Consent Agenda Item 4c
STAFF REPORT
City Council Consent Calendar Agenda Item
DATE: January 3, 2022
TO: Honorable Mayor and Council Members
FROM: Cameron Mull, Parks & Recreation Director
THROUGH: Merritt Perry, City Manager
SUBJECT: Authorizing an Application for Grant Funds, and Appoint the City Manager to be the Authorized Signer for Proposition 68 Rural Recreation and Tourism (RRT) Grant, Resolution 2022-01
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
Authorize city staff to submit a potential Proposition 68 RRT grant application to California State Parks, and adopt Resolution 2022-01, authorizing the Fortuna City Manager to be the Signatory Authority for a possible riverfront park project.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
City staff and consultants have been working on a grant application for the Proposition 68 funded Rural Recreation and Tourism (RRT) grant program, to develop a park on Riverwalk Drive on the property immediately north of the River Lodge along the Sandy Prairie Levee. The City has been in negotiations for this property for over a year and it is currently unknown if the acquisition will be completed, due to changing demands of the property owner for the purchase of the property.
The City has put a significant effort into the completion of the original application and the current draft application to the RRT grant program. The City was awarded $625,000 from the River Parkways grant program in 2018 and staff are now prepared to submit a grant for approximately $3.5M to the RRT grant program.
The RRT application is due for submission by January 20, 2022 to California State Parks. A required component of the grant application is a Resolution that designates signatory authority (City Manager) for all matters regarding the application and the proposed project, and other provisions requiring compliance grant guidelines and ability to fund the project (if the grant is awarded to the City). A copy of the draft resolution provided by California State Parks’ Office of Grants and Local Services (OGALS), and must remain unchanged, and can only be reformatted.
Provision 6 of Public Resources Code §80001(b)(8 A-G) requires that public agencies receiving funds from this 2018 Bond Act shall consider a range of actions promoting diversity and inclusion as identified in the “Presidential Memorandum—Promoting Diversity and Inclusion in Our National Parks, National Forests, and Other Public Lands and Waters,” dated January 12, 2017.
Consent Agenda Item 4c
Staff will only proceed with submission of this grant application if it appears that the acquisition is likely.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The cost of the preparation of the grant application so far is $7,000 and was spent on consultants to develop a conceptual plan for the park and solicit public input on the concepts during development. Funding for the application came from Measure E funds designated for “General Parks Acquisition and Improvements”.
The City project is expected to cost approximately $1.5M with no city match required. City funds would be used to pay for costs of the park development, and they would be reimbursed as work on the project is completed.
RECOMMENDED COUNCIL ACTION:
Authorize the City Manager to submit a grant application to California State Parks, appoint the City Manager as the Authorized Signer for Proposition 68 Rural Recreation and Tourism Grant, and adopt Resolution 2022-01. Consent Agenda vote.
ATTACHMENT:
Resolution 2022-01; A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Fortuna Approving an Application for Rural Recreation and Tourism Grant Funds