Venice council reviews five‑year CIP; members press to prioritize beach parking, jetty funding and stormwater work

The Venice City Council met for a capital improvement plan (CIP) workshop focused on a five‑year list of proposed capital projects and funding sources. Finance Director Linda Seni told the council the CIP is an early, nonbinding, strategic planning step: “This is a fluid, moving document. So I just wanna make sure that's not binding at this point.”

Council members and staff front‑loaded discussion around several items that councilmembers said should be priorities or re‑scoped: additional parking near South Brochard/Caspersen Beach, design funding for the Well Field Park interlocal agreement, storm damage repairs at Humphreys Park/South Jetty and airport, fleet and fire apparatus procurements, and several smaller public‑safety and amenities projects. Several councilmembers urged shifting some projects out of the general fund and using the city's one‑cent sales tax or outside grants where appropriate.

The council was shown a color‑coded CIP book. Councilman Smith praised the visual coding and urged caution at the number of new items appearing in the near term: “As a general rule, projects should progress through the CIP, first appearing five years out… then moving up until they finally eventually reach the next year column.” Smith and others noted many new “red” entries — projects appearing for the first time in FY26 — and asked staff to identify which items could be deferred to ease…