The city’s budget officer reviewed Santa Clarita’s Capital Improvement Program, or CIP, with the Planning Commission on Tuesday at City Hall.
The funding is a part of the budget that addresses the city’s short- and long-term capital needs, and “includes prioritized projects such as parks, buildings, paseos, trails, street improvements that enhance the quality of life to residents in the community,” according to City Manager Ken Striplin, during an April budget review.
The allocation for the city’s 2025-26 fiscal year starting July 1 is $81.5 million, according to Tuesday’s presentation from Michael Villegas, city budget officer and assistant to the city manager.
The amount represents $67.8 million in new projects and $13.7 million in previously approved projects, for a total of 44, according to the presentation.
While Striplin said last month the city is planning a more cautious “wait-and-see” approach with this year’s budget, the 15% decrease in spending on capital improvement over the previous year, roughly $14.3 million, comes largely from “re-budgets” of previous projects. The spending on new projects is only about $300,000 less than the previous year.
The presentation broke down the spending by various categories within the CIP:
Parks
The biggest item in the CIP is the design and construction of Via Princessa Park, a $34.5 million plan for a 34-acre park along Via Princessa, northeast of the intersection of Whites Canyon Road and Via Princessa. The project also includes off-site improvements to adjacent properties to the northeast and along Weyerhauser Way, according to a 2021 initial study. The site indicated on the city’s website is adjacent to Cordova Estates mobile home park.
In addition to that plan, the city is also looking at: $3 million for maintenance yard improvements; $2.7 million to replace the pool pump room at Newhall Park; almost $750,000 in playground equipment; and $700,000 for David March Park construction.
There’s also $500,000 budgeted for Needham Ranch Open Space and another half-million for the pool house retaining wall at William S. Hart Park.
Part of the overall new expenses for the city include its recently court-approved takeover of Hart Park, which will require about $2.5 million in the next year’s budget and additional repairs that have been budgeted for at least the next five years, Striplin said in April.
“The county had given us a list of capital projects to the tune of $10 million initially in that study,” said Jared McKenna, director of neighborhood services, referring to the Hart Park-takeover expenses in an April budget discussion. “Those have been kind of re-verified by staff and put into a longer-term funding plan that will come before the council each year.”
Circulation
Just for circulation and route improvements, the city has budgeted a little over $6 million, including: $500,000 for traffic-signal upgrades; $3.1 million for a “Federal Circulation Improvement Program”; and nearly $440,000 each for bicycle and pedestrian crossing enhancements.
When asked about the Federal Circulation Improvement program, Villegas indicated via email Wednesday the work is associated with changes near the entrance of Valencia Town Center.
“This project will modify the existing intersections of Valencia Boulevard and McBean Parkway, and Valencia Boulevard at Mall Entrance to enhance traffic circulation and maximize capacity. The proposed improvements will modify existing medians, striping, signals and landscaping.”
Through sources and public-record requests, The Signal has previously published some information about the more than 2,000 homes planned for the area. The city has yet to publicly discuss any Valencia Town Center plans it has received from Centennial, the mall’s owner, since the developer made an eight-figure request from the city for a parking garage investment, which the city publicly rebuffed.
The city’s circulation budget also calls for the design of Dockweiler Drive’s extension, which is expected to bring major changes to Placerita Canyon, for $290,000. There’s also $320,000 to design a Via Princessa extension, and another $825,000 for Vista Canyon Road Bridge.
Facilities
The city is looking at roughly $6.5 million in buildings: a total of $2.5 million for a new studio on Citrus Street for SCVTV, the city’s public access television station, which is currently located on 14th Street in Newhall; and a $2.7 million hydrogen fueling station.
There’s also $700,000 budgeted for the design of the Sports Complex’s “buildout,” as well as $750,000 for the rebudget of an affordable housing project.
The affordable housing project is a carryover from a previous year’s budget, contingent upon a partnership with a nonprofit developer, according to an email from Villegas.
“At this time, the city has not initiated a request for proposal for a nonprofit developer, but a study session with the City Council is anticipated for later this year to get direction on next steps,” he said.
Maintenance
One of the city’s biggest capital improvement expenses each year is its slurry seal program, which rehabilitates local roads. This year, the city expects to spend $17 million in the 2025-26 budget, making it the largest expense in that category by far. A city official once likened the street treatment akin to applying lotion as a skincare regimen for the roads.
There’s also more than a half-million dollars in preventative bridge maintenance, $600,000 in concrete rehabilitation and another $477,000 for well redevelopments.
Trails
The city of Santa Clarita’s Neighborhood Services Department touts approximately 80 miles of trails and 20 miles of paseos on the city’s website, which also come with an annual cost for upkeep. The biggest cost listed in that respect is a $1.5 million plan for a Class I bike trail on Railroad Avenue.
