Springs Sidewalks Face a Windy Path to Construction

After years of planning the Highway 12 redevelopment project faces a rocky path to fruition. Construction on Phase II of the project – which would extend sidewalks, streetlights gutters and more up Hwy 12 towards Agua Caliente Road – was slated to begin this Spring, until a state Supreme Court decision dissolved redevelopment agencies, halting the project's funding.

Now the future of the project, which had already been earmarked for $10.5 million in redevelopment funds, is wrapped in a slew of bureaucratic uncertainty. Earlier this week the project fared a preliminary victory, receiving approval from the county's oversight board – the group tasked with doling out to projects approved before the state ended the program.

On Monday the oversight board funneled through approved projects, adding them to the a Recognized Obligation Payment Schedule; the state Department of Finance will give the final OK for each project on the list.

According to the Sonoma Index-Tribune, the county has until April 15 to submit the document to the state, who then can take up to 10 days to review and issue a response.

But the news isn't all positive, at least according to 1st District Supervisor Valerie Brown. Brown, a member of the Oversight Board, told the Index-Tribune that that she's hesitant to celebrate after the county's vote.

Brown said that packaging the project with a project at the Roseland shopping center, just outside Santa Rosa, might become problematic.

“At lease it wasn’t a ‘no’ vote,” Brown told the Index-Tribune.