Road plans are not set in stone

Lolita Harper

The City Council laid the groundwork for a $4.7-million road

improvement project Monday night, but finding all the funds to

complete it won’t be easy, officials say.

Council members unanimously approved $318,492 for the design of

three road rehabilitation projects on portions of Red Hill Avenue and

Bristol, Bear and 17th streets, without a word of discussion.

Various portions of all three streets are in desperate need of

total repaving, and the final cost, including construction, is $4.7

million. The city will have to keep a strict timeline to receive

grant funding for nearly half of it, officials said.

Bill Morris, the city’s director of public services, said that

although Costa Mesa was recently awarded $2.1 million from the Orange

County Transportation Authority for the three separate projects, the

city must put them out to bid by June to receive the money.

That means the council must find room in the 2003-04 budget for

$2.5 million in matching funds to bring the projects to fruition.

Councilman Gary Monahan, who is likely to hold the key leadership

position on the dais during the budget process next year, is in favor

of finding the money for the projects, but warned it wouldn’t be

easy.

State officials are looking to balance their budget woes on the

backs of local governments, and the city must become more careful

about how it spends it money, he said.

Councilman-elect Allan Mansoor, who campaigned heavily for basic

road repairs, said he would try to find room for the road

rehabilitation projects on the 2003-04 budget.

“What I would like to do is start from scratch and zero out the

budget by examining, closely, everything that is in it, instead of

just carrying things over from year to year,” Mansoor said. “Street

improvement is the very least people should be expecting from their

government.”