GONZALES — A technical study involving a traffic analysis and infrastructure for a housing development on the north side of Gonzales was approved by City Council members Feb. 20.
“It’s taken a long time to get to this point. We had to go through a process with LAFCO to bring the new growth area into our sphere of influence,” said Thomas Truszkowski, deputy city manager and community development director. “That took quite a while and some heavy lifting by the staff to get that completed. There was also a negotiation with some of the property owners who have property in the urban growth area.”
The City is looking at completing technical studies regarding water, waste water, storm drainage and a traffic analysis. The traffic analysis will include looking at traffic within the sphere of influence and the effect of that traffic on existing roadways and onto or off Highway 101.
“The current financial conditions of the City are tight and they don’t really allow us to expend money on all of the content or the cost of the technical work,” said Truszkowski. “Fortunately for us we have three parties that have come forward and have offered to help finance the technical work.”
The three funding parties behind the technical study are the Jackson Family Partnership, Rianda Family and Pennbrook group. D’Arrigo, Franscioni and Treleven and Vosti also own property within the group and are not participating in the study. The Jackson, Rianda and Pennbrook group housing development is near the Fanoe Road area.
The City of Gonzales is picking up one-third of the cost of the study. All parties will be reimbursed when the D’Arrigo Property develops in the future.
The City also asked for proposals concerning the traffic work and infrastructure studies, which were reviewed by the Public Works director and the city engineer. The estimated cost is approximately $647,000.
“The City will fund $118,322 of the cost and that money will be drawn from enterprise funds that have been established for water, waste water and drainage,” said Truszkowski.
