WATSONVILLE >> In an effort to help complete two of the city’s largest park projects, a proposal will go before the Watsonville City Council Tuesday to spend no more than $13 million in bond funding.

The bonds would include a portion of funding for the reconstruction of Ramsay Park and capital improvements at City Plaza Park.

In 2022, Watsonville voters passed Measure R to fund projects throughout the city. Two projects that have frequently been cited as potential funding beneficiaries have been two of the city’s most well-known parks, both currently being eyed for redesign and one currently under construction.

Marissa Duran, administrative services director, wrote in a staff report that Watsonville has 143 acres of park space, equating to 2.5 acres of parkland per 1,000 residents. This is below the national average of 10 acres per 1,000 residents and has resulted in disproportionate access to parks, especially for people of color.

“Communities with fewer park spaces are hotter in summer, have worse air quality, and are more susceptible to catastrophic flooding,” she wrote. “People without parks close to home get less exercise, and a lack of access is associated with higher rates of heart disease, stroke, and obesity. Because access to parks is tied to overall community health, it is critical that the limited park space available to our community consists of quality, safe and well-maintained outdoor space.”

Ramsay and City Plaza parks have been identified as Watsonville’s “most significant and highly used park assets,” Duran wrote. Ramsay Park sits at 26 acres along Main Street and is the city’s biggest park. Apart from a new skate park and bicycle pump track, it has not been fully renovated since 1991.

However, a groundbreaking ceremony was held in May 2024 to kick off the Ramsay Park Renaissance Project, which will include a new multiuse field to accommodate soccer and softball, a renovation of Sotomayor Field with hillside spectator seating, a dog park for both large and small pooches, a new Nature Center with a picnic area, accessible trail and concrete amphitheater, and an inclusive playground.

City Plaza Park, also on Main Street in the heart of downtown Watsonville, has been a community hub for more than a century and is on the National Register of Historic Places. However, many of its amenities are aging, including the gazebo, which has been closed for public access since sustaining damage in the 1989 earthquake.

“The historic gazebo/bandstand, although iconic in local imagery, has not been usable since the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake and is too small to serve as a modern performance venue,” Duran wrote.

Watsonville received $3.35 million in Proposition 68 funding for the revitalization of City Plaza in 2021, and designs have been submitted but staff is waiting on permits before going out to bid, Duran wrote.

Both projects will be funded through Measure R, state grants, the American Rescue Plan Act, the city’s General Fund and a portion of proceeds from the Watsonville Public Financing Authority’s lease revenue bonds for 2025.

To finish the projects, staff are calling upon the council — acting as the Public Financing Authority Board of Directors — to generate proceeds through issuing the 2025 bond series, which would be made available through lease payments from legally accessible funds that would consist primarily of monies from the General Fund. It would not result in a tax increase for residents, Duran emphasized.

As part of the process, the Public Financing Authority would issue the 2025 bonds and enter into a ground lease at the same time.

Under a ground lease, the city would sublet city-owned property to the authority in consideration of an upfront payment. The authority would then lease the borrowed assets back to the city in consideration for semiannual lease payments, which in turn would be used to pay debt service on the 2025 bonds, Duran wrote.

City staff and the financing team met with S&P Global Ratings Thursday and are expected to receive a rating by Friday, Duran wrote.

Should the council approve the bond issuance, the financing team will issue the preliminary official statement to potential bond purchasers around June 3, at which point the bonds would be sold the week of June 9 and distributed to the city the week of June 23.

In other business, the council will consider funding recommendations for Social and Community Service Grants and the Police Department’s annual Military Equipment Report. The council will also receive its final update on the 2023-25 Strategic Plan.

The council will meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday on the top floor of the Watsonville City Council Chambers, 275 Main St.

This will be preceded by a tour of the construction at Ramsay Park by council members at 4 and a closed session at 5:30.