Project may be resurrected

A project to renovate and landscape a deteriorating bike path that runs along the Costa Mesa municipal golf course and cuts up Harbor Boulevard to Fair Street may be rescued by an infusion of federal funds from President Obama’s stimulus program.

With a price of about $1.7 million, the renovations were put on hold in November as one of a number of improvements delayed to help the city balance its budget because of steeply declining sales tax revenue.

At the time, $500,000 of the funding was provided by county grants that would have had to be forfeited if the project couldn’t be completed in a timely fashion, but even that incentive was not enough to overcome concerns of a severe budget deficit.

An infusion of an extra $370,000 in Community Block Development Grant funds (known as CDBG) could make it an opportunity too good to pass up, according to Assistant City Manager Tom Hatch, especially because the federal funds come with a command to use the money right away or lose it.

“This allowed us to resurrect the project and put the federal money toward it,” Hatch said.

The federal guidelines stipulate that the money should be spent on a project that can be finished within one year, which is what the city is aiming for, according to Senior Engineer Bart Mejia.

The Joann Street Bike Trail renovation has already been fully planned and the costs had been estimated, which made it a good candidate for the stimulus funds. Designs for the new bike trail include resurfacing the path, surrounding it with trees and plants and adding benches for people to sit on.

An approval from the City Council, which will take the issue up at its June 2 meeting, is necessary before the project can go forward.

“The money can cover a variety of things as long as a majority of the beneficiaries are low- and moderate-income residents,” said CDBG Coordinator Mike Linares.

Unless more funding is found, the city will still have to put in funds from its overstretched operating budget, but other grant sources are being pursued, Mejia said.

“Our goal is to try to get this project constructed without general fund money but we’re not quite there yet,” he said.

If all goes according to plan construction could begin in October and the renovations finished by summer 2010.