Glendale outlines $329M in carried CIP projects and weighs 3 pavement-funding paths

Finance Director Jack Leang told the Glendale City Council on May 28 that the city’s proposed capital improvement program includes 245 projects and that roughly $329 million in existing project budgets would carry into fiscal 2026–27, with about $77 million in new project requests.

The presentation highlighted eight major projects, including the 1000 South Central Avenue master plan (design-stage, current budget about $1 million with an estimated $2 million need), the Central Park expansion (about $18.4 million; construction to begin summer 2026), and the Grayson repower program — a Glendale Water and Power (GWP) project Leang described as the city’s largest infrastructure effort at a total budget of about $633.4 million and expected to be substantially complete by July 2026.

Why it matters: the council must set appropriation priorities in the weeks before the June 23 budget adoption. Public commenters and council members stressed transparency on long-term deferred maintenance and the scale of obligations.

Pavement condition options

Staff described a pavement-condition strategy that included three funding options. Maintaining the current funding level would let the city’s Pavement Condition Index (PCI) decline from about 65 to 62; holding PCI at 65 would require roughly $10 million of additional pavement construction annually (over five years) plus several staff positions; and improving PCI to 72 would cost roughly $23 million annually.

Council members pressed staff on what the $10 million figure includes. Public Works staff and Leang said the $10 million is “solely for pavement work,” and that ADA-required work tied to pavement would be included, but that typical bundled improvements (curb and gutter realignments, streetscape planting, new bike lanes, signal upgrades and other multimodal elements) would require additional funding beyond that amount.

Grant and fund sources

Leang noted a mix of funding sources citywide, from Measure R/M to state gas tax and federal surface transportation grants; he highlighted a successful SCAG grant award that will help North Verdugo Road multimodal improvements. GWP projects such as water AMI meter replacement (~$27M project, $15.3M budgeted in FY26–27) and parking-deck electrification (90% design) were discussed separately.

Public comment and next steps

Public commenter Herbert Milano urged the council to disclose the cumulative gap between needed and funded capital projects and provided calculations estimating long-term obligations rising into the hundreds of millions; Finance Director Leang cautioned that some publicly circulated figures are estimates and invited members of the public to review verified financial data at his office.

The city will revisit unresolved CIP funding directions at the next study session on June 4; staff said they need council direction before appropriating additional pavement funds.