Capital Improvement Program

Background on the Capital Improvement Program

A Capital Improvement Plan (“CIP”) serves as a City's road map for preserving, maintaining, and developing any City-owned public infrastructure or assets. Generally, a CIP provides a five- to ten-year plan for all individual capital projects, equipment purchases, and major studies and includes construction, scheduling, and financing for each project. A comprehensive CIP clearly delineates the objectives of capital programs and its relationships to a City’s long-range development plans.

The current CIP was adopted in September 2020, with a 2-year update provided to the City Council in 2022. An updated version was adopted on May 30, 2024.

The City's current Capital Improvement Projects and their progress updates may be found in the drop-down menu under Capital Improvement Program on the left-hand side. Please select the red plus sign to the left of the Capital Improvement Program page to display the drop-down list of Capital Projects.

The City's currently adopted Ten-year Capital Improvement Program and FY 2024-2026 Capital Budget may be found among the attachments at the bottom of the web page, along with updates from previous years.

Funding Capital Projects

There are a variety of ways that the City funds its capital projects. Funding can come from the City's General Fund, from regional sources such as Measure W and Measure A, or from local, state, and federal grants. 

Local Funding Sources:

1.  Measure A Funds​

In 1988, San Mateo County voters approved a $.005 sales tax to fund local transportation. Eighteen percent (18%) of the funds collected throughout San Mateo County are distributed back to each local jurisdiction on the basis of population and road mileage. Measure A funds fund capital projects related to transportation exclusively.​

2.  Measure M Funds ​

The San Mateo County Congestion Management Agency collects a $10 annual fee for every vehicle that is registered in San Mateo County. These funds are distributed for use on transportation projects that are consistent with the Regional Transportation Plan​

3.  Measure W Funds ​

Similar to Measure A, the San Mateo County Transportation Authority collects a use tax for the purpose of funding transportation improvements, including those listed in the San Mateo County Congestion Relief Plan.

4.  Lighting District Funds ​

Money collected by the City’s lighting district may be expended towards capital projects that improve the City’s network of street lights.​

5.  Water Funds ​

These funds includes the City’s water enterprise funds, such as the Water Lease Fund and the Water Capital Replacement Fund.​

6. Other Local Funds​

This category includes a number of other, miscellaneous funds collected by the City for the purpose of funding capital projects. Such funds include developer funds negotiated during the entitlement phase of a project for community benefits, settlement funds, in lieu fees, etc

Grants

Federal, State, and Local Grants have made possible much of the high-cost Capital work in East Palo Alto. Over the past several years, the City has received various funding for transportation projects, including improvements to bike lanes, Safe Routes to School, green infrastructure, bus shelter improvements, flood mitigation projects, and more. This has allowed the City to limit usage of General Funds. Below is a list of recently-utilized grants and the projects they helped to fund.

2018:

The City received the following grants in 2018 for construction work on CIP project ST-05 A - Bay Road Phases II and III

Economic Development Administration Grant (EDA Grant) - $4.4 million [Federal]

HPLUL Grant (California Department of Transportation) - $9,747,135 [State]

2019:

The City, along with SamTrans and Eden Housing received a grant for housing and transportation improvements related to the Light Tree Housing project. The City's portion is as follows - 

Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Grant (AHSC) - $6,348,705 [State]

2021:

The City received an additional amount from AHSC in 2021 for capital work near 965 Weeks. Some of these funds will be used for PK-18 Railspur Trail Improvements as work gets underway in 2024/2025 - 

Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC) - $2,000,000 [State]

2022:

ST-26 Addison Avenue Safe Routes to School / Green Infrastructure Improvements were funded through a variety of grants awarded in 2022. A portion of AHSC funds from previous years was also use to complete this project - 

Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) - $114,000 [Local]

City County Association of Governments (CCAG) - $250,000 [Local]

For the 2022 Annual Street Resurfacing Project, the City used previous AHSC funds as well as the following grant to complete the project - 

FEMA - Emergency Protective Measure - $76,652 [Local]

City was awarded a grant to work on FA-15 Cummings Loft Improvements. A portion of these funds are already being utilized as the project is in the design phase - 

Small Business Administration (Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022) - $555,000 [Federal]

2023:

Work began in 2023 on ST-14 A/B University Avenue/Hwy 101 Interchange and Pedestrian Overcrossing. This large project is made possible by the following grants - 

SB-1 LPP: Local Partnership Program - $2,302,200 [State]

HPLUL/HPP: Highway Bridge Program - $1,847,000 [Federal]

Stanford Hazard Mitigation Grant - $1,000,000 [Local]

Measure A - $5,251,449 [Local]

Measure W - $5,700,000 [Local]

Construction began and was completed on PK-05 A Joel Davis Park Restroom in Spring 2024. The following are grants that supported this project - 

General Per Capita Program - $177,952 [State]

Urban County Per Capita Program - $18,641 [State]

ST-08 University Avenue Resurfacing and Signal project is being funded by the following grant. Work is ongoing in 2024 - 

Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) - $1,234,000 [Federal]

2024:

The California Department of Transportation (CalTrans) entered into a Cooperative Agreement with the City in February 2024 to fund a large portion of SD-08 Full Trash Capture Device, helping the City reach its goal of 100% trash capture in the storm drain system. The project will begin in summer 2024 - 

California Department of Transportation - $2,225,000 [State]

The City also received funds to start construction on ST-28 East Bayshore Improvements in 2025. The project is currently in the design phase, also grant funded by a TDA grant - 

TDA Grant - $400,000 [State]

Lifeline Transportation Grant - $625,000 [State]

Work began on designing FA-16 City of East Palo Alto Library. The current library is owned and operated by the County of San Mateo out of the Government Center located at 2415 University Ave. The following grants have made this design possible, including ARPA, which was allocated to the City in 2022.  

American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) - $400,000 [Federal]

Housing and Urban Design Grant (HUD) - $1,500,000

The SAFER Bay project is a joint project overseen by the San Francisquito Creek joint Powers Authority. Phase I of this project is supported by the following grant:

Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP / FEMA) - $3,643,576 [Federal]