Measure T1 -$100 Million to Improve Existing City Infrastructure & Facilities

On Tuesday, November 8, 2016 Berkeley voters passed Measure T1 with an 86.5% approval.  This measure authorizes the City to sell $100 million of General Obligation Bonds (GO Bonds) to repair, renovate, replace, or reconstruct the City’s aging infrastructure and facilities, including sidewalks, storm drains, parks, streets, senior and recreation centers, and other important City facilities and buildings. After 6 months of community process, on June 27, 2017 the City Council approved a list of proposed projects.  Explore the funded T1 projects and their location in this interactive story map.

What’s Next

City staff are in the process of hiring project managers and preparing for the sale of the bond funds this Winter.  Beginning in January you will be able to follow the progress of each project on this webpage  

Community Input Process

The Public Works and Parks and Waterfront Commissions led several community meetings to get feedback and recommendations on allocating and managing Bond Measure Proposed T1 Projects.   Click here to review the Joint Commission Report.

 Click here for more information on the Community Meeting Details.

As described in the December 22, 2016 memo to Council, the Parks and Waterfront Commission and the Public Works Commission will serve as the lead commissions for the community input process for the T1 program.  The two Lead commissions will review projects, hold meetings to gather commission and community input, and then deliver synthesized input to City Council by April 2017.  In May and June of 2017, City Council will provide direction to City staff on specific projects for Phase 1.  This timeline is summarized below.

To help with this, ten participating commissions are being asked to gather and provide input using their regularly scheduled publicly noticed commission meetings in January and February of 2017.  The current proposed list of T1 projects for Phase One of three phases is just a subset of the City’s total list of projects involving $500 million in deferred work Citywide, and were selected based on the urgency of the projects from a safety and a readiness for construction point of view.  The purpose of this community process is to make sure these are the right projects for Phase One of the T1 program, that projects are not missing from the total list of deferred work, and that the projects get implemented in a way that best meets community needs.  Commissions are being asked to place the T1 program and Phase One list of projects on their agendas for discussion and possible action to send feedback to one of the lead commissions (Parks and Waterfront Commission and Public Works Commission).  The action should be one of the following: a) send a document with the commission's feedback; b) send a representative to one of the lead commissions; or c) City staff in attendance can bring a commission's comments back to a lead commission.  This will ensure that all input can be considered when the final recommendations are submitted to Council in April 2017 by the two lead commissions.

Infrastructure & Facility Needs
The passage of the T1 bond measure will help the City begin to address longstanding infrastructure needs. The City’s facility and infrastructure needs exceed $500 million, and were detailed most recently at the October 18, 2016 Council worksession (update and presentation file) by Public Works and Parks, Recreation and Waterfront staff.  Other reports to Council in the last several years have described the vast needs in the City’s aging infrastructure, whose repair or replacement has been too long deferred and whose failure would have substantial impacts on our community.

•  In an April 5, 2016 off-agenda report, Parks, Recreation & Waterfront detailed capital and major maintenance projects and unfunded needs.
 
•  A January 19, 2016 report to Council on City care and shelter sites described $16.8M in needs at senior centers and community centers for seismic upgrade & deferred maintenance repairs.
 
•  The Council-adopted FY16-FY17 Capital Improvement Program provided an overview of planned projects and unfunded needs.
 
•  In two March 24, 2015 worksession reports, Parks, Recreation & Waterfront and Public Works presented capital improvement and major maintenance needs and 5-year plans.

Proposed T1 Program Plan
Council Resolution No. 67,666-N.S. provided process guidelines for prioritizing the $100 million infrastructure and facilities bond spending. Consistent with these guidelines, City staff submitted a memo to Council on December 22, 2016 with recommendations for allocating and managing Measure T1 funds. This includes recommendations on phasing, community process, timeline, reporting and oversight, criteria, and projects.  

Community members are encouraged to attend Commission meetings, or provide feedback in writing to:  T1@cityofberkeley.info.

For meeting dates, times, locations and agenda details, please see:

       Lead Commissions
       Public Works Commission
       Parks & Waterfront Commission

       Participating Commissions
       Children, Youth, and Recreation Commission
       Civic Arts Commission
       Commission on Aging
       Commission on Disability
       Community Environmental Advisory Commission
       Disaster and Fire Safety Commission
       Energy Commission
       Housing Advisory Commission
       Transportation Commission
       Zero Waste Commission