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Los Gatos Town Council members met with the parking authority/redevelopment agency for a joint study session Dec. 15 to discuss and provide guidance on aspects of the town's capital improvement program.
The CIP is a 5-year plan for one-time funding that includes public facilities, parks, programs, streets and signals, while making investments in public infrastructure, said Assistant Town Manager Pamela Jacobs.
One of the subdivisions of the CIP is the town's street repair and resurfacing program, which commenced three years ago. John Curtis, the director of parks and public works, said the town has undertaken 45 street-repair and resurfacing projects, with 25 completed thus far, seven currently under way and the rest to be completed this spring.
Three years ago, Curtis said the pavement-condition index for the town's 102 miles of streets was 64. But a recent report puts the PCI at 72. Council members and agency staff suggested the goal of raising that PCI from a 72 to the 7580 range, focusing on townwide repairs, rather than moving from one end of town to the other.
Jacobs said it takes approximately $1.5 million for the town to maintain a PCI of 72. But raising the PCI level would cost more than the town has budgeted. So Curtis suggested potential solutions such as bonded indebtedness, where they would pick out streets that truly need repairs, or an assessment district option, where all streets in a specific area would be repaired.
Another answer Curtis advocated was a co-sharing concept where residents and the town would be cooperatively responsible for corrective and preventive maintenance of sidewalks.
"These are ways that other cities and towns have found to do their street-maintenance programs," Curtis said.
Curtis added that people use private vehicles for travel 91 percent of the time, which only adds to the congested transportation systems in the Bay Area.
"These roads are very important to all of us," Curtis said. "It is the way we conduct ourselves, getting from place to place."
Town Manager Debra Figone encouraged the council members to make the street-repair program a priority, despite budget shortfalls.
Following the study session, council members voted 5-0 on all of the appointments of applicants and incumbents to the town's committees and commissions. In addition, Tom Albanese and his wife, the late Maureen Albanese, were recognized by council members with a commendation plaque for their business, Campo di Bocce, one of the premier bocce ball facilities in Northern California.
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