County and city leaders met Monday to discuss strategies for
closing a $15.5 million funding deficit for the Highway 25 bypass
project that local transportation planners say is the result of
rising costs and new, higher offers for property needed for the
project.
Hollister – County and city leaders met Monday to discuss strategies for closing a $15.5 million funding deficit for the Highway 25 bypass project that local transportation planners say is the result of rising costs and new, higher offers for property needed for the project.
Increased costs have pushed the price of the bypass – which was previously estimated at about $24 million – up to nearly $43 million, according to San Benito County Council of Governments Executive Director Tom Quigley. With only about $27 million in local, state and federal funds for the bypass, San Benito County supervisors and the Hollister City Council held an evening parley Monday to weigh various alternatives for coming up with the remainder and getting the long-awaited project finished.
“No one saw what was going to happen to (the price of fuel), what was going to happen in Louisiana or what was going to happen in China to drive this up,” Quigley told the assembly of local leaders, adding that the price of asphalt has increased 30 to 40 percent.
COG staff offered two funding options Monday. The first calls for using more than $9 million in county and city traffic impact fees that are not currently dedicated to projects, and shift state funding so an additional $6.3 million is allocated for the bypass. A second scenario would use the impact fees and divert $5 million from Hollister’s North Street extension project and $1.8 from the county’s safety improvement project on John Smith Road.
“They are all doable,” Quigley said. “You just have to make a choice.”
Officials didn’t seem happy about either of the options offered to them for filling the funding gap, but they were unanimous in their belief that COG must push forward with the bypass, which will create a new branch of Hwy. 25 that circumvents downtown Hollister and connects to Airline Highway near Safeway.
“As we keep having delays in the project, revenue streams do not increase as much as inflation,” Supervisor Anthony Botelho said before the meeting. “Every time there’s a delay, the project gets more costly.”
Of the options offered, county and city officials seemed more leery of the second, fearing that pulling funds from existing projects would not only waste the money that has already gone into them, but also cause them to be more expensive in the future because of rising costs.
“Are we robbing Peter to pay Paul,” Supervisor Reb Monaco asked.
Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz suggested that a bond measure be put on the ballot that would be paid back through future impact fees anticipated to roll in after the sewer moratorium imposed on Hollister by the state is lifted and development is allowed to begin again. Hollister officials have said that the moratorium should be lifted by March, 2008 when the city has a new sewage treatment plant. Hollister Mayor Robert Scattini suggested using the $9 million in impact fees and getting the remainder from the Hollister Redevelopment Agency.
Some were concerned that COG’s estimate for the cost of the project was low and the bypass would costing more.
“I got to tell you,” said George Dias, a San Juan Bautista City Councilman who sits on the COG board. “I don’t think that’s a good number. I think we’re going to be coming back. I think that it’s low. We’re in a bad situation here.”
Botelho didn’t seem satisfied with the latest estimate either and told COG staff that they needed to keep he and his colleagues better informed.
“We’re given a bare minimum of information,” he said. “And the cost has gone up since we last talked about this 30-some percent.”
The funding shortfall is just the latest bump in the road for the bypass project, which has been around for decades. Originally slated for June of 2005, construction of the bypass was delayed for a year when COG chose to get new appraisals on property needed for the project. Land owners said that they weren’t offered enough, and some threatened legal action.
Though COG directors say that they believe the new offers – which, according to Quigley account for a large portion of the increased cost of the project – were fair, several property owners still say that they are getting a bad deal. In an effort keep the project moving up the road, COG directors voted Feb. 16 to start eminent domain proceedings on 13 parcels needed for the bypass. The COG offers are confidential.
Now that eminent domain has been initiated on the properties, COG will have possession of the land in about three months, according to COG Traffic Planner Mary Dinkuhn. After that, COG can begin construction of the project, even if property owners decide to take the matter to court in hopes of getting more compensation, she said.
Despite this current hurdle, COG staff still say that construction on the bypass will begin this June and end in December, 2007. Many in Hollister are eager to see the project finished. Once the bypass is built, Caltrans will cede control of San Benito Street to the city, which plans on making the road more pedestrian friendly as part of downtown revitalization efforts.
The Board of Supervisors and the Hollister City Council will rely on their appointees to the COG board to explore funding options and report back at a later date.
“If this is a priority,” Botelho said. “Let’s get it done.”
