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Council narrows November bond focus: postpone large drainage ask, prioritize sidewalks, streets and a standalone community center
Summary
After staff reported the drainage master plan raised costs sharply, council directed staff to remove drainage from the November bond package and to return in August with refined costs for sidewalks/transportation projects and a separate community‑center proposition; staff will also scope the pool, parks and public‑safety facility items.
City staff told council the bond committee's preliminary package required revision: the drainage master plan significantly increased the cost of the neighborhood drainage proposals (staff said completing all proposed neighborhood drainage work could total roughly $68M versus earlier committee estimates near $20M). Given that gap, council directed staff to defer drainage from a November bond and to focus first on transportation projects (streets and sidewalks), parks/facilities upgrades and a standalone community‑center proposition.
Staff recommended bundling storm‑sewer projects into a single drainage proposition if council chose to pursue any drainage funding at all, to avoid fragmenting voter support. "If you're gonna include a drainage bond, I would recommend drainage at its very core be combined into a single proposition," City Manager (speaker 1) said, explaining that piecemeal neighborhood asks could each attract support only from local voters.
Council asked staff to use the active transportation plan and recent engineering estimates to produce sidewalk/transportation cost figures; staff cited five priority sidewalk corridors in the plan with an early estimate of about $7.8M (staff proposed rounding to $10M to cover unknowns). Council expressed preference to separate sidewalks from larger street reconstructions and to present sidewalks as a clear, itemized proposition so voters can see likely projects.
On facilities, staff presented a range of options for a new or renovated community facility and for pool replacement. The community‑center options ranged from renovating the current 22,000‑sq‑ft activity building to building a new multi‑purpose facility; staff said a well‑scoped new facility (roughly 40–44k sq ft by rough calculation at current construction prices) could be in the low‑to‑mid‑teens of millions. For the municipal pool, staff provided three options (basic 25m replacement up to a 50m competitive pool with water‑play features) with price ranges roughly $3.8M–$7M depending on scope.
Council gave staff direction to return with: (1) sidewalk/transportation cost estimates using the active transportation plan, (2) a standalone community‑center option and dollar estimates, (3) pool/parks scope and budget estimates, and (4) an approach to phase or stage debt issuance in a way that limits year‑one tax‑rate impact.
