Santa Clara residents to vote on $400 million infrastructure bond in November

Firefighter driver engineer Brandon Hale points out deteriorated windows and cracked walls at the Santa Clara Fire Station 5 in Santa Clara, Calif., on Friday, March 29, 2024. The fire station is outdated with current structural damages that need a complete teardown and be rebuilt into a bigger more efficient fire station. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)

After several failed attempts at placing a measure to fund failing infrastructure on the ballot in recent years, Santa Clara is moving forward with a $400 million general obligation bond that will go before voters this November.

The city estimates it has more than $600 million in unfunded infrastructure needs with many facilities, like fire stations, community centers and swimming pools that reached the end of their lifespan years ago. On Tuesday, the Santa Clara City Council voted 6-1 to proceed with the measure and directed officials to return at a meeting later this summer with a detailed expenditure plan of how the money will be spent. Councilmember Kevin Park cast the dissenting vote.

City officials originally proposed a $598 million bond measure given the size of Santa Clara’s infrastructure needs. Polling of 400 likely voters done by the city earlier this year found that 80% of respondents thought the city “could benefit from additional investment in public infrastructure.” But when asked whether they would support a $598 million bond, only 55% said they’d vote yes — below the two-thirds threshold required for local bonds.

Voters will also be deciding on a state proposition in November that would lower the threshold to 55%, potentially increasing Santa Clara’s chances of passing its bond. The margin of error of the poll was plus or minus 4.88%

During the hourslong discussion of the measure, councilmembers wrestled with what dollar amount to put forward to voters. The city has not had a general facilities bond since 1959, but made unsuccessful attempts to put one on the ballot in 2018 and 2022.

“It’s a hard decision, but we cannot kick this can down the road and not assume the can will get worse, more expensive and harder to move,” Councilmember Karen Hardy said.

While the city has been grappling with its failing infrastructure for years, this year has been particularly challenging as officials in January shuttered the famed George F. Haines International Swim Center over safety concerns. Since then, the city has been working furiously to try to temporarily reopen the pools while it comes up with a long-term solution. Several weeks ago, the council voted to reopen the facility — an effort  expected to cost nearly $2 million.

Despite the long list of infrastructure needs, Mayor Lisa Gillmor and Councilmember Kathy Watanabe proposed reducing the dollar amount from nearly $600 million to $400 million.

“Hearing and reading some of the comments that did come from the public and concerns about people on being fixed incomes and just concerns about taxpayers being assessed more and more monies, wouldn’t it be better to go with a lower amount and get what we can get done say for maybe $400 million as opposed to $600 million and then go out for another general obligation bond,” Watanabe said.

In an effort to build trust, Gillmor said she wanted city officials to detail which specific projects the money would be used for instead of “broad” categories. The council also agreed that no money from the bond will be used for improvements on Levi’s Stadium or within a half-a-mile radius of the venue — unless it was for residential neighborhoods in that zone.

City Manager Jovan Grogan pleaded with the council to show unanimous support for the measure in order to increase its chances of passing.

“Certainly it can move forward with five votes on the city council, but the reality is they may only be ultimately successful if all seven members of Santa Clara’s elected city council support it,” he said.

Park, however, ultimately voted no, citing concerns that Santa Clara needed to first solve the issues that led to the city’s decades of unfunded infrastructure.

“There are a lot of projects that will not get done, will not get completed if we don’t have a bond measure,” Park said. “And I appreciate that. I appreciate the need for a bond. I also know that if we don’t fix the original problems that got us here then we’ll go through this exact same process 10 years down the line, 15 years down the line, 20 years down the line.”

Following a Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury report released last month that criticized the council’s inability to work together, Vice Mayor Anthony Becker said the bond measure provides them with an opportunity to show that “Santa Clara is united for a bigger cause, not our own causes.”

“It comes down to we need to unite together,” he said. “That is the number one thing I keep hearing: unite. With the current two heavyweight candidates for president on a very popular election, this bond measure is going to be on a ballot where a lot of people are going to be voting and that is very important because of that turnout.”

The council is expected to discuss more details about the measure at its next meeting on July 16.