Council adopts $24.9M five-year capital plan; projects include water mains, turf replacement and West End parking study

The Long Beach City Council on May 20 adopted a five-year Capital Improvement Program covering fiscal 2026–2030 that lists project priorities, draft financing and planned bond requests.

Public works presenter Ken outlined the plan’s scope: a proposed $14.1 million request in general‑fund planning money and roughly $10.6 million of water and sewer projects in the plan. Project highlights include water main replacements, sand‑filter replacement at the water plant, a pool-heater replacement at the recreation center, Magnolia Center HVAC work, Pine Street recreation roof replacements, and turf-field replacement (estimated $1.2–$1.3 million). Ken said the plan also stages the water-meter program in phases, reserving a later phase for oceanfront condominiums and commercial meters.

Why it matters: staff said much of the city’s infrastructure has been deferred, producing recurring emergency repairs. The capital plan is intended to shift work from reactive fixes to planned replacement and reduce lifecycle costs.

Discussion and notable items - The city manager and Ken emphasized that the plan is a planning document; actual borrowing will come through future bond authorizations (anticipated September and possibly a later borrowing window). Ken said “we believe the bond on the ask for September will be around $10,000,000.” - The West End parking garage idea remains conceptual. Ken said early estimates range and described a possible concept of building parking under a reconstructed school yard; staff estimated $6–7 million for the garage (including ramps and elevator), with an uncertain grant match. - The city’s share of an Army Corps beach‑renourishment match was noted (staff cited roughly $600,000 as the city’s matching portion for design and construction phases).

Public comment Residents urged prioritizing shoreline and neighborhood projects and applauded the city’s work to identify revenue-generating projects such as parking. Multiple residents encouraged aggressive grant-seeking and earlier bidding windows for winter work on pedestrian walk phases.

Vote and next steps The council adopted the capital plan (vote unanimous). Staff will return with more detailed bond-authority items and project-by-project financing during the summer for council consideration.

Ending Ken and the manager said staff will refine project timing and grant strategies. Council members asked for further tracking of long‑term maintenance needs and preventive‑maintenance planning as the city moves from emergency repairs to planned capital renewals.