New year a time to look ahead in Poway

Look into City Manager Dan Singer’s crystal ball and you will see city leaders spending a great deal of time in 2015 making plans for the future.

At the top of Singer’s priority list is a strategic planning process where the City Council, working with Singer and department heads, will attempt to develop a vision. It’s something that Singer, hired six months ago, has been mentioning to the council for some time. It has been understood that the work would begin sometime following the November 2014 election.

In Singer’s view, the timing is good, with the “City in the Country” in the process of transforming from a growing city to one that is maturing. For example, the recent opening of the new Lowe’s home improvement store on Poway Road could well be the last new “big box” retail store in the city for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, much of the Poway Business Park has been developed and there isn’t much room in the city for new residential developments.

Singer this week said he envisions the council meeting for a full day or perhaps two half days with an outside paid consultant serving as a facilitator. He said the list of possible consultants has been a narrowed down to two. The session or sessions might be held as soon as March or April, he said.

Along the same lines of planning for the future, work on the Poway Road Corridor Study, commissioned last September by the council, is expected to hit full stride.

Anaheim-based MIG, Inc. will be spending 2015 evaluating all aspects of the city’s main “corridor” and will prepare recommendations involving land use, transportation and economic development. Public workshops will be part of the process and an ad hoc committee of business leaders and private residents will be formed to provide comments and guidance, Singer said. The company, which has an office in San Diego, will be paid $349,190 for the work. No city general funds would be used. Instead, the firm will be paid from the city’s portion of half-cent “TransNet” highway taxes, Singer said.

A key component of the study will be existing land uses within the city’s so-called “Town Center” area west of the library. The potential for “mixed use” development will studied by the firm. The idea of turning that part of Poway Road into a pedestrian-friendly, commercial/residential district was discussed several years ago but was set aside when the recession hit.

A third related “looking forward” item will be a council review of current policies regarding capital improvements projects, capital investments and reserve fund policies, Singer said.

Since its creation in 1980, the city has maintained very conservative fiscal policies especially in regards to its reserve. The city’s $34 million general fund has about $23.2 million in reserves, including about $18 million in unallocated money. Historically, past city councils have been hesitant to touch those reserves. In recent months there has been some talk, initiated in part last summer by the citizen Budget Advisory Committee, to perhaps tap into reserves to generate new sales- and property tax-generating opportunities for the city.

While planning for the future will be a major development in 2015, Singer identified several other topics that will likely be discussed:

• Proceeding with the design and possible start of construction of a new public center at Community Park. The idea is to replace both the existing, aging Community Center and the nearby Senior Center with a building that can meet both needs.

• Deciding on the details of a memorial to baseball great Tony Gwynn that will be built near the Lake Poway field.

• Exploring ways to add parking spaces at Lake Poway, Blue Sky Reserve and Iron Mountain. The Lake Poway situation will be discussed at the Jan. 13 council meeting.

• The undergrounding of utility lines along Espola Road beyond the currently-authorized boundaries.

• Two affordable housing projects: the “Habitat for Heroes,” a proposed for-sale townhome project for veterans, and a apartment complex for developmentally disabled adults near Pomerado Hospital.

• Crime reduction and safety improvements through “proactive enforcement.”

• Water conservation projects and community outreach program.

• Investment in technology and tools “for public and organizational benefits.”