GRIDLEY, CA (MPG) – Putting the new Zoom broadcasting system to good use, Gridley City Council set down to tackle some relatively standard business during its June 21^st open session portion of the Council Meeting.

With two items on the consent agenda under his scope of expertise, City Engineer Dave Harden discussed the resolution (Item 2) to adopt the City of Gridley Bicycle Plan 2021 followed by a resolution (Item 3) to adopt a list of projects for the fiscal year 2021-22 funded by SB1: the road repair and accountability act of 2017.

Harden previously briefed the Council at the June 7^th meeting that the current bicycle plan, established in 2003 in accordance with the California Bicycle Transportation Act, had not been updated since 2011. In desperate need of an update and with Caltrans seeking to begin work in Gridley, Harden suggested updating the bicycle plan to include wider pedestrian/bike lanes set back from the highway, which is where the majority of Caltrans work will be taking place.

According to Hardens presentation to Council at the June 7^th meeting, Caltrans is looking to proceed with a Capital Preventive Maintenance (CAPM) project through town and shared that he believed that Caltrans is scheduled to spend somewhere around $13 or $14 million through Gridley, making various repairs and upgrades. Harden says, “right now they are looking at putting attached curb, gutter and sidewalk on Hwy 99 to W. Liberty, up to Dollar General.” He shared that the ultimate desire for Gridley, would be wider sidewalks installed on both sides of that stretch of Hwy 99 from W. Liberty into town, and additional curb, sidewalk, etc. installed along the highway north of town.

For safety reasons, Harden explains that wider sidewalks could double as both pedestrian and bike paths and be set back from the highway to prevent any vehicle/pedestrian collisions"'the ideal choice for Gridley due to the speed and volume of traffic. Caltrans provides different models for pedestrian/bike paths, some literally including a dedicated lane within the roadway running alongside vehicle traffic, with little in the way of barriers separating cars from pedestrians.

Returning with the item at the June 21^st meeting, Harden again reviewed the necessary updates to the bike plan, which can be viewed in detail on the City’s website under the 6-21-21 Agenda packet. He also addressed questions from Council regarding SB1 projects.

With the consent agenda passing, it was on to the one item on the agenda for council consideration: “Review of the potential purchase of property to be added to the existing City of Gridley Electric Utility Corporation Yard at 57 E. Gridley Road.” The property in question sits between the Gridley CALFIRE station and the Fairgrounds, and at the City’s request, an appraisal of the property came back at $360,000.

This is just one of two properties the City is looking at purchasing. The other is located at 35 Virginia St. which neighbors the City Public Works yard and would allow for expansion with facilities already on site that could be utilized for storage or other needs.

Planning Commissioner, Donna Decker said, “This evening we’re requesting clarification to be able to move forward with negotiations at the purchase of 57 E. Gridley Road for the purposes of expanding the electric utility department corporation yard, as well as the committee acting for both 57 E. Gridley and 235 Virginia Street.” She reminded council that at the May 17^th City Council Meeting, it was suggested a committee be formed to negotiate a contract of sale for the property located on Virginia Street and again urged that a committee be formed to oversee negotiations for both locations.

Final action of the Council was to install Mayor Bruce Johnson and Vice Mayor Mike Farr as delegates on the committee to oversee negotiations with landowners for the purchases of both properties.

With that, council retired into closed session to discuss the “potential litigation and personal injury claim by Mr. Michael Miller.”