Carpinteria council adopts capital improvement prioritization criteria to guide project funding

Carpinteria City Council on March 25 voted to approve a set of prioritization criteria for the city’s Capital Improvement Program (CIP), directing staff to apply the criteria when preparing the city’s project list for the upcoming budget. The motion passed by unanimous voice vote after a staff presentation and public comment.

City staff told council members the prioritization criteria are meant to give a consistent framework for ranking projects across multiple categories — bridges and roadways, trails, pedestrian safety, coastal resilience and essential service buildings — while recognizing the city’s heavy reliance on external grants and donations. “The criteria that staff has identified is strategic alignment, deferred maintenance, available grant funds, available local funds and community benefit,” Management Analyst Stefan Downs said during the presentation, citing a midyear CIP budget of $14,729,500 and January 2025 expenditures of $6,553,518.

Why it matters: Carpinteria’s CIP is a five‑year planning document that links projects to the city’s general plan and funding sources such as Measure X, Measure A, development impact fees (DIF) and state and federal grants. Council members and staff said using explicit criteria will help the city prioritize projects when funding is uncertain and when grant awards arrive at different times from the city’s fiscal year.

What staff recommended and how council framed it Staff proposed applying the new criteria to “programmable” capital projects and producing a prioritized project list to present with the June budget. The staff presentation grouped near‑term, grant‑ready projects (for example, the Livingston Shoreline design, Linden Avenue and the Crosswalk at Carpinteria High School) into the top priority category while placing larger, locally funded needs (Carpinteria Avenue bridge and a 2023 pavement rehabilitation project) in a second tier. Staff emphasized the approach is iterative: projects dependent on grants or donations could move up the list if funding becomes available.

Council discussion and concerns Council members questioned how sudden funding opportunities or disaster recovery would be incorporated. City Manager Michael Ramirez told the council that staff envisions three broad categories: projects to be done in the coming fiscal year, projects scheduled for a future year, and projects that are contingent on outside funding or donations. “If there was a grant, and we did receive it, we would come back to council for approval to accept the grant and then program it at that point,” a staff member said.

Council members also pressed for clearer public presentation of multi‑phase costs (design, right‑of‑way, construction) and for better labeling of multi‑year pavement efforts so the public is less likely to misinterpret schedule slips as pure delay. Vice Mayor Salerno and others discussed increasing outreach for fundraising and forming community steering groups to administer donated funds; staff said the city is preparing a donations/fundraising policy and has begun work with outside grant consultants to increase capacity.

Funding context and outstanding questions Staff provided a breakdown of FY to date funding sources: grants ($6.3 million), Measure X ($5.0 million), Measure A ($1.6 million), DIF ($700,000), gas tax ($460,000), RMRA ($300,000) and Tidelands Trust Fund ($275,000). Staff warned some revenue sources — notably tidelands trust funds — are expected to decline over the next three to five years. Staff also noted the city was not selected for an Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) award that targeted disadvantaged communities because Carpinteria does not meet the program’s overall community threshold, though staff said project merits (for example, ADA work) were competitive.

Public comment and next steps One member of the public, Patrick O’Connor, asked whether adjacent private properties that benefit from shoreline work would participate in costs; staff said they would investigate assessment options but had no immediate determination. Following deliberations, the council approved the criteria and directed staff to apply them to all programmable CIP projects and to return with a project list during the June budget process.

Votes at a glance - Motion: “Move to approve the proposed capital improvement program prioritization criteria and direct staff to apply the criteria to all programmable capital improvement program projects.” (mover/second not specified in the record) - Outcome: Approved (unanimous voice vote) - Tally: Yes 5, No 0 (all members present voted in favor; names not specified in the roll call of the motion)

Ending: Staff will apply the adopted criteria to evaluate projects and include the resulting program in the June budget documents; staff also plans additional public materials showing phase‑by‑phase costs and a two‑year programming outlook to clarify design versus construction funding needs.