Modesto City Council Watch (3/12/13)

MODESTO -- The Modesto City Council meets today at 5:30 p.m. in the basement chamber of Tenth Street Place, 1010 10th St. The council is expected to:

• Listen to a presentation from Turlock Gospel Mission Executive Director Tim Guerino on his organization's experience operating a day center for the homeless during the past year. A day center provides the homeless with a safe place where they can access services. It also prevents them from becoming a nuisance by being drunk in public, fighting or panhandling. Establishing a day center was a top recommendation from the September 2011 report issued by Modesto's Blue Ribbon Panel on Homelessness. Councilmen John Gunderson, Dave Geer and Joe Muratore are among those who support a day center and have met with Guerino.

• Consider raising some Modesto Airport rates and fees by 4.3 percent effective April 1 for such things as landing fees and the use of hangars and tie-downs. A city report says the airport has not raised rates or fees in three years because of the recession, and the proposed 4.3 percent increase reflects the cumulative rate of inflation for the past three years. Airport Manager Jerome Thiele said his facility is paying more for utilities, airport repairs and maintenance, and property insurance. Additionally, he said, the airport faces having what it pays for fire service rise from $88,000 to $261,000 effective July 1. Thiele said the Modesto Regional Fire Authority has recalculated what it costs to provide services and is trying to recoup its actual costs.

• Consider waiving capital facilities fees for the proposed Tower Park Senior Housing development, a 50-unit affordable housing complex at 17th and G streets. Capital facilities fees are used to offset the cost of development and pay for new roads, fire stations and other public facilities. The fees are $8,725 per unit, and a full exemption for the project is $436,250. Satellite Housing and American Baptist Homes of the West are the project's developers.• Consider authorizing submitting a $300,000 grant application to the California Department of Transportation for the McHenry Avenue Corridor Study. The grant requires a roughly $30,000 match from the city.