It’s been 10 years since street work funded by Measure K-14 started in Grover Beach, and the city has completed work on nearly 380 blocks and more than 70 percent of its residential streets thus far, according to Greg Ray, the city’s public works director and engineer.
Measure K-14 is the city’s street rehabilitation and safety improvement bond passed in 2014 and slated to provide up to $48 million in funds for repairs of residential streets over a 25-year period.
Ray presented the city’s street repairs progress during the Jan. 27 City Council meeting. Residents packed the room, and many said they felt like the city wasn’t having conversations about public safety efforts, such as adding or repairing sidewalks and increasing ADA accessibility. Others brought up concerns about the outdated sewer system and how the city plans to fix it while actively repairing the streets it runs under.
“We lack stop signs, we lack police presence, and we also don’t have sidewalks,” new resident Deanna Medina-Galvan told the council during public comment. “When I’m walking my puppy, a lot of times I have to walk in the road and with a kid on the way, I just don’t see how that’s sustainable in the long term.”
Medina-Galvan advised the council to spend more on public safety before it continues investing in buildings and beautification projects.
“Right now, it’s just really not a safe town to walk in or do anything else. We have no bike lanes and a lack of sidewalks, and it makes it inaccessible for people with disabilities and other things like that,” she said.
Ray said that K-14 funds are specifically for street maintenance, and the only sidewalk-related work that’s required by law is “handicap improvements on the corner ramps.”
If the city wants to focus on sidewalk repairs, Ray said that the funding could come from the city’s general fund, gas tax fund, local transportation funds, and occasionally grants. He also said that labor costs have increased dramatically—one block of sidewalk repairs could cost between $60,000 and $100,000.
David Swift, who applied to fill the open 2nd District City Council seat after Dan Rushing’s recall and didn’t get appointed, told council during public comment that he had paid a local contractor $25,000 to install 150 feet of curb, sidewalks, gutters, and a wheelchair ramp in his neighborhood.
“So, if you open up bidding in the city for some smaller contractors for these little jobs with not onerous bonding requirements, you can actually get some really good economy on some of these smaller infill projects rather than spending you know $60,000 or $70,000 on a set of sidewalks that a small guy could do cheaper,” he said. “So, keep that in mind.”
With myriad community concerns surrounding public safety and sewer repairs, the council agreed to return to the issue during the next meeting where staff will present a sewer update regarding the city’s sewer rates. Δ
This article appears in Jan 30 – Feb 9, 2025.
Ms. Medina-Galvan must be relatively new to Grover Beach. Given how things “were,” the city has made giant strides in improving the roadways, which has increased public safety. Walking is safe if one maintains awareness (and doesn’t wear dark clothing at night and doesn’t wear earbuds when interacting with traffic). I invite her to take a stroll here in Los Osos…
It should be embarrassing for cities across the country to not have accessible sidewalks (or sidewalks at all) and crossings when it is about to be 35 years of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Many people with disabilities or mobility issues cannot safely navigate their own neighborhoods and those who cannot drive or do not have access to driving face extraordinary barriers to even leave the home. It is a bigger issue than just any one city, as a culture we seem more than happy with exclusionary policy around circulation and transportation.