Second in an ongoing series.
Seal Beach has about $250 million in unfunded projects, according to the director of Public Works. Those projects include citywide storm drain improvements, sand replenishment, as well as water and sewer projects.
Meanwhile, the budget is difficult. See the story on page 1 and “Seal Beach budget is strained” at sunnews.org
The City Council recently looked at the city’s capital improvement program during more than nine hours of budget workshops. Today, we look at CIP projects.
The CIP deals with Seal Beach’s streets, buildings, the pier, the drinking water, stormwater, and sewer system, etc.
Examples: The renovation in progress on the pier restrooms, the Tennis and Pickleball Center project, and the Beverly Manor Well Rehab project. (Seal Beach is currently importing water, according to Public Works Director Iris Lee.)
Background
The program gets its money from the city’s General Fund, the gas tax/SB 1/Measure 2, grants, the water enterprise and the sewer enterprise, according to Public Works Director Iris Lee. (Seal Beach has not yet announced any hearings or public outreach on the water and sewer rates.)
One example of grant funding that Lee cited was the $525,000 Seal Beach received from Orange County to minimize San Gabriel River Trash. She also mentioned Community Development Block Grant money for the North Seal Beach Community Center.
Lee said money from water and sewer rates were used only to fund water and sewer projects.
“Much of the 24-25 CIPs are generally carryovers from the prior year or midyear-approved,” Lee said.
According to Lee, the new CIPs would primarily be annual programs such as slurry seal paving.
“We’re still looking at a good $13.7 million in this General Fund category or General Fund, slash grant category,” Lee said.
Facilities
Among the city’s buildings, Lee reported the Lifeguard Headquarters/Police Department Substation rehab project received an appropriation of about $3.9 million. “Of course, this isn’t the cost of the whole project but a placeholder,” Lee said.
(In March 2021, the late Steve Myrter, then director of Public Works, put the cost of a new Lifeguard Headquarters at $9.5 million. During the January 2024 Strategic Planning meeting, speaking off the top of his head, District One Council Member Joe Kalmick put the cost estimate at about $13.5 million.)
Roadways
“These are our fundamental building blocks of our infrastructure, so every two years we’re required to prepare a pavement management plan,” Lee said.
She said the plan rates the city’s streets according to a condition index.
Sewer
Seal Beach has a 35-mile wastewater system, according to Lee.
Lee said Seal Beach’s sewer enterprise funds are depleted. (Members of the public called for more cuts during the first round of hearings on water and sewer rates.)
“We have aging infrastructure that is failing and we don’t have enough money to properly keep these operations sustainable,” Lee said.
“For that reason, we are not introducing any new CIPs, even though they are needed,” Lee said.
All the water and sewer projects in the 2024-25 budget are holdovers from prior years, according to Lee.
One of those projects is Pump Station 35, which Lee described as the key station for the city.
She said if PS35 failed, a major overflow would take place.
“This is sewage,” said District Five Councilman Nathan Steele.
“Over run on the streets,” he said.
“On the streets, into the ocean, into the storm drain, into any environmentally sensitive areas,” Lee said.
The first phase of the Pump Station 35 project includes an emergency bypass, an emergency backup and mechanical upgrades, according to Lee.
According to Lee, the city has budgeted $1.475 million to address what she described as severe pipeline and manhole deterioration.
“While it’s not a substantial sum, it’s not enough to tackle everything that we need,” Lee said.
Water
Lee also said the water enterprise fund was not able to support needed improvement projects.
“All our water production wells are not functioning. We have limited budget for import water and we are month number one of the two and two to three months of budget that we do have for import water,” Lee said.
Moving and storing water is also an issue, according to Lee.
She said Seal Beach has experienced several water main breaks along Seal Beach Boulevard. “As it currently stands, if another happens, which it will, this may end up impacting our General Fund,” Lee said.
She said the city’s enterprise fund is not budgeted so the city can actually make emergency repairs anymore.
She said Seal Beach’s water improvement project budget was in the hundreds of thousands versus the millions that Lee said the city needs.
District Two Council Member Tom Moore said that Seal Beach had an ongoing need each year to replace certain pipes throughout the city. Moore asked if that should be an ongoing CIP item.
“Absolutely,” Lee said.
She said when the city has the appropriate funding, staff would love for that to be an annual and ongoing program.
Unfunded projects
According to Lee’s slide presentation, the unfunded projects include:
• Alley pavement rehab
• Sand replenishment
• Citywide storm drain improvements
• Advanced water meter infrastructure
• Bolsa Chica Water Well rehab. Lee said the cost of this was “in the magnitude of $4 million.”
• College Park East/West water system improvements
• The First Street (sewer) pump station
• The Eighth Street (sewer) pump station
• Future phases of Pump Station 35
“All this roughly amounts to about $250 million,” Lee said. “But just keep in mind that our buying power is diminishing so this number is definitely a moving target,” Lee said.
