Council Allocates $1.8 Million for Roads

During a tense meeting this week, the City Council approved just enough of its capital-improvement budget to qualify for county matching funds.

Dana Point risked losing $460,000 in Orange County Transportation Authority money if it didn’t vote to spend $1.8 million for drainage, sidewalk, road-resurfacing and traffic-signal projects.

Council members traded jibes during the two-hour session, at which they also voted to set aside $7 million for a reserve fund, $1 million to purchase open space and $500,000 to place power lines and other utilities underground.

In all, the council allocated all but $3 million of the $14 million it had available for capital improvements, public works director Mort August said. The city still must decide which of the rest of its list of 66 capital-improvement projects to tackle.

“It’s many more projects than we have money for, obviously,” August said. The council will “have to pare it down and prioritize.”

One of the projects to be considered is palm-tree replacement in the city’s Capistrano Beach enclave. A city contractor is suspected of infecting the now-dying trees in 1994, officials said, and residents have been lobbying the council to replace the historic palms, planted by pioneer Edward Doheny in the 1920s.

At this week’s session, Councilwoman Karen Lloreda facetiously threatened Mayor Bill Ossenmacher to “give me my palm trees.”

But the council voted only to carry over $100,000 for the trees that was not spent this year and not to allocate any more money. Councilwoman Ruby L. Netzley said that just because money has been budgeted doesn’t necessarily mean the trees are on the way.

August said the council still could set aside more funds for the palms when budget talks resume next month.