance Committee on April 25, 2023. Staff also presented the overall summary charts to the Budget Advisory Committee on April 27, 2023. Staff received no public comment at either of these meetings.
Conflict of Interest
None.
Conclusion
The Capital Improvement Program provides a blueprint for City staff to build infrastructure to support a livable and sustainable Emeryville. Staff seek City Council input on the new CIP projects and other CIP information presented in this study session.
PREPARED BY: Josie Ahrens, Management Analyst
Approved and Forwarded to the
City Council of the City of Emeryville:
Paul Buddenhagen, City Manager
Attachments
Draft CIP Pages for New Projects
Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Study Session
City Council Meeting | May 16, 2023
City of Emeryville
CALIFORNIA
MEMORANDUM