New Library, Balboa Park Improvements Included : $152 Million in City Bond Proposals Unveiled

San Diego City Manager John Lockwood on Wednesday unveiled $152 million worth of bond proposals to pay for major improvements to Balboa Park and Mission Bay, and for a new library and a municipal communications center.

If the City Council approves the proposals, San Diego voters would then be asked to approve the bonds in elections in 1987 and 1988.

Lockwood released the multimillion-dollar proposal, his first major project as city manager, at a meeting of the City Council’s Public Facilities and Recreation Committee.

The committee voted to place the measures that would finance the improvements to Balboa Park and Mission Bay on the November, 1987, ballot. The other measures would be included in either the June or November ballots in 1988. Each of the four measures would have to be considered separately by voters. The plan still must be approved by the entire council.

According to Lockwood’s estimates, the new library would be the most expensive of the four projects, with an estimated cost of $65 million. Voters would be asked to approve funds for the library even though city officials have not decided on a site. The other projects’ estimated costs are:

- Balboa Park improvements, $36 million.

- Mission Bay improvements, $34 million.

- Police communications center, $17 million.

The measures would have to be approved by two-thirds of local voters. A report released by Lockwood’s office estimated that if all four measures are approved, property taxes would be increased by about $35 per $100,000 of assessed value beginning in 1988.

Acting in the wake of the defeat of Proposition A on Nov. 4, council members asked Lockwood whether it was realistic to expect voters to approve a property tax increase after county voters rejected a half-cent-a-dollar sales tax increase to build new jails. Proposition A, which would have financed new jails and courtrooms, was approved by only 50% of the voters rather than the necessary two-thirds.

“I think there’s general public support for these projects,” said Lockwood, who believes that voters are more willing to accept a property tax increase than a sales tax increase.

In order to make the property tax increase more palatable, the committee voted to put the Balboa Park and Mission Bay measures on the November, 1987, ballot and put the other two before the voters in 1988.

“If we load up the ballot with four bond proposals, they’re all going to fail,” Councilman Mike Gotch said.

However, the measures scheduled for the 1988 ballot may have to compete with a countywide bond measure proposed by Supervisor Susan Golding. Golding offered the proposal to fund construction of new jails and courthouses after voters rejected the sales tax increase.

Los Angeles County voters approved a similar $96-million measure at the same time that San Diego County voters were rejecting Proposition A.

Since Balboa Park and Mission Bay Park are in effect regional parks, some council members asked Lockwood if surrounding cities could be persuaded to put the measures on their ballots to help with the parks’ improvements.

Lockwood advised against increasing the voter pool because it would be more difficult to get the two-thirds approval.