VISTAVISTA—Speed humps and protected bike lanes are coming to some streets in Vista following approval of the projects by the City Council this week.
Improvements also will be made to the Gloria McClellan Senior Center and funding will continue to 10 programs that help Vista residents.
A staff presentation at the Tuesday meeting outlined a broad street-improvement plan that would have created sidewalks, roundabouts and other improvements in some neighborhoods, but council members opted to go just with projects that could be started immediately with available funding.
Under the approved plan, speed humps will be installed at Alta Vista Drive, Grapevine Lane, Highland Drive, Vale View Drive and Eucalyptus Avenue. The projects will cost about $150,000, which the city can fund through about $200,000 available from traffic impact fees.
An alternate plan also would have included additional road improvements at Eucalyptus Avenue, Taylor Street, Vale Terrace Drive and Vale View Drive. In all, the projects would have cost $7.2 million, with $6 million alone for Vale Terrace Drive improvements.
Several residents at the meeting spoke in favor of speed humps to slow traffic in their neighborhoods, and the staff report said the proposals were made in response to many complaints and accidents on certain streets.
A resident from Vale View Drive, however, opposed the speed humps as potential road hazards and said the only accident he had seen in 15 years on the street happened when someone swerved to avoid a rabbit in the road.
Bike lanes with plastic flexible delineators will cost $1.7 million, about the same amount available in the city’s Regional Transportation Congestion Improvement Program account, which will fund the work.
The bike-lane protectors will be installed on North Melrose Drive south of Olive Avenue to Ascot Drive, South Melrose Drive from Matagual Drive to the southern city limit, North Santa Fe Avenue from Bobier Drive to Vista Village Drive and Vista Village Drive from Civic Center Drive to West Vista Way.
Delineators also will be placed on East Village Way from Civic Center Drive to Bobier Drive, Bobier Drive from North Santa Fe Avenue to East Vista Way, Sycamore Avenue from South Melrose Drive to Green Oak Road and Civic Center Drive from Eucalyptus Avenue to Ocean View Drive.
An alternate plan to use asphalt berms rather than plastic delineators would have cost an additional $450,000. Council members agreed the city may someday consider replacing the plastic devices with asphalt if funding is available.
Also at the meeting, council members unanimously approved funding for two capital improvement projects and also to continue funding for several programs that help homeless people, youths and seniors. The funding source is $990,000 in community development block grants.
The council in 2019 approved a plan to fund programs to provide emergency assistance and housing for homeless people, health services including mental health and substance abuse, support for seniors and people with special needs, and crime awareness and prevention services.
The 2023-2024 annual action plan approved by the council Tuesday will provide $25,000 to Operaton Hope for shelter and case management for homeless families and women, $16,000 to the Alpha Project for homeless outreach, $16,000 to the Boys & Girls Club of Vista, $12,000 for Mama’s Kitchen to provide meal delivery to people with HIV, AIDS, cancer and other critical illnesses and $15,000 to North County Lifeline for services for low-income families.
Grants also will provide $10,000 to Palomar Family Counseling services for counseling to students in the Vista Unified School Districts, $10,000 for the city’s senior nutrition program, $11,000 for Vista Community Clinic’s tutoring program for at-risk students at Rancho Buena Vista High School, $16,000 for Vista Community Clinic’s Wellness Clinic for check-ups, immunizations and vaccines and $16,000 for Voices for Children’s foster care services.
Vista City Council Member Corinna Contreras noted that the $148,000 in grants was a relatively small amount for the many services provided to the city.
“You all make miracles and move mountains, and you do so with a shoestring budget,” she said. “And I know this is just a drop in the bucket, but the return on the investment is so big.”
In capital improvement projects, grant funding also will provide $644,000 for sidewalks on Avenue de Benito Juarez between West California Avenue West Connecticut Avenue, a street many children use to walk to school.
Block grant funding also will provide improvements to the Gloria McClellan Senior Center, including the construction of a fitness center, large game room and break room in the Azalea building, estimated to cost $340,000.
