This week, the Grover Beach City Council renewed its commitment to investing in the rehabilitation of local streets with the approval of new street repair projects over the next several years under the Measure K-14 street rehabilitation program. The Council also provided direction to consider issuance of the next Measure K-14 bond later this year in an amount of approximately $10 million which will cover the cost of these projects for the next five years. To date, the City has invested an average of $4 million per year for the past five years to repair approximately 240 blocks or 60% of Grover Beach streets included in the Measure K-14 program. With the addition of eight more projects to the city’s schedule, all remaining unimproved local streets will also be addressed through a total of 15 street repair projects over the next 10 years.
“While the City is currently pursuing a wide array of infrastructure projects, street improvements continue to be one of our highest priorities as a city,” said Jeff Lee, Grover Beach Mayor. “We have made tremendous progress in fixing our streets and I’m excited that we’re now able to program every remaining local street in a future repair project.”
Grover Beach is now in its seventh year of the Measure K-14 Program following voter approval of bond funding in November 2014. Similar to the currently programmed street projects, the eight newly approved projects, which will cover the approximately 135 remaining unimproved street blocks, were grouped together and programmed based on a set of criteria. This includes guidance from the Council’s priority street list, locations of future underground utility repairs, opportunities to rehabilitate an entire street or group of contiguous blocks and combining streets that require similar repair methods in order to streamline construction and reduce project costs.
While the new street rehabilitation projects will not be started until the currently identified projects are completed, it is anticipated that streets on the new list could start being improved in the next two to three years. Streets like Ramona Street, from 16th Street to Oak Park Boulevard, and Huntington Avenue are scheduled for the most intensive level of full pavement rehabilitation, while streets like Rose Court and North 1st Street, from Atlantic City Avenue to Newport Avenue, will receive grind and overlay or other light maintenance treatment. A full list of these projects can be reviewed in the August 23 city council staff report.
“Improving our streets has long been a top priority of the Council and our staff team has focused on delivering on this expectation,” said Matthew Brosnon, Grover Beach City Manager. “Measure K-14 has been critical because it has allowed the City to address both major street repairs and pursue maintenance efforts to help improve and extend the life of our streets.”
The Measure K-14 Street Rehabilitation Program was approved by Grover Beach voters in 2014, providing a roadmap and funding for the repair of residential streets over a 25-year period. In approving the measure, the City was authorized to issue up to $48 million in bond funds for the repair of local streets during that 25-year period. Staff will return to the Council in November to formally issue an additional $10 million in bonds to continue repairing local streets which would be the fourth bond issued for a total of $38 million in funding.