Five-Year Capital Improvement Plan
FY2022-23
Introduction
This five-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) outlines the vision for short- and long-range development, maintenance, improvement and building of new infrastructure assets to benefit our residents, businesses, property owners and visitors. It provides a linkage between the General Plan, various master planning documents and budget, and provides a means for planning, scheduling and implementing capital projects over the next five years. The CIP provides a long-term approach for prioritizing and selecting new projects in the City. Although the plan document is updated annually, it allows the reader to review projects planned over the five-year timeframe and provides an overview of works in progress. The CIP is intended to incorporate the City’s investments in infrastructure development and maintenance (i.e., capital improvements) with other significant capital expenditures that add to or strategically invest in the City’s inventory of assets. Studies and capital expenditures of less than $75,000 are not typically included in the CIP.
Five-Year Capital Improvement Plan development
Typically, procedures for developing the five-year CIP utilize the City’s forecasting, project evaluation and community engagement processes. However, given reductions in the capital program over the last two fiscal years, this year's five-year CIP focuses on continuing to reduce the backlog of ongoing capital projects, address critical deferred maintenance, strategically invest in projects that meet the City's stated goals, with an emphasis on climate adaptation and resiliency, and identify projects that support ongoing land development projects in the City, by applying the strategy described below.
Identifying projects
In the past, department managers would initiate requests for new projects and modifications to or re-prioritize of existing projects. These requests, along with supporting information, would be prepared as part of the annual budget process.
In the past five years, the City has invested in the development of long-term infrastructure planning efforts, including the Parks and Recreation Master Plan, Green Stormwater Infrastructure Plan, Zero Waste (trash and recycling) Plan, Information Technology Master Plan, Bedwell Bayfront Park Master Plan, Water System Master Plan, Stormwater Master Plan, Transportation Master Plan, and an updated Climate Action Plan. These planning efforts have laid the groundwork to identify and prioritize key infrastructure needs in each topic area. The CIP then takes the recommendations from each plan and programs them for further planning, community engagement, design and construction. This has allowed for a more strategic approach to identifying capital needs, while still allowing the flexibility to respond to other projects or issues as they arise.
Prioritization
Even with these master planning efforts substantially completed, projects must be further scoped and prioritized annually according to available funds and resources to successfully deliver the projects. Evaluation criteria applied to prioritize projects include:
- Public health and safety/risk exposure
- Infrastructure protection
- Impacts on operating budgets and ongoing maintenance needs
- Capacity to deliver/impacts to other projects
- Economic development
- External requirements
- Population served
- Ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support the City's 2030 climate action plan
- Community/commission support
- Relationship to adopted plans
- Cost/benefit
- Financing availability
Approved projects
This five-year CIP includes 25 projects receiving new funding in fiscal year 2022–23 and 62 existing (or carryover) projects. New funding requests are included for both ongoing projects with scope changes or anticipated cost escalation, as well as newly identified projects.
Twelve projects address ongoing infrastructure or facility maintenance needs and are included on an annual, bi-annual or periodic basis. Examples of these programmatic projects include street resurfacing, the sidewalk repair program, and annual city buildings, parks, and transportation improvement projects. Of these 12 projects, nine are proposed to include new funding this year; the other three have sufficient funds from prior years for planned expenditures in 2022-23.
Ongoing master plans, such as the Stormwater Master Plan, will also identify future projects expected to be needed in future year budget cycles.
Carryover appropriations
Projects which had prior City Council appropriations but were not fully expended have remaining appropriation balances included as carryover amounts.
These amounts are strictly an estimate and will be trued-up at year-end close. Amounts reflected in projected carryover column should not be construed as funds available for commitment. In many cases the carryover estimate includes funds that have been encumbered/committed as a result of an executed contract for services or goods.
Project funding sources
The five-year CIP coordinates physical improvements with financial planning, allowing maximum benefits from available funding sources. It relies on funding from various sources, largely retained in the capital and special revenue funds, with uses that are usually restricted for specific purposes. Although an annual transfer from the General Fund to the City’s general capital fund (approximately $3.0 million with annual inflationary adjustment) is part of the City’s operating budget, this funding is intended solely for maintaining existing infrastructure in its current condition. Funding sources are each further described in the City's adopted budget.
CIP budget project prioritization
Beginning in 2019, staff categorizes the projects in relative priority based on the following factors:
- Regulatory compliance
- Public safety
- Preservation of city assets
- Improved efficiencies
- Grant funding timelines
- First in, first out
- Available staffing
Tier 1 indicates that a project will receive the highest relative priority for staff and consultant resources. Tiers 2 and 3, respectively, indicates that a project will
receive significant resources only after the higher tier projects have received the necessary resources. Tier N/A indicates that a project is not currently competing for resources, typically funded in a future year. Staff is committed to completing the projects outlined in the CIP budget, regardless of tiers.
General Plan consistency
The projects listed in the five-year CIP are presented to the Planning Commission during a Public Hearing before City Council adoption of the plan. The Planning Commission must review the CIP in order to adopt a finding that it is consistent with the City’s General Plan. The Planning Commission reviewed the proposed 2022-23 CIP in June 2022.
Environmental review
The development of the five-year plan is not a project, as defined in the California Environmental Quality Act, and an environmental review is not required. Individual projects listed herein may be subject to CEQA and environmental reviews will be conducted at the appropriate time during implementation of those projects.