City transportation and capital improvements staff presented an overview July 14 of the draft fiscal year 2026 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), a long‑range planning document that catalogs funded and unfunded capital projects and helps coordinate project timing with the city’s budget and financing plans.

“Capital projects maintain or improve a city asset or infrastructure,” Bernadette Faust told the council, explaining that CIP projects generally have costs greater than $100,000 and useful lives longer than seven years. Faust said the draft CIP snapshot reflects data collected through March and is updated annually. The plan includes projects funded by external agencies; when such a project lies within city limits its full cost is included in the CIP catalog, Faust said.

Faust highlighted completed and near‑complete projects included in the plan, citing Klein Road Phase 2 (which maintained a low-water crossing during a high-water event), the Alligator Creek Trail West final public access, renovations to the Olympic Pool and bathhouse and the golf course deck, several citywide street and intersection improvements, the Walnut Avenue rehabilitation (with final striping and utility adjustments pending), and the new fire training classroom, which held its first class last week.

For FY2026 the CIP lists 52 funded projects totaling about $353 million, including parks and transportation priorities, and 94 unconstrained projects totaling about $562 million. Faust said staff are refining a methodology to include estimated operational costs for new capital projects as required by the city’s 2024 strategic plan and are reviewing peer‑city practices and industry guidance to standardize those calculations.

Faust said the CIP process incorporates regulatory requirements, master plans and citizen or council requests; it also applies inflation adjustments to cost estimates. The council did not take formal action on the CIP at the July 14 meeting; staff said the document is a living plan and will continue to be refined as projects advance and funding is identified.

No members of the public spoke during the public hearing portion on the CIP update.