Belmont council authorizes consultant contract and budget amendment to pursue FY26 BUILD Park Street grant

Belmont's City Council unanimously approved a budget amendment on Jan. 20 to hire consultant support for a proposed FY26 BUILD grant application aimed at the Park Street corridor.

The contract for grant support and technical assistance was negotiated to $76,386, and staff requested a $49,430 budget amendment to fund part of that cost by using existing planning grant support funds and a portion of the mayoral salary line designated for grant-writing purposes. A council member moved the measure; the motion was seconded and passed on a voice vote.

City staff recommended the Park Street corridor in the BUILD application because prior work has produced designs and cost estimates for problematic intersections (notably Park & Wilkinson and Park & Kataba/Kener), the corridor aligns with Belmont's Vision Zero priorities and regional mobility goals, and it has documented need and project readiness compared with other candidate projects. Staff emphasized that Park & Wilkinson had been funded in earlier state cycles but was later delayed and removed from the NCDOT STIP due to cost escalation; staff said the corridor now faces capacity and safety issues without identified state construction funding.

Murphy said the FY26 BUILD proposal would include intersection capacity and turn-storage improvements, signal timing and congestion work, pedestrian conflict reduction measures, and multi-use path/ADA improvements across the corridor. Staff asked the council to authorize consultant support to complete a benefit-cost analysis and application narrative before the fast closing date for the grant.

Council action authorizes the city manager to execute the agreement with KDson and Associates and to apply the budget amendment to support consultant work needed for the February grant submission window.