Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors Watch

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS WATCH

The Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors meets at 9 a.m. today in the basement chamber at Tenth Street Place,

1010 10th St., Modesto. The board is scheduled to:

• Hire ICF Jones & Stokes, an international consulting firm, to prepare the county's new growth-guiding general plan. The contract includes an airport plan for development of a business park near Crows Landing, as well as integrating Measure E requirements after voters across the county in 2008 seized control over home projects in unincorporated areas. Jones & Stokes is expected to spend two years on the documents and would be paid $826,400. The firm submitted the most expensive bid among five but would also dedicate more hours, a report says. Jones & Stokes was selected for the same job in 2005. It was canceled because the county didn't have enough money. County leaders since have accumulated $1.1 million in a dedicated fund but plan to seek state and federal grants to avoid depleting it. The firm prepared Modesto's 2000 general plan and has worked for several counties, including Sacramento, Mariposa and Alameda.

• Establish no-parking zones in Riverbank on Eleanor Avenue, where parents often drop off Mesa Verde School students. The children cross the street midblock. Other no-parking zones are proposed for visibility reasons by Cassle Garage Door Co. on Reno Avenue near Modesto and at 796 Santa Fe Ave. in Empire.

• Declare that widening McHenry Avenue north of Ladd Road would not significantly affect surroundings. Transportation leaders expect to spend $3.2 million to replace a blinking red light with a traffic signal and broaden McHenry from Ladd to Hogue Road, including a center turn lane. Crews might spend four to six months on the project with periodic delays instead of shutting down that stretch of road to Escalon for five weeks of intense work. At a separate meeting also scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday, the Modesto Irrigation District board will consider a 160-acre solar farm at the intersection's northeast corner.

• Using eminent domain, seize another parcel needed to widen Kiernan Avenue north of Modesto. Beverly Irene Tillema would be the 24th owner to have strips of land taken along Kiernan in recent weeks between Dale Road and McHenry Avenue.

• Accept a final update on repairs to a downtown building damaged by an errant motorist. Oak Valley Bank at 12th and I streets, with district attorney and Stanislaus County Employees Retirement Association offices above, was rammed Nov. 3 when a car jumped a sidewalk. Repairs were estimated at $100,000 but were completed for about $52,000, a report says. The driver's insurance will pay $10,000; the county expects its insurance carrier to cover the rest.