MILL CREEK — Recommended projects for Mill Creek’s proposed 2011-17 Capital Facilities Plan include sprucing up the city’s police department, improving major intersections and smoothing streets.
A committee of staff, council members and planning commissioners presented its recommendations to the City Council during the June 15 meeting.
A public hearing to adopt the plan is scheduled for July 6. The list of recommended projects is available on the city’s website, www.cityofmillcreek.com.
Public works director Tom Gathmann likened the plan to an ongoing process that’s continually moving forward.
“The (capital facilities plan) is not a ‘start from scratch’ document each time, but rather a moving seven-year window for a much longer time period,” Gathmann wrote in an e-mail.
The capital facility plan looks out seven years at projects related to transportation, parks, drainage and facilities. The plan also identifies funding sources and how much funding will be earmarked toward the projects per year.
For the 2011-17 plan, the committee proposed 42 projects totaling $35.6 million. The list was whittled down from 69 projects valued at $69.7 million, with some projects cut entirely or reduced in scope or budget. The current 2009-15 Capital Facilities Plan lists 49 projects coming in at $35.4 million. Funding sources include real estate excise taxes, grants, general fund dollars, utility and mitigation fees and bond debt proceeds.
The proposed list breaks down as:
• $19.5 million for 23 transportation projects
• $10.6 million for six facilities projects
• $3 million for seven parks projects
• $2.5 million for six surface water projects
Immediate projects for 2011-12 include $850,000 toward pavement preservation, $550,000 to improve the 164th Street Southeast and State Route 527 intersection and $150,000 toward roadway repairs along 35th Avenue Southeast.
Gathmann said these projects were chosen based on funding availability, progress in the current facilities plan and how they fit with related projects.
Projects estimated to cost $1 million or more include East Gateway Village Road improvements ($9.25 million), pavement preservation ($4.85 million) and an improved police station ($4.4 million).
Gathmann said while compiling the list of recommended projects, funding was unsurprisingly a main challenge.
“Many good projects did not get funded because there is simply not enough money to fund them,” he said.
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