Grover Beach road repairs could be underway by summer

Construction projects to fix some of Grover Beach’s crumbling streets could start in late spring or summer, as soon as the first series of bonds are sold from the city’s successful $48 million bond measure.

Over the next month, Grover Beach staff and elected officials will determine which streets will be fixed first. They’ll rely on an updated database of pavement conditions as they work toward approving a street repair program by March.

“I’m so very happy that we’re actually having this conversation,” Councilman Jeff Lee said during the Grover Beach City Council’s Dec. 15 meeting.

The $48 million bond measure — which passed Nov. 4 with 68 percent of voters in support — will pay to reconstruct all 29 miles of residential streets and some of the major thoroughfares in Grover Beach.

Currently, 71 percent of the city’s residential streets and 58 percent of its major streets are in poor or failing conditions, according to Pavement Engineering Inc., which analyzed Grover Beach’s roadways.

City staff will use the updated information to put together a few suggestions for how the council could proceed with short-term repairs, City Manager Bob Perrault said, such as targeting the very worst streets first, focusing on specific geographic locations or selecting a combination of the worst streets along with those that are deteriorating but have not yet failed.

“The approach will drive which streets are selected (first),” Perrault said. “The council will want to use the proceeds in such a way that will be efficient and prudent to make sure we get the most out of these dollars authorized.”

The council will discuss the options Jan. 20. A few public workshops will also be held in February to get feedback from residents on the plan.

Also on Jan. 20, the council could start the process to issue about $5 million in bonds, which could be offered for sale in March, with proceeds returned to the city by late March or early April.

The bonds will be financed through new property taxes.

City officials estimate that local property owners will pay about $24.43 per $100,000 of assessed value in the 2015-16 fiscal year. That amount would change if the council decides to issue more than $5 million in bonds.

In addition, the council will form a citizen oversight committee to ensure bond proceeds are being spent appropriately, although it cannot weigh in on which streets the money is used to repair.

The city has spent more than $11 million over the past two decades on road repairs, but officials maintain that the small budget has historically not been able to stretch far enough to provide basic city services while also properly maintaining 45 miles of wide, paved boulevards totaling more than 10 million square feet of asphalt.

The city could put the first group of projects out to bid in late spring and have roadwork underway in the summer.

City officials expect to issue a series of bonds every three years for 20 years. (The council has discretion to modify that plan.)

The bonds will mature in 25 years, which means property owners will pay an annual assessment until the last bond matures, for a total of 45 years of assessments.

Selling the bonds in stages keeps the assessments lower in the first few years, with assessments rising each year as more bonds are sold. As each bond series matures, the assessments begin to drop.

The average annual assessment over the life of the bond is estimated at approximately $77 per $100,000 of assessed value.

This story was originally published December 22, 2014 at 4:53 PM with the headline "Grover Beach road repairs could be underway by summer."