Stanislaus County is spending $50 million on sidewalks, sewer, water. Where is it going?
Stanislaus County will distribute $50 million in American Rescue Plan funds unevenly across supervisorial districts to make improvements in county unincorporated pockets that need it most.
County supervisors voted 5-0 to approve the methodology Tuesday evening, giving the largest portion of funding — $16.9 million — to make improvements in Supervisor Channce Condit’s District 5 including Ceres, part of south Modesto and western Stanislaus County.
The methodology will allocate $12.2 million to Supervisor Mani Grewal’s District 4 in Modesto, $10.6 million to board chairman Terry Withrow’s District 3 in west Modesto, $5.6 million to Buck Condit’s District 1 including Riverbank and Oakdale, and $4.7 million to Vito Chiesa’s District 2 in Turlock.
The redistricting process placed more Latino eligible voters in Channce Condit’s district, which took in more older neighborhoods that need basic infrastructure.
Last year, county leaders dedicated $50 million, out of $107 million in ARPA funding, for infrastructure in “county islands”, which don’t have safely lit streets, are in need of sidewalks and may lack water and sewer hookups.
Previous studies identified $707 million in infrastructure needs in county pockets, with 34% of costs identified in District 5, 24% in District 4, 21% in District 3, 11% in District 1 and 9% in District 2. County staff recommended the ARPA funds be distributed according to those percentages.
The board didn’t make any decisions Tuesday to spend money on specific projects. County staff will recommend projects for funding at the Sept. 20 board meeting.
Residents of the Parklawn area of south Modesto said at Tuesday’s meeting the county should provide ARPA funds for sidewalks, gutters and storm drains in their neighborhood. “If you want to make a difference, do the things that people ask for,” Dennis Casey said.
Nicholas Jensen, an attorney for California Rural Legal Assistance, said the county methodology does not take into consideration a 2011 legal settlement affecting Parklawn and the Bret Harte, Robertson Road and Rouse-Colorado neighborhoods.
Plaintiffs charged in a lawsuit against Modesto and the county that the neighborhoods had been neglected for decades. Jensen asked county leaders to postpone the decision and revise the funding plan so it reflects the county’s obligations in the legal settlement.
Supervisor Channce Condit said he represents Parklawn and vowed to make sure unincorporated communities are treated fairly. He said his goal is bringing Parklawn and the Bret Harte areas up to standards and eventually getting them annexed to the city.
Supervisor Vito Chiesa said he first assumed $10 million in ARPA money would be allocated fairly to each supervisorial district, but it became clear the highest priorities were in districts 3, 4 and 5. He said the staff recommendation for distributing the ARPA funds will address the greater need in those districts.
Chiesa noted that the cost of improvements is $126 million in the neighborhoods that were involved in the 2011 legal settlement. Supervisor Mani Grewal said the $50 million through ARPA can be leveraged to secure state funds and provide more upgrades in county islands.
What the surveys revealed
In February, the Board of Supervisors approved a contract with NBS to educate the public about the needs in county pockets and get community input on spending the $50 million.
Surveys, in English and Spanish, were conducted digitally, by phone and door-to-door before the survey was completed June 17. Four public meetings also were held to discuss the needs of county islands, while two virtual meetings were held in Spanish and English.
According to a county staff report, NBS received 309 completed surveys and almost 70 people attended workshops.
The survey discovered that a majority of residents in most neighborhoods are not happy with street lighting, and many respondents would like to see bike and pedestrian paths.
The outreach found that 75% of residents would prefer spending the funds on smaller projects in many different neighborhoods. Most were against spending all the ARPA funds on repairing wastewater systems.
In addition, most residents were against paying taxes for neighborhood improvements, which “likely reflects a perception of how well tax revenue is spent on community needs,” a county report said.
Studies since 2019 have come up with cost estimates for improvements in 41 county pockets in and around Modesto, Turlock, Ceres and Riverbank, while other needs were identified in Crows Landing, Denair, east Oakdale, Grayson, Hickman, Keyes, Knights Ferry, Monterey Tract, Salida, Valley Home and Westley.
The county is weaving a Building Community Infrastructure Fund into its final budget next month, creating a funding source for each supervisor to address infrastructure needs within their districts.
County officials are considering a figure of $15 million, which would devote $3 million to each of the five districts. “If approved by the board, this new funding source may be used, at the discretion of each supervisor, to supplement ARPA funding for improvements,” the county staff report said.
This story was originally published August 17, 2022 at 7:44 AM.
