Amador County – Amador County will share about $1.5 million of the $819 billion federal stimulus package. On Tuesday, Ione City Manager Kim Kerr reported the numbers on the federal stimulus, of which California would get $30 billion, with that trickling down to Amador County, all for transportation projects. Kerr said “we are basically getting double what the state normally gets for gasoline taxes.” She said the city needs to update its list of “shovel ready” road projects to give it to the Amador County Transportation Commission, including projects that we ready to start in 120 days and others that were ready to start in 365 days. Kerr said the federal strings attached to the funding meant that besides California Environmental Quality Act requirements, the jobs also must meet National Environmental Protection Agency requirements. She said Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger asked for a waiver of NEPA requirements, but she did not know if the state would get that. The city council and Kerr discussed some roadwork needs around the city, such as repairing Sacramento Street and work on several streets in “Old Town East” (from Main Street to Foothill Street). Kerr also mentioned extension of Golf Links Drive, to the JTS property, part of a “developer agreement” with the city. She said the federal funding could be leveraged to do the job and JTS could reimburse the city. But the cost of that work was estimated at $6 million. Kerr said “that is probably the least likely one, based on the price.” She said an ACTC subcommittee ranks projects and makes recommendations on completing them. Mayor Lee Ard said he thought rebuilding Old Town sidewalks was a “priority project” for the city. Kerr said the trouble was that the federal stimulus funding could only be used on “collector roads,” or main thoroughfares, and they must be identified as collector roads on federal maps. Councilman David Plank asked if one project, putting sidewalks on Highway 124, was a Caltrans project. Kerr said it was a collector and Caltrans wanted the project, but had no funding. Councilwoman Andrea Bonham said safety priority should be building sidewalks to the schools and to Howard Park. Staff will submit a list of projects to ACTC. Story by Jim Reece (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).
Thursday, 05 February 2009 00:29
Amador To Get $1.5M From Federal Stimulus Package
Amador County – Amador County will share about $1.5 million of the $819 billion federal stimulus package. On Tuesday, Ione City Manager Kim Kerr reported the numbers on the federal stimulus, of which California would get $30 billion, with that trickling down to Amador County, all for transportation projects. Kerr said “we are basically getting double what the state normally gets for gasoline taxes.” She said the city needs to update its list of “shovel ready” road projects to give it to the Amador County Transportation Commission, including projects that we ready to start in 120 days and others that were ready to start in 365 days. Kerr said the federal strings attached to the funding meant that besides California Environmental Quality Act requirements, the jobs also must meet National Environmental Protection Agency requirements. She said Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger asked for a waiver of NEPA requirements, but she did not know if the state would get that. The city council and Kerr discussed some roadwork needs around the city, such as repairing Sacramento Street and work on several streets in “Old Town East” (from Main Street to Foothill Street). Kerr also mentioned extension of Golf Links Drive, to the JTS property, part of a “developer agreement” with the city. She said the federal funding could be leveraged to do the job and JTS could reimburse the city. But the cost of that work was estimated at $6 million. Kerr said “that is probably the least likely one, based on the price.” She said an ACTC subcommittee ranks projects and makes recommendations on completing them. Mayor Lee Ard said he thought rebuilding Old Town sidewalks was a “priority project” for the city. Kerr said the trouble was that the federal stimulus funding could only be used on “collector roads,” or main thoroughfares, and they must be identified as collector roads on federal maps. Councilman David Plank asked if one project, putting sidewalks on Highway 124, was a Caltrans project. Kerr said it was a collector and Caltrans wanted the project, but had no funding. Councilwoman Andrea Bonham said safety priority should be building sidewalks to the schools and to Howard Park. Staff will submit a list of projects to ACTC. Story by Jim Reece (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).
