No foolin’ April is going to be a huge month in city of San Diego government. Major decisions and important new information is in the offing for the city’s finances and three of the four proposed big building projects.
I thought it’d be handy to put together a calendar with links to guide you through the end of the month.
April 6. Convention Center. The city could gain control of the land it needs to expand its Convention Center. The Unified Port of San Diego is scheduled to vote — though a delay is possible — on a $14.5 million lease deal between the city-run nonprofit Convention Center Corp. and a developer. Once the city acquires the land, it would begin discussing how it would pay for the up to $1 billion project. Here’s our explainer on the Convention Center.
April 15. Budget. San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders must present next year’s budget. After closing a $179 million gap in December, the city faces at least another $30 million hole Sanders must fix.
Last week of April. Schoobrary. The city will receive an updated cost for the new downtown library-charter high school project five years in the making. Mayor Jerry Sanders expects the $185 million cost estimate from 2005 to decrease, which would make the library’s construction more palatable. Here’s our explainer on the schoobrary with a matching video explainer.
April 27. Chargers stadium. The stadium’s primary public funding source, the city’s downtown redevelopment agency, needs to increase the money it can collect under state law if the city can help pay for a new facility. The City Council will have its first discussions on the issue this day. If the downtown agency is allowed to receive more money, it would come at the expense of San Diego County and other local governments. Those governments would be betting they’d collect more tax revenues down the line once the stadium is built. Here’s our explainer on the Chargers stadium with a matching video explainer.
June. Civic Center. Just because I didn’t want to leave any of the big buildings out of the calendar, the city is scheduled receive the terms and price tag for a new Civic Center — now estimated at $432 million — in three months. The city now is negotiating with a Portland, Ore.-based developer. Critics believe the reported cost savings on the project are inflated. The mayor and City Council have pledged to put the new city hall project before voters, likely in November.
— LIAM DILLON