Economic Revitalization

THE LATEST ON OUR DOWNTOWN
REVITALIZATION/REDEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS

Fulfilling the Vision - A Revitalization Update 9-27-06

For the first 20 years of our 26 years as an incorporated city nothing was done by the Town or Downtown business community to revitalize the Downtown and the neglect showed. Many of us can recall the not too distant past of an economically dying and physically deteriorating Downtown that appeared to most observers at the time as irreversible.

However, working together, we've accomplished a great deal and come a long way in a relatively brief period of time. This included not only the development and approval of a publicly driven Downtown Master Plan in 2000, but the establishment of a redevelopment agency in 2002, the successful approval of redevelopment by Paradise voters in 2002, the formulation and approval of a Redevelopment Plan in 2003, and the receipt of our first redevelopment tax increment revenues in 2004. Based on a private/public partnership that has taken a building-by-building, project-by-project, program-by-program approach we are living witnesses to the promise and potential of the Downtown finally beginning to be realized, as well as the greater Redevelopment Project Area being transformed for the better.

The objective facts and evidence clearly shows that for a relatively young, active redevelopment agency (only 2 years & 3 months old) with very limited funding available at this early stage in it's 45-year life we are already demonstrating impressive results.

These include a significant net gain in the number of new businesses locating in the overall RDA Project Area, assessed valuation growth in the RDA Project Area that consistently outpaces the assessed valuation growth in the rest of our community, the RDA Project Area for the first time in the history of the Town exceeding the Clark commercial corridor in percentage of total retail sales, the Downtown experiencing solid retail sales growth and now accounting for a bigger piece of total retail sales in Town, and a minimum of $ 3 dollars of private investment/re-investment monies being spent for every $1 of redevelopment money being expended on building commercial facade renovations, business expansions and relocations.

However, by no means, are we resting on our laurels. We are actually increasing the intensity, scope and size of our projects and programs to directly benefit the Downtown, and the greater RDA Project Area. Limited RDA funds are being leveraged with federal and state grants to make some of our more ambitious capital infrastructure projects possible at this early stage of redevelopment and revitalization. These RDA funds and other funding sources are being allocated, not diverted, as they become available to specific programmed projects and programs.

Much of what we do and when depends on the dictates of the matching federal and state grants (and their deadlines) that we are using to stretch our limited redevelopment funds. The streetscape & infrastructure improvement project planned for Pearson Road (from Black Olive Drive to Skyway& including the Skyway/Pearson intersection) is a good example. We applied for and received approval for a $400,000 federal TEA grant to fund the south side improvements and will match that with another $600,000 in leveraged RDA funds (from a bond issue) in order to do the complete project. The federal funds have to be spent by the end of 2007. Without the combination of these federal funds and publicly financed RDA funds this important Downtown capital street and infrastructure project would not be possible.

Some of the projects currently in the pipeline include:

• Paradise Community Park now under construction represents the single, largest capital improvement project in the history of the Town and the first major redevelopment capital project for Downtown revitalization. When completed it will represent, to date, the single Downtown anchor that attracts the greatest number of people to our Downtown. It will become a highly used activity and community event center for the community, as well as a central gathering place for families and individual park patrons. The park's residual effect on the economic revitalization of surrounding Downtown properties and businesses will be profound.

• Skyway Foster/Streetscape & Infrastructure Project that wraps around Fir and Birch will directly benefit a number of Downtown businesses which participated in our commercial facade renovation, business expansion and relocation programs. It was actually not a project slated to be done this early in the redevelopment process, but was moved up based on a recommendation of the RDA staff, approved by RDA Citizens Advisory Committee, and ultimately approved by the RDA Board of Directors. It was felt that this project would directly benefit a number of Downtown businesses in that vicinity, as well as provide the community with a striking, visual example of the type of streetscape design and infrastructure improvements being planned for the rest of our Downtown.

This project, which is in final engineering and scheduled for construction in early Spring, 2007, includes new pedestrian sidewalks, street lighting, drainage improvements, trees, and stub-outs for the new clustered wastewater treatment systems. The project will be funded entirely by RDA funds and is estimated to cost $ 350,000.

• Skyway/Wagstaff Signalization & Intersection Improvements scheduled for construction in Summer, 2007 will be primarily funded through federal funds. The project includes the signalization of a major, high volume intersection in our Redevelopment Project Area. Redevelopment, as part of its promise to PID to fund water line improvements in the RDA Project Area, will fund major water line improvements that are required as part of this project. This traffic circulation safety project is another example where RDA funds will be used to relieve the Town's limited capital project monies so that they can be allocated and spent for much needed capital infrastructure projects elsewhere in our community.

• Both the Town and Paradise Redevelopment Agency are making real progress at improving the public parking situation in the Downtown. With a state grant a new public parking facility with 13 additional parking spaces was constructed last year in the Downtown to serve current and future customers for businesses in that area, and to handle overflow parking from Paradise Community Park, as well as users of the Memorial Trailway. The park itself will add substantially more parking spaces in the Downtown on Black Olive Drive. Another parcel on Pearson between Black Olive Drive and Almond Street was purchased by the RDA to provide 10 additional spaces of niche public parking. It will be completed as part of the Pearson Road Streetscape and Infrastructure improvements scheduled for Summer, 2007.

In addition, the Paradise Redevelopment Agency is presently in negotiations to purchase a central location for a public parking facility that will serve a number of Downtown businesses on Skyway. Finally, the Agency is also negotiating to lease 25 additional public parking spaces from private commercial property owners along the Skyway as a cost effective way of achieving additional public parking without having to build actual parking facilities.

• The clustered septic wastewater treatment systems project for the Downtown completed its second stage this last fiscal year with the completion of the evaluation and analysis of potential sites for both the wastewater treatment plant(s) and for disposal fields. A possible preferred site has been identified and meetings are underway with the owner to secure a first option on the property and to test the disposal capacity of the site. A combination of federal and state grants and redevelopment funds will be funding this project.

Finally, we are working on the planning for additional street and streetscape-oriented capital infrastructure projects for the Downtown slated over the next five years (as more redevelopment monies become available) with a major emphasis on Skyway, getting ready to put out to bid the Jefford's Electric facade renovation, partnering with private parties on the possible development of additional retail businesses and a retail center in the Downtown, and exploring the possibility of a mixed-use commercial/residential development that would bring more residents into our Downtown - which is also an essential factor in the successful revitalization of a downtown.

The sheer scope of what we are planning and working on as we carry out the adopted 2003 Redevelopment Plan to benefit our Downtown and greater RDA Project Area will further solidify and enhance the impressive results that are already being realized. Working together we are fulfilling the vision of a real downtown for Paradise that is both economically and physically revitalized as the commercial and social hub of our community.

TRAIN DEPOT RESTORATION UNDERWAY

September 6, 2006

A very important part of our new Paradise Community Park project is the restoration of the old Train Depot, which the Town of Paradise and the Gold Nugget Museum views as paying proper homage to the vital role that the railroad played in the history of the Paradise and the Upper Ridge. The depot project was originally approved as part of the preliminary and final master plan design for the park.

In fact, the exterior of a caboose is being simultaneously restored by the Paradise Rotary Club and will be relocated adjacent to the new Depot and platform.

The Gold Nugget Museum plans to operate the restored Depot as a railroad museum. The Museum has raised over $ 40,000 to help fund their interior improvements and displays in the Depot. The estimated cost of the Depot restoration is $ 250,000 ($ 233,000 for the actual bid, plus estimated costs of extending septic, electrical, plumbing and water). The funding sources for the project are comprised of $ 114,000 from a State grant and $136,000 in redevelopment funds. The state grant identified the use of redevelopment funds as a matching funding source for the project.

The benign neglect and exposure to the weather elements that the Depot has experienced over its many years resulted in our need to design and plan for a more extensive restoration.

Consequently, the current restoration taking place includes the following improvements which were included in the original designs and plans.

• New foundation
• New exterior siding
• New roof
• New platform
• Insulation
• Interior improvements (by the Museum)
• Electrical & plumbing to the structure
• Interior restroom (for the Museum docents)
• HVAC system

It is anticipated that when the Depot restoration is completed that there will be a total of $ 44,000 in change orders, which will come out of the 15% contingency that has been factored into the total cost of the Paradise Community Park project.

The majority of the change orders ($ 33,000) are attributable to an extensive dry rot problem that was discovered after the foundation was raised and construction began.  An alteration to the finished floor elevation and required additional grading around the Depot account for the balance of the remaining change orders.

PARADISE COMMUNITY PARK NOW UNDER CONSTRUCTION

September 5, 2006

During Paradise Community Park’s groundbreaking ceremony held on June 9, 2006, and attended by a large cross-section of the Paradise community, Mayor Sam Dresser and members of the Town Council characterized this primarily redevelopment funded Downtown park project as the single, largest capital improvement project in the Town’s history, and the first major revitalization project for our Downtown.

As the Council members commented during the ceremony, “To get to this historic point of celebration today has involved a massive planning effort involving several years of securing grants for various aspects of this project, purchasing the properties necessary for the park, creating with citizen input a master design for the park, establishing a redevelopment agency that would serve as the primary funding source for the construction, the completion of grant-funded improvements to the Memorial Trailway, the establishment of a grant-funded overflow public parking facility, and the development of final construction plans and documents. A huge undertaking that is finally paying off for our community today.”

This $ 2.5 million project (which has a 15% built-in contingency), will establish an important anchor that serves as a magnet to attract people, families and events to our Downtown.

Paradise Community Park has been under construction since the groundbreaking ceremony. REM Construction, a Paradise construction company, is the project’s contractor. Stantec, Inc., is the park design firm from Sacramento that worked from the outset with the former Downtown Revitalization and Redevelopment Steering Committees to develop the preliminary and master final design, as well as to work with the Museum and staff on the final plans and specifications for the project.

Funding sources for the Paradise Community Park project includes state grants monies to purchase the property and for the design of the park, state grant monies for part of the Depot Restoration, and redevelopment funds. None of the funding for the park project comes from general fund monies.

For more information concerning this exciting project for our community you may contact either Town Manager Chuck Rough or Asst. Town Manager Dennis Ivey at 530/872-6291.

March 27, 2006

Paradise Redevelopment Agency
State of California - Department of Public Works

ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS

The Paradise Redevelopment Agency invites separate sealed bids for a public works project relating to construction of the Paradise Community Park Project.  This project will involve the placement of curbs, gutters, asphalt, restroom/concession, storage building, sidewalks, storm drain, drop inlets, lighting and electrical bollard, signage, site furnishing, planting, irrigation, and the Depot Building Renovation/Restoration.  Click here for more information.

December 20, 2005

Our Town’ primary business development program is the physical and economic revitalization of our Downtown and the greater Redevelopment Project Area. Redevelopment was established in 2003 as the primary tool (along with federal and state grants) to accomplish this ambitious revitalization effort.

With Redevelopment just in its second year, out Town’s revitalization program is already showing impressive results.

*         Property Tax increment earnings for the first two years of redevelopment have exceeded original projections by 4 – 6 times.

*         FY 2004/05 – the second year of redevelopment produced an 8% increase in the assessed valuation in the Redevelopment Project Area while the rest of the community realized a 6% increase.

*         The number of retail businesses in the Redevelopment Project Area grew from 329 to 351 last year.

*         For the first time in twenty-five years, the greater redevelopment project area surpassed Clark Road commercial corridor in retail sales.

*         Average retail sales growth by retail businesses that have participated in the Town or RDA’s commercial building façade renovation program is 22.6%.

*         The Town and RDA have provided over $ 90,000 in commercial façade renovation grants and loans since the Program’s inception, and has leveraged over 1.5 million in private investment spending.

*         The RDA has provided $ 65,000 in grants and loans over the last year for new business start-ups, business expansions and relocations, and leveraged over $ 1.65 million in private investment spending.

MAKING PROGRESS-
A REVITALIZATION / REDEVELOPMENT PROGRAM UPDATE
8/1/05

Memorial Trailway / Downtown Parking Improvements Completed

Skyway/Foster Frontage Streetscape Improvements This Summer

Revitalization Update
Read about what has been completed so far.