March 4, 2008

From the Mayor’s Desk

Mayor addresses operating budget and city projects

By Mayor Donald R. Burr
Special to the Times

The city is currently developing its fiscal year 2008/09 operating budget with an aim to essentially have a status quo budget. However, we are carefully monitoring the state’s $16 billion budget crisis and its potential implications for California cities, including Campbell.

Starting next year, expenditures are projected to exceed revenue. One factor is a significant increase in the cost of fire protection services. Be assured that the city council will continue its efforts to maintain and protect the services the community needs. To this end, the city is currently exploring options for an additional ongoing revenue source.

Now, I’d like to provide readers with an update of a few city projects currently underway:

Winchester Boulevard Master Plan: Private development standards for the Winchester Boulevard Master Plan were presented and reviewed last year at a Planning Commission study session and at a community meeting last summer. The city has expanded the scope of this project to include corresponding public improvements. Additional public meetings will be held by this summer.

East Civic Center Master Plan: The city is working with a consultant to prepare a master plan study on alternatives to build improvements and upgrades to the existing Campbell Civic Center East area. The eastern portion of the Campbell Civic Center Complex includes the Campbell Library and the Historic Ainsley House, but not City Hall.
A number of competing and complimentary issues have been discussed by the Campbell City Council over the past several years regarding the east side of the Civic Center Complex. These include:

Expanding the Campbell Library—The city completed a Library Needs Study in January 2007. The study recommended increasing the size of the library from 24,000 square feet to 42,000 square feet in order to meet the future needs of the Campbell Community.

Developing a Campbell Heritage Orchard—The city wants to create a “heritage orchard” within the city to provide an attractive amenity and educational link to Campbell’s past. The existing gravel lot, adjacent to the Ainsley House and within the Civic Center East Complex, has been identified as one of the recommended sites for the orchard due to its central location and minimal site development costs.

Expanding the Campbell Museum—The Museum Strategic Plan completed by the city in 1996 identified the need for additional museum space to house historic written collections, add additional museum display space and staff offices. The Campbell City Council has discussed providing a “museum annex” within the expanded Campbell Library to meet these needs.

Providing Ainsley House Upgrades—The Ainsley House is currently available for rental for special events. Upgrading this facility to include an event changing area, bathrooms and food preparation area within or around the Ainsley House is another goal of the project.

Developing a New Parking Structure—A new parking structure to serve the Civic Center East Complex area and the eastern end of downtown Campbell is also to be evaluated.

In an effort to coordinate the various needs for the development of the Civic Center East area, the Campbell City Council approved moving forward with a Civic Center East Master Plan that would review program needs for the city’s assets in this area and determine how to best address the competing space and program needs. A community meeting and/or council study session on this project is planned sometime this year.

East Campbell Avenue Master Plan/Improvement Project: In 2006, the city started work on a Master Plan for East Campbell Avenue between Railway and Union Avenues. The goal of the Master Plan was to establish guidelines and policies for private development and public improvement in the area to tie the Pruneyard Shopping Center to downtown Campbell. The city has conducted an extensive community input process which has included numerous Planning Commission and community meetings. The Master Plan was approved by the city council last May.

The main components of Master Plan include: intersection improvements and signal modifications, new curb lines, bulb-outs, on-street parking and striping, Campbell bridge widening, Highway 17 underpass improvements and private development standards.

Preliminary design plans for the initial public improvement were to be adopted by the city council on March 4. Total project budget is $3.4 million of which $2.7 million is for construction only. Construction is expected to begin January 2009.