Danville officials present State of the Town

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Development projects around Danville, recent public safety trends and town government priorities were among the focus points during the 2015 State of the Town presentation Thursday afternoon.

“I, like you, get questioned every single day … ‘What is happening in Danville?’ We’ve got projects on the north end of town, projects on the south end of town, and every street and every corner in between,” Mayor Mike Doyle said during his opening remarks for the event at Crow Canyon Country Club.

“It is a mess,” he acknowledged, but later added in his closing that, “When it’s all finished, you’re going to say, ‘oh my gosh, thank you.'”

The State of the Town this year featured a panel discussion with four key Danville officials, instead of a formal address solely from the mayor — as was past practice.

Doyle, a 24-year councilman and five-time mayor, was joined on the dais by Town Manager Joe Calabrigo, police chief Steve Simpkins and community development director Tai Williams for the 30-minute presentation Thursday.

More than 120 business professionals, town representatives and other community members attended the luncheon event, organized by the Danville Area Chamber of Commerce.

“We’re all here because Danville is a fantastic place to be able to live and do business,” Calabrigo said. “We possess many of the hallmarks of what I think folks would agree would be considered a vibrant and successful community.”

Those key characteristics, according to Calabrigo, include Danville’s natural setting, public safety, quality schools and facilities, proximity to jobs, destination downtown, successful partnerships with public and private agencies, local patriots and political stability.

The town government remains in sound fiscal condition, achieving a structurally balanced $28.1 million budget this fiscal year, according to Calabrigo. He also pointed out Danville property values are ahead of pre-recession levels and sales tax receipts are at an all-time high.

Town officials continue to focus on achieving top goals to enhance the community of about 43,200 residents, according to the town manager.

Calabrigo listed the high priorities as maintaining high-level public safety, having a well-maintained community, retaining development standards to preserve the town’s character, providing a broad range of programs and activities for all residents, promoting economic vitality and growth, advocating proactively outside of Danville and celebrating the community.

Public safety and community development became the primary themes during the State of the Town presentation.

Simpkins, in his fifth year as head of the Danville Police Department, opened his comments by updating the room of mainly local business people about new arrests in the investigation into a string of commercial burglaries in town in recent months.

“I’m very happy to report to you that the bandits in that case were caught. They were caught by another agency across the bay from us,” Simpkins said. “I can’t divulge too many of the intimate details because the case is still being investigated and finalized.”

Property crimes were on the rise in Danville last year, but crimes against people were down, the police chief said while describing a few of the key findings from his department’s 2014 annual report.

Danville police saw a slight uptick in property crimes in 2014, ending what had been a three-year downward trend since 2010 when 534 such incidents were recorded. There were 444 property crimes last year, up from 411 in 2013.

One reason for the increase is Danville is a target-rich community, according to Simpkins.

“My friends, there’s stuff in Danville,” he said. “You don’t go to where there isn’t stuff to steal; you go to where there’s stuff to steal, and there’s plenty of it here.”

Crimes against people, on the other hand, have been reduced by nearly 50% in the last four years, according to Simpkins. There were 17 such incidents reported in Danville last year, down from a recent high of 32 in 2010 and 20 each in 2012 and 2013.

Another positive development, he said, was that traffic safety continues to improve in the town, with collisions dropping to a low of 304 in 2014 compared to 337 crashes in 2013, representing a 10% decrease year over year.

Roadway safety is a top priority when it comes to public construction in Danville as well, according to Calabrigo.

He highlighted improvement work downtown on Hartz and Railroad avenues as well as other projects around Danville, including San Ramon Valley Boulevard widening from Fountain Springs Drive to Jewel Terrace, pavement overlay work on Crow Canyon Road and Camino Tassajara and a proposed regional agency’s effort to create toll express lanes on Interstate 680 through Danville.

The town continues to remain committed to regular residential road maintenance, with 70 streets on the list to receive nearly $3 million worth of work, Calabrigo said.

Officials are also working to enhance public parking downtown through efforts such as exploring the feasibility of adding a parking facility to town-owned property on the west side of Rose Street, working with the school district to add on-campus parking at San Ramon Valley High and reconfiguring the Village Theatre lot, he added.

Williams, the community development director, also presented an overview of high-profile private projects downtown, including the Austin Root House redevelopment (at the corner of Railroad and Linda Mesa avenues), the Danville Hotel site renovations and a proposed single-story retail building at Railroad Avenue and Church Street.

Upcoming parks projects include adding four new bocce courts at Sycamore Valley Park, putting in a new play area at Osage Station Park and replacing synthetic turf at Diablo Vista Park.

Calabrigo also touched on recent changes to solid waste collection, the town’s ban on single-use carryout plastic bags to take effect in July 2016 and drought management. He said the town has seen its water consumption decrease by about 20% since 2012.

Following the formal presentation, town officials took part in a nearly 15-minute question-and-answer session with event attendees and master of ceremonies Dan Ashley, anchor of ABC7 News. Topics included accessibility at town facilities, maintaining free public parking downtown, water recycling, affordable housing and public safety.