By Deb Murphy

Bishop Fire Chief Joe Dell delivered the classic good news-bad news scenario at Monday’s Bishop City Council meeting.

Joe Dell headshot

BVFD Chief Joe Dell

There will be no gate fee at the department’s July 4th fireworks display at the Bishop Airport. Instead, members of the Bishop High School girls’ soccer team will be making the rounds for donations to offset the nearly $30,000 cost of the show.

The really bad news: this may be the last fireworks display, at least the last at the site. The Bishop Airport is gearing up to accept commercial air service by late 2020; apparently passenger jets and fireworks are not compatible.

In other news, the city is working through the red tape on grant funding for the Seibu to School path and to take broad look at multi-use zoning.

Public Works Director Dave Grah explained the long-awaited Seibu to School project is still on track, just a later track. Because of the time it took the City to work out purchase details with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, “the available funding changed several times,” he told the Council. Now the City is waiting for a review by the California Transportation Commission.

The original funding included some Federal monies which are no longer available. But, state funding is, Grah said. “This is a blessing in disguise.” Federal funding comes with a whole lot of federal hoops which the City can now avoid. Grah estimated the delay would be about three months.

A $226,000 CalTrans grant is one step closer to funding the development of a mixed-use overlay zone in Bishop. The City Council adopted a formal resolution authorizing the City Administrator to enter into a contract with CalTrans, a requirement of the grant.

The grant requires a $30,000 in matching funds in staff time on the project.
Associate Planner Elaine Kabala explained the City is awaiting approval of a proposal for state SB2 funding that, combined with the CalTrans grant, will broaden the scope of work to include a Specific Plan for the downtown corridor addressing circulation, parking, design standards and other improvements in addition to mixed-use.

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