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BISBEE — Envisioning Bisbee’s future growth and development, City Manager Stephen Pauken has unveiled an industrious five-year plan listing capital improvements that will and may occur.
Some of those projects in the plan include a new public safety building, a San Jose satellite city office, wastewater treatment facilities and a citywide wireless network.
These projects are seen as possibilities at a date between now and 2012.
During a work session Tuesday, the Bisbee City Council went over the city’s new five-year plan in moderate detail as presented by Pauken.
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“The capital improvement plan is the city’s blueprint for creating, repairing and maintaining the crucial infrastructure that will support the continued growth and development of Bisbee,” he said. “Fiscal year 2006-07 represented the first year the finance department, along with the mayor and council, all other city departments and the citizens of Bisbee established a five-year capital improvement plan.”
When the budget process begins each year, Pauken will revise and update the long-range document. The departments, certain economic experts and Bisbee residents can offer ideas and point out infrastructure areas that need attention.
The Capital Improvement Plan is an important public communication medium, because it allows the public to see exactly where city taxes, state and federal money, and grants are going, Pauken said.
So what makes a project a capital improvement?
“Streets, water reclamation plants, parks and park buildings, as well as major one-time acquisitions of equipment, are all considered capital improvements,” Pauken said. “Projects within the CIP generally cost more than $10,000 and have a projected minimum life span of five years.”
Part of the impetus to set a five-year plan is the growth that may occur in the San Jose District. It may be necessary to impose impact fees to pay for that growth in population, city services, streets and wastewater treatment.
A few parcels of land have been sold to developers, and recently the council heard a proposal for a 2,000-home subdivision around the Willson Road area of Highway 92, Pauken added.
Many of the projects in the CIP are just a matter of regular maintenance and replacement, such as the vehicles the city uses in the departments of sanitation, streets, police and fire.
One project on the list is essential to the well-being of a small enclave of residents in Tin Town. It was once a mining camp where Mexican miners lived in the heyday of Phelps Dodge. Today, the little community still thrives, though it has never been served by Bisbee’s wastewater collection system.
That will all change if the Border Environment Cooperation Commission can find the grant funds to install wastewater collection lines and a possible lift station.
If development in the area takes off, having impact fees in place would help offset some of the costs for service expansion in the area, Pauken said.
“A prerequisite to establishing impact fees is to have, in some form, a projected development plan,” the city manager said. “New development requires substantial improvements in our infrastructure as it relates to the area within and surrounding the development.
To address these needs, the city will need to take two major steps. First, to exact from the developers the actual cost of making improvements to the infrastructure and to institute impact fees to address the infrastructure needs of the entire community as a result of these developments.”
Potential major expenditures
City Hall celebrates its 100th birthday this year, and there is work needed to correct problems that have been ongoing for the past 20-some years.
The improvements that will be considered over the next five years are painting the exterior and interior, window replacement and repair, replacement of the old heating and cooling system, ADSA accessibility improvements (elevators, doors, restrooms) and another means of egress from the second floor.
The most expensive repairs to City Hall will probably be the work done in the basement to correct years of water infiltration and the resulting mold growth.
Pauken suggested the possibility of seeking grant funding, since City Hall is a historic building, from state and federal historical sources to come up with the estimated $570,000 needed for the renovation projects.
The Queen Mine Tour facility also is slated for work to the tune of $272,000 over the five-year plan. Most of the money — $142,000 — will be spent this year replacing mine-car wheels, rails and roof repairs, as well as renovating the interior to focus on the gift shop, which has been a successful venture, Pauken said.
Among the big-ticket items are the possible improvements and facilities that will be needed in San Jose if growth comes as predicted, such as a joint fire and police building planned for 2010 at an estimated cost of $2.6 million, a new wastewater treatment plant at $18 million, and a sewer line extension to serve the existing San Jose District at another $18 million. A city satellite office also may be constructed in the next five years at a cost of $250,000, as well as a library facility for $375,000 and a city park for $2 million.
In all, it could cost the city $44 million for new growth in San Jose District, Pauken said. If all the projects are approved, the total bill hits more than $73 million.
Pauken emphasized that most of the projects are speculative, but needed to be considered and included in the CIP.
Council members Jack Porter and Luche Giacomino had their own ideas of projects the City Council should consider — street potholes throughout the city and leaking sewer lines in Old Bisbee.
Pauken said he would note the council members’ suggestions.
The CIP will have to be approved by the council, and it may be on the agenda for the council’s next meeting, which will be held Oct. 16.
Here are the projects, and costs from 2008-2012, as provided by the city’s Capital Improvement Plan unveiled on Tuesday. Items include what funds would be used to pay for the projects.
City Hall/administration
• Council chambers renovation — $970,000
• City Hall rehabilitation — $570,000
• Software upgrade — $80,000
• WiFi service — $300,000
• Filing system upgrade — $63,000
• San Jose city satellite office — $250,000
Pay with CIP and grants.
Community
Development
• GIS mapping — $80,000
• Gateway project — $15,000
• San Jose charette — $15,000
• Professional fees — $40,000
Queen Mine Tour
• Mine-car wheels — $27,000
• Interior renovation — $110,000
• Rail system repair — $110,000
• Roof repair — $25,000
Visitor Center
• Renovations — $210,000
Pay with CIP funds, grants, bed tax, Queen Mine Tour money.
Fire Department
• Additional ambulance — $110,000
• Engine replacement — $535,000
• Engine additional — $450,000
• Aerial ladder truck — $850,000
• Wildland fire truck — $75,000
• San Jose fire station — $2 million
Pay with CIP and grants.
Police Department
• Weapon qualification range — $25,000
• Vehicle replacement — $310,000
• San Jose Substation — $600,000
• Record system — $125,000
Pay with CIP, grants, federal money and RICO funds.
Public Works Department
Wastewater division
• Wastewater reuse — $802,000
• Sewer system expansion — $1 million
• Tin Town sewers — $3 million
• San Jose sewer expansion — $18 million
• New San Jose wastewater treatment plant — $18 million
• Sewer line expansion USBP — $5 million
Pay with wastewater facility money, grants, federal money and possibly impact fees.
Sanitation
• Vehicle replacement — $205,664
• Additional vehicle — $190,000
• Recycling equipment — $125,000
Pay with sanitation funds.
Street
• Dump trucks — $67,500
• Arizona Street reconstruction — $3.2 million
• New public works building — $400,000
• Future street rehabilitation — $900,000
• Highway 92 improvements — $2 million
Pay with HURF, grants and CIP funds
Parks
• Park improvements — $1.2 million
• New San Jose regional park — $2 million
Pay with CIP funds.
Swimming Pool
• Slide, deck and pool enclosure — $2.1 million. Pay with CIP funds.
Bisbee Municipal Airport
• Replace maintenance hangar — $72,500
• Runway widening — $1.3 million
• Fire suppression — $653,000
• Airport electrical upgrade — $257,000
Pay with FAA, ADOT and CIP funds
Copper Queen Library
• New roof — $20,000
• Fire escape — $12,000
• Fire detection system — $1,000
• Balcony lighting — $10,000
• Rare book shelving — $30,000
• Tinted window screens — $$15,000
• Interior lighting — $10,000
• Heating and cooling upgrade — $30,000
• Exterior surface rehab — $30,000
• Interior floor finishing — $48,000
• Furniture replacement — $25,000
• Window coverings — $22,000
• Interior paint and refinishing — $30,000
• New facility San Jose — $375,000
All paid through CIP funds.
Munheim House
• HVAC — $6,000
• Electrical upgrade — $5,000
• Insulation installation, energy efficiency — $5,000
Pay with CIP funds.
SHAR PORIER can be reached at 515-4692 or by e-mail at shar.porier@bisbeereview.net.
it's simple wrote on Oct 5, 2007 1:38 PM: