By Jason Islas
Lookout Staff

January 25, 2012 -- Santa Monica will be moving forward with some of its biggest priority projects after the City Council Tuesday addressed in the list of what are essentially house-keeping issues.

The projects include the Palisades Garden Walk, the Town Square, Civic Center upgrades, the Expo Light Rail and the adjoining bike path. The projects will be funded, at least in part, with Redevelopment Agency (RDA) money contractually committed before the California Supreme Court upheld the dissolution of RDAs on December 30.

Among the items, the Council authorized the City to pay its required 3 percent of the construction costs for the coming Expo Line. The estimated local contributions for Phase II of the Expo Line construction, which will run from Culver City, through Los Angeles, to Fifth Street and Colorado Avenue in Santa Monica, is $45,334,740.

Of that amount, Santa Monica is expected to contribute $16.5 million.

The item also authorized the City to pay as much as $8,850,000 million for “station betterments,” which include track realignment at the Colorado and Fifth Street terminal, as well as better pedestrian crossing facilities at Bergamot station.

Along those lines, the City transferred construction of the bike path that will run along the new Expo Line to Metro. Federal funding, in the amount of over $2 million has been secured, according to the staff report. Santa Monica is expected to contribute $672,000.

Other projects funded in part with RDA funds, including the Palisades Garden Walk (and Town Square) and the remodel of the Civic Auditorium, will also move ahead. Approximately $25 million of RDA money was committed to each of these projects.

The Council also gave the green light to relocate one of its water wells at Winward School, which plans to modify its athletic field on land it leases from the Charnock Well Field in West LA. The school is expected to pay the cost of relocating the well, according to City officials.

In a separate consent item, the council transferred sponsorship of the Expo Bike Path project to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro). The City, which will match a local obligation $672,000, will remain in an advisory capacity.

Improvements to the pool at the Santa Monica Swim Center will also continue, as well as public restrooms at the beach.

Santa Monica's new signal priority system enhancements got a boost when the Council authorized the City Manager to negotiate an agreement with Trapeze, Inc.