First published in the Dec. 11 print issue of the Glendale News Press.
The city’s various departments will have a City Council-approved work plan handy when planning their budget proposals for the next fiscal year.
The council approved the work plan, which outlines 39 hopeful projects covering four major priorities as additional considerations among a department’s typical schedule, during a special meeting on Tuesday. Although the list is composed of projects that city officials are determined to accomplish, the document serves as more of a wish list to departments as they begin planning for the 2022-23 fiscal year.
“The 39 projects, programs and initiatives in the work plan are based on the evaluation of our current staffing levels and workloads so that we can deliver them by the end of the next fiscal year and focus our resources and energy on your most important priorities,” City Manager Roubik Golanian explained to the council. “This is just a roadmap moving forward from now until the next fiscal year. Every single item that’s listed here will come back to the council individually and separately for consideration.”
The council’s priorities for this plan were to address infrastructure improvements, housing, mobility connectivity and safety, and environmental stewardship. These were identified during a Nov. 6 workshop by the council, which then directed Golanian with assembling the work plan.
Under infrastructure improvements, proposals include:
• Complete seismic and functional retrofits of Fire Stations 23 and 27
• Develop a 10-year seismic and functional retrofit master plan for the remaining fire stations
• Begin the Central Library roof replacement project
• Award the contract for the Central Library youth spaces renovation
• Begin new construction along Artsakh Avenue
• Retain consultant for plan preparation for Central Park
• Select turf option and execute construction contract for Fremont Park renovation
• Obtain environmental clearance and begin design development for Glendale-Los Angeles garden river bridge
• Replace roofing at Rockhaven Sanitarium structures and complete plans for future use and museum creation at the site
• Complete storm drain master plan
• Complete first of three phases for the CCTV installation in sanitary sewer collection system
• Develop needs assessment and funding strategy for the electrification of the city’s vehicle fleet
• Install 60 electric vehicle chargers at parks, parking lots and structures, and curbside locations
• Decommission existing thermal generation facilities, award contract for their replacement and award contract for new operations and battery facilities at the Grayson Energy Center
• Purchase combustion engines and complete 50% of construction for the Scholl Canyon biogas facility
• Complete construction of fiber network backbone and offer services to customers and providers
• Finish and begin implementing Wi-Fi master plan
Under housing, proposals include:
• Complete grading and begin framing of affordable housing project at 900 East Broadway
• Seek tax credit funding and begin construction for affordable housing project at 920 East Broadway
• Seek tax credit funding and begin construction for affordable housing project at 515 Pioneer Drive
• Identify and potentially acquire property for next affordable housing project
• Seek approval of and re-establish the Monthly Housing Subsidy Program and the First Time Home Buyer Program
• Establish and adopt objective design standards and streamline processes consistent with SB 9 (which addresses single-family homes) and the Housing Accountability Act (which addresses multifamily homes)
• Adopt South Glendale Community Plan and associated zoning changes in Tropico and with multifamily developments
• Adopt the city’s Housing Element of its General Plan
For mobility connectivity and safety, proposals include:
• Update the Citywide Bicycle Transportation Plan
• Complete the Verdugo Wash linear park visioning and begin environmental review process
• Establish and adopt Vision Zero policy, which includes a Local Roadway Safety Plan
• Implement the first phase of the Citywide Pedestrian Safety Plan, which includes completing the design of Colorado Street improvements, seeking funding for designing the second phase of the Honolulu corridor improvements and implementing the projects on Glendale Avenue from Doran Street to Broadway; San Fernando Road from Raymond Avenue to Davis Avenue and Wilson Avenue from Central Avenue to Adams Street
• Begin design on the second phase of the Citywide Pedestrian Safety Plan
• Conduct weekly enforcement focused on education and based on primary collision factors
Under environmental stewardship, proposals include:
• Complete the Climate Action and Adaption Plan
• Make investments and purchase agreements in clean or renewable energy development
• Identify and develop two solar energy storage sites
• Establish fuel crew to mitigate wildfire threats around Glendale Water and Power sites and city infrastructure
• Plant 1,500 new trees to increase tree canopy to 25% coverage throughout the next decade
• Regulate the use of single-use plastics for food service providers
• Develop an electrification code for new construction that exceeds for state energy code
• Conduct public outreach for and implement organics diversion plan
The council will have future opportunities to weigh in on these proposals individually, as they are presented in the spring budget proposals and whenever they would need formal approval to be sent out for bidding or other fiscal appropriations.
Councilman Dan Brotman expressed an interest in finding an opportunity for the city to update its power grid as it begins to tap into various new sources of energy. Though he supported many of the proposals, Brotman voted against the plan on Tuesday because he felt it should have been presented during a better attended regular evening meeting rather than a 9 a.m. special meeting.
“I think we really need to be looking at our grid to be able to handle all the new types of local energy resources that we’re going to be putting on it,” he said.
Councilman Ardy Kassakhian also hoped that the city could bolster its existing sewage system — an issue he quipped as “fun to campaign on.”
“It is very, very old,” he said, “possibly one of the more neglected aspects of our infrastructure.”
