April 29, 2025
Public Works
DATE: April 29, 2025
TO: Mayor Martinez and Members of the City Council
FROM:
Daniel Chavarria, PE, Director of Public Works
Robert Armijo, PE, Deputy Director of Public Works
Engineering/City Engineer
Josef Munoz, Assistant Deputy Director of Public Works
Engineering
Subject:
Capital Improvement Program Update and Criteria
Discussion
FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no financial impact to receiving the presentation
PREVIOUS COUNCIL
ACTION:
November 26, 2024
March 11, 2025
STATEMENT OF THE
ISSUE:
In preparation for the draft Capital Improvement Plan for Fiscal Year 2025-26, City staff will provide an update on the City's capital projects, including a list of existing projects experiencing budget shortfalls. Additionally, the report introduces a draft list of new project requests that are currently unfunded. To facilitate informed decision making regarding the allocation of resources, an updated framework for prioritizing capital projects will be
introduced to incorporate weighted criteria.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
RECEIVE a presentation and PROVIDE DIRECTION to
staff on the status of the Capital Improvement Program
(CIP), Budget Requests, new CIP requests, proposed
city-wide prioritization factors and weighing system –
Public Works (Daniel Chavarria 510-620-5478/ Robert
Armijo 510-620-5477). This item was continued from
the April 22, 2025, meeting.
AGENDA
REPORT
April 29, 2025
DISCUSSION:
CIP Program Fisal Year 2024-25 Project Map – (Shaded Blue Areas Reflect Capital Project Locations)
The City of Richmond’s Capital Improvement Program (CIP) is organized into five program categories: (1) Transportation, (2) Parks and Open Spaces, (3) General and Public Safety Facilities, (4) Water Resource Recovery, and (5) Port. Currently, the program includes 95 projects. Out of these 95 projects, 24 have at least reached the Construction Completed Phase. Additional information on the Capital Improvement Program can be found in our Capital Improvement Dashboard:
https://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/158/Capital-Improvement-Program.
On November 26, 2024, the City Council received an update on the CIP focusing on project updates and a future programmatic funding approach. City staff continue to implement and deliver the FY 2024-25 projects, while making progress on improvements to capital planning for the City of Richmond, taking into consideration the programmatic approach. During the progression of these projects, staff identified budget shortfalls in existing CIP Projects (Attachment 1).
The Finance Department commenced the FY 2025-26 budget season on January 23, 2025. During this three-week period, departments submitted Capital Improvement Project Budget Requests, and staff reviewed the Unfunded Project Request List that had been presented to the City Council during the November 26, 2024 - CIP Update presentation. Considering the new requests and bearing in mind the previous list of Unfunded Projects, City staff developed a draft Unfunded Project Request List for
April 29, 2025
inclusion for Fiscal Year 2025-26 to 2030-31 Five-Year Capital Improvement Plan Budget Book (Attachment 2).
On March 11, 2025, the City Council passed a resolution to appropriate FY 2023-24 audited unspent funds totaling $4,571,504 to the Capital Improvement Program. Staff outlined a list of existing CIP projects experiencing budgetary shortfalls and projects previously approved by the City Council (Attachment 3). The City Council authorized additional funding for the following projects:
Project Name Amount
Booker T. Anderson Community Center Phase III $2,200,000 Boorman Park Revitalization $400,000
Boorman Park Site Remediation $250,000
Carlson Blvd. Crosstown Connection Phase II $1,221,504
Parchester Area Infrastructure Plan $500,000
Total $4,571,504
The projects that did not receive funding approval will be included in the Capital Improvement Project Shortfalls list or the revised Draft Unfunded Request List (Attachments 1 and 2). The information and development of these list aid in the budget development process.
During this budget development process a Capital Working Group (“Working Group”) was established. The focus for the committee was to improve the Capital Planning Process.
Capital Planning Process:
The typical Capital Improvement Program is planned and developed in four steps:
1. Departments submit Capital Improvement Project requests, with input from the community and Adopted Plans and Studies during the budget cycle
2. CIP Working Group prioritizes and scores the project requests
3. City Council reviews and provides feedback on the recommended plan
4. Finance Department staff includes the first year of the CIP budget in its presentation to the City Council for approval and adoption, along with the operating budget
The Working Group focused on Step 2 which was to improve the prioritization criteria.
The existing criteria did not include weighted factors, and shared similar methodologies.
The consensus was to propose integrating all the different criteria into weighted factors.
The Capital Committee would use the weighted factors to develop a score for each project request. Here are the three existing prioritization criteria that was presented on November 26, 2025, CIP Update to City Council:
April 29, 2025
Existing Prioritization Criteria:
The existing CIP prioritization criteria used includes the following three methodologies:
Methodology #1: Finance CIP Budget Priority
Priority A: Mandatory
Priority B: Necessary
Priority C: Desirable
Methodology #2: City Council Strategic Goals and Objectives
1. Improve Quantity and Quality of Housing, Especially Low-Income Housing and Reduce Homelessness
2. Increase Revenue and Improve Economic Development
3. Improve the Quality of Life and Community Health/Improve Social Determinants of Health
4. Improve Public Safety
5. Strengthening the City’s Internal Infrastructure and Processes
6. Address Shoreline Issues and Ecological Sustainability
Methodology #3: City Council Proposed Project Criteria (From March 5, 2024, City Council Meeting):
Legal Compliance
Funding Obligation
Housing/Facility
Health and Safety
Quality of Life
Citywide Prioritization Factors and Weighing System Framework:
Staff reviewed the existing methodologies and identified commonalities between the three (Attachment 4). Ten (10) factors were identified below:
1. Equity (19 Points): Investment in underserved areas of Richmond based on environmental justice (EJ) element, Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE) work, and other related factors.
2. Required Work (19 Points): Legal requirements and funding commitments.
3. Readiness (12 Points): Projects are ready to proceed without delays, with funding and staff available.
4. Environment (8 Points): Enhance shoreline resilience, ecological sustainability, and hazard mitigation (wildfire, risk reduction, etc.).
5. Economics (8 Points): Boost revenue, drive economic growth, support small business.
6. Quality of Life (8 Points): Enhance infrastructure, parks, recreation, and built environment maintenance citywide.
7. Safety (8 Points): Enhance safety, reduce illegal dumping, and improve emergency preparedness citywide.
8. Housing (8 Points): Increase housing access, reduce homelessness, and improve housing quality and affordability.
April 29, 2025
9. Plan Implementation (5 Points): Project aligns with an adopted plan/study and has community support.
10. Collaborations (5 Points): Combine projects to save resources; collaborate with community and organizations for efficiency.
Each project request will receive a score from 0-100 based on the 10 prioritization Factors and Weighing System Framework, which will help structure recommendations and prioritize projects presented to City Council moving forward.
Next Steps:
City staff will continue to develop the Multi-Year Capital Improvement Plan and will present a draft as part of the FY 2025-26 Budget development process. If the proposed prioritization factors and weighing system approach is subsequently approved, City staff will incorporate the score in future recommendations or the direction provided by City Council.
DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
Attachment 1: Draft Capital Improvement Project Shortfalls Attachment 2: Draft Unfunded Request List
Attachment 3: March 11, 2025, Capital Improvement Project Shortfalls (Original) Attachment 4: Draft Citywide Prioritization Factors and Weighing System Attachment 5: Draft Presentation