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Council authorizes Phase 1 of downtown master plan, allocates local match while federal funding is pending
Summary
Crescent City authorized Phase 1 work on a downtown master plan with a $134,000 contract and committed existing local match funds while conditional federal EDA funding remains paused. Council approved staff to proceed and reallocate small amounts from current budgets to start market analysis and RV park review.
The Crescent City City Council authorized Phase 1 of a downtown master plan contract and approved use of local matching funds to begin work while the city's conditional federal Economic Development Administration (EDA) award remains on pause.
City Manager Eric Weir and consultant Don Rambula (Crandall Arambula team) told the council the Phase 1 scope focuses on background studies, market analysis, stakeholder interviews, visioning and preliminary concepts for a downtown hub (roughly Fourth Street to Front Street and adjacent blocks). Rambula said Phase 1 work is expected to take three to four months and would produce a summary report and a "marketing" package that staff can use for grant applications if federal funding is delayed.
The contract for Phase 1 is $134,000. Staff reported a city match of $94,000 is available from prior allocations: $30,000 from a California Endowment economic-resiliency grant and $64,000 from defederalized CDBG program income. Additionally, staff said $18,000 is available in the current-year economic development budget and $10,000 is available in the RV park budget for components that directly study Lighthouse Cove RV Park; the council was asked to authorize reallocation of $12,000 in next year's RV park budget to complete the $22,000 RV park piece.
Weir and Rambula described three funding scenarios: - If the conditional EDA award (about $186,000) is approved, combined with the local match the project would reach roughly $320,000 and fully fund the plan and additional components; - If EDA does not come through but the city secures CDBG funding, the city would add about $27,000 in local match to pursue a $159,000 CDBG award (again about a $320,000 total); - If both EDA and CDBG funding are awarded, the project could expand to roughly $620,000, enabling additional implementation tools such as façade programs or other catalyst investments.
Councilmembers asked about timing for public outreach. Rambula said the background work and market analysis would be completed first, stakeholder interviews would follow immediately, and a public visioning workshop could be scheduled as early as August (or September if timing required) to capture resident and business input during non-summer months.
Public comment supported moving forward quickly. Resident Roger Gitlin urged an ambitious vision for downtown improvements and better gateways into the city.
The council voted unanimously to authorize staff to execute the Phase 1 contract and to proceed with the limited budget reallocations described. Staff said available current-year funds would be used before June 30 and the $12,000 next-year RV park allocation would be included in the adopted budget.
Vote: unanimous in favor (Dooley, Greenough, Tinkler, Mayor Pro Tem Wright, Mayor Altman).
