The bulk of San Antonio’s proposed 2017 municipal bond program, if approved by voters, would pay for improvements to streets, sidewalks and bridges, the City Council learned Wednesday.

And while Transportation and Capital Improvements Director Mike Frisbie and City Manager Sheryl Sculley said they’re too early in the process to delve into specifics, they did highlight some key catalyst projects, including $15 million for a land bridge to connect the two sections of Hardberger Park, $37 million for World Heritage site improvements, $22 million for Alamo Plaza, $26 million for Hemisfair and $19 million for Brackenridge Park.

The list also includes $43 million for the Broadway corridor, $24 million for a drainage channel at the San Antonio Port Authority, $36 million for San Pedro Creek and area streets, and $23 million for streets at Brooks City Base.

See a PowerPoint presentation on the bond

Voters will go to the polls in May 2017 to vote on a five-proposition bond proposal totaling $850 million — the largest in city history. It would not require an increase to property taxes, Sculley told the council.

“Today is an initial conversation,” Sculley said. “We’re not going to make our staff recommendations yet on what projects to fund.”

Before officials begin publicly vetting potential projects, the council must appoint community members to five bond-oversight committees, which will help craft the list of projects put before voters next year.

The projects will fall into the following five categories, each of which will be voted on independently.

The catagories are:

Streets, bridges and sidewalks: $460 million;

Drainage and flood control: $145 million;

Parks and recreation, $115 million;

Facilities, $100 million;

Neighborhood improvements, $30 million.

Council members Mike Gallagher and Joe Krier both voiced concerns about what’s initially been proposed. Gallagher said he’s “antsy” about the $30 million neighborhood improvements category, which has already faced problems that have forced work-arounds.

The San Antonio Housing Commission to Protect & Preserve Dynamic & Diverse Neighborhoods voted last week to recommend that the council consider a housing bond between $10 and $25 million, which would be administered through the city's urban renewal agency, OUR SA. The commission also recommended the city commit to fund affordable housing projects that would not displace or relocate families.

OUR SA can sell land to a developer at fair market value for either single or multi-family housing but it must be in a slum or blighted area. Funds could also be used to rehabilitate existing housing units if the property is then put up for rent, and funds could also be used for relocation assistance.

The commission’s vote was a difficult one because many members had hoped to fund additional strategies, such as gap financing for affordable housing construction and emergency repairs for deteriorating single-family homes. But the city charter currently doesn’t allow bond dollars to be spent on those kinds of housing projects. Under state law, a vote to revise the charter can’t take place until November 2017.

The commission was created in 2014, in response to the relocation of hundreds of people from a South Side mobile home park, after the City Council voted to rezone the property to make way for a new development.

Krier also voiced concerns about the structure but for different reasons. He said he wants to put forth to voters a package that all 11 members of the council can support — and sell to their individual constituents. Krier worried aloud about more than $180 million earmarked for downtown-area projects, noting he would get an earful from voters in his North Side district.

Meanwhile, he supported the $15 million that would help fund a land bridge connecting the two swaths of Hardberger Park because of some $10 million pledged from the private sector. Such partnerships, he said, make it easier to sell projects to voters and encouraged the city to lean on various interest groups to pony up for other big-ticket items.