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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMin - TSP - 2016.10.131 TRAFFIC, SAFETY AND PARKING COMMISSION Approved Minutes Regular Meeting of Thursday, October 13, 2016 1. CALL TO ORDER 7:06 p.m. 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG 3. ROLL CALL MEMBER PRESENT: Akers (late), Bush, Londer, Martos, Wettan MEMBERS ABSENT: None Following roll call, Chair Londer expressed his gratitude by acknowledging Vice-Chair Akers for chairing the previous TSPC meeting in his absence. 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Motion: To accept the minutes of September 8, 2016 with the following edits: • Page 2, item 6a, bullet 3 – correct reference from 60 pedestrians to 60 vehicles; • Page 2, item 6a, bullet 4 – preference to relocate number of students/parents; • Page 2, item 6a, paragraph 5 – delete reference to Commissioner Bush and replace with Vice-Chair Akers; • Page 6, item 7b, paragraph 4 – Preference to add text indicating Sergeant Shepley will return as Sergeant Ford’s replacement; and • Page 6, item 7d, paragraph 2 – Add text indicating the area also included Rollins Road. M/S/C: Wettan/Martos; 4/0/1 (Vice-Chair Akers not yet present) 5. PUBLIC COMMENTS – NON-AGENDA Leah Leavy of 761 Willborough Road spoke of her concerns pertaining to Willborough Road and Neuchatel Avenue. She indicated the street angles near 711 Neuchatel Avenue and 2 with vehicles parked along the street, it makes it impossible to see oncoming cars. Ms. Leavy requested to have areas of the curb painted red to help increase visibility and safety as she has experienced a collision at that location. In addition, Ms. Leavy asked the Commission to consider reducing the current speed limit of 25 MPH and installing speed bumps. Ms. Leavy said with cars parked on both sides of the road, there is not adequate space for two cars to pass simultaneously and that high school students tend to use that route as a short cut. Lastly, Ms. Leavy requested that the Burlingame Police Department increase enforcement of the speed limit on Oak Grove Avenue. 6. DISCUSSION/ACTION ITEMS Chair Londer asked and received consensus from the Commission to move item 6.b forward on the agenda as the first item of discussion. Subsequent discussion items resumed in the order shown on the meeting agenda. a) School Speed Limits Mr. Wong began by sharing the feedback the City gathered from the Burlingame School District (BSD) regarding the proposed speed reduction on Quesada Way where the Burlingame Intermediate School (BIS) is located. He said that the BSD was very supportive of the pilot program and agreed that BIS would be the ideal location to start with. The BSD also supported starting with a single location in order to have an opportunity to gather feedback from parents and residents and determine whether or not to continue the program at other locations. No public comment. Vice-Chair Akers moved to adopt the Sub-Committee’s recommendation in the staff report but there was no second motion as Commissioners Martos and Wettan had items to address. Commissioner Martos sought clarification regarding the time frame for the speed limit reduction to which Sergeant Ford confirmed the speed reduction is to be followed anytime there are children present (not just students) and therefore includes weekends. As a measurement of success, Commissioner Martos suggested measuring the speed of drivers after implementation and survey those impacted to find out if people perceive it to be an improvement. Commissioner Wettan noted that Quesada Way serves as a shortcut to Trousdale Drive for people traveling from the Easton Addition area. He thought the pilot program location might help deter people from using Quesada Way as a pass through. 3 Chair Londer confirmed that the Commissioners did not have any additional questions or feedback and moved to second Vice-Chair Akers motion from the staff report, which is included below: Motion: The Traffic Safety & Parking Commission recommend that the Burlingame City Council implement a 15 MPH school speed limit pilot program consisting of a 15 MPH speed limit (when children are present) on Quesada Way in the vicinity of Burlingame Intermediate School (BIS). M/S/C: Akers/Londer; 5/0/0 b) Consideration of Adding Carolan Avenue to the Residential Parking Permit Program Chief Wollman presented the staff report and requested the TSP Commission to review the existing parking conditions on Carolan Avenue between North Lane and Oak Grove Avenue and weigh in on staff’s recommendation to add that area to the City’s Residential Parking Permit Program. The Chief summarized the current parking conditions to which Carolan Avenue, between North Lane and Oak Grove Avenue, presently have a two hour parking restriction on the west side of the street and no restrictions on the east side that fronts Burlingame High School. In an effort to be consistent with the signage and enforcement of the two hour parking restriction, Chief Wollman said high school students are now being cited due to their inability to move their cars during school hours. Chair Londer opened public comment and a member of the audience who did not identify herself inquired as to why both the east and west side of the street cannot be included in the parking permit program for the high school students with no time restrictions. Chief Wollman responded by indicating it could be a possibility, although it is not an equitable solution between the students and other citizens that frequent the area. Dan Porter of 1441 Drake Avenue supported what he also felt would be the equitable solution of keeping one side of the street designated for the permit program parking, specifically for the high school students, and maintaining the two hour parking restriction on the other side. Each Commissioner provided feedback and posed questions which are summarized in the list below. • The ordinance currently covers residential parking. Does the language in the ordinance need to be revised to include students and to avoid homeowners paying for possibly two separate parking permits? • How will we prevent misuse of the permit? o Follow the same guidelines as the RPPP for consequences of misuse. • How should the permits be allocated? o One suggestion was to give preference to students that cannot walk or 4 bike to school. o 100 permits do not seem adequate for the number of student drivers. • Consider charging on a per use basis versus a flat rate annual permit. o Concern rose about charging students to park. • Is the City the right entity to administer this program; take the burden off the City? o Charge the School District for the permits and let them decide how they want to manage the program and whether or not to charge the students. • How do we ensure students do not park in the surrounding residential area when there are no more parking permits available and what will be the consequence? • Thinking long term, the Parks and Recreation redesign may provide additional parking options. • Consider changing the parking restriction hours or the timeframe it is enforced. o How will this impact student-athletes that are on campus late for practice and or games? • What happens if just we remove the two hour parking restriction? o Concern rose about Caltrain riders impacting the availability of student parking. • Consider making both sides of the street two hour parking except for those vehicles that have a valid student parking permit. Chief Wollman closed by thanking the Commission for their input and said he would work on ironing out the issues identified and bring a revised recommendation back to TSPC prior to making an official recommendation to City Council. The Chief reiterated his goal to be transparent with the community and be fair and equitable to everyone impacted. 7. INFORMATION ITEMS a) Engineering Division Reports • US101/Broadway Interchange Project – Construction stage 4 of 5 has begun. The construction of the final eastbound overpass section will be completed in late October or early November. The work includes construction of retaining walls and roadway for the new southbound US 101 on-ramp. City staff is also working with Caltrans regarding bike access. Estimated completion of this project is the summer or fall of 2017. • California Drive Roundabout – Determining a late-October date for the next public meeting to discuss aesthetic treatments. Project plans are at 65% horizontal geometric design configuration. Staff is reviewing the basic horizontal roadway geometry to identify and discard any potential flaws in basic assumptions at the 65% milestone. Elevation and vertical alignments are currently being calculated, with final analysis being based on confirmed horizontal layout. General aesthetic and 5 landscape concepts are also being gathered to be used as a starting point for the discussion at the third public outreach meeting that is scheduled for October 27, 2016. • Carolan Complete Streets – The City Council was presented a project update on September 19, 2016. City staff and the design team are now completing project plans and specifications for submittal to Caltrans in late-October for review and authorization to advertise for construction. • TSPC Email Communications – No new communications. • California Drive Bike Facility – The second public meeting will be held on November 3, 2016 in the Lane Room at the Main Library. Again, any of the options presented will have taken into consideration input received from residents at the July meeting. • Peninsula Overcrossing Update – On November 11, the San Mateo City Council will receive an update from staff regarding the project. (Mr. Wong will look into the date of this meeting as November 11 is Veteran’s Day and Burlingame City Hall is closed.) This update will include the current project status, and next steps. This meeting will be a study session item for their Council. In December, San Mateo’s Public Works staff will make the same presentation to the Burlingame City Council. Additionally, San Mateo is about to start construction on their Poplar Avenue Improvements. Transportation impacts from this project should increase traffic on Humboldt Street as vehicles will be detoured to Poplar/Humboldt. • Hoover School Update – BPD to begin enforcement of access restrictions along both Summit and Easton. In addition to rotating the changeable message sign out onto Easton Drive, staff has contacted the school’s principal to provide additional reminders to the parents about the access restrictions. Per last meeting’s discussion, maintenance for portions of the walkway along Easton Drive have been completed. • OBAG II Grant Applications – Staff will be completing four City/County Association of Governments of San Mateo County (C/CAG) grant applications associated with the One Bay Area Grant II Cycle. One grant will be for the Local Streets and Roads (LSR), two for the Bicycle Pedestrian Improvement Program (BPIP), and finally one application for the Transportation for Livable Communities (TLC) Program. The C/CAG Board has already approved over $500,000 to the City for the LSR program, and the City will be eligible for up to $1.5 million for the remaining TLC and BPIP grants. Based on meetings with C/CAG and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) staff, our community needs, and availability of funds, applications will be submitted for sidewalks along Easton Drive (BPIP), sidewalks along Summit Drive (BPIP), and pedestrian scale street lighting along Broadway (TLC). All applications will be due on November 18, 2016. Staff will be informing the community members associated with the BPAC of the OBAG II applications in hopes 6 of obtaining letters of support from them. Staff has already been in contact with BSD regarding the applications. • TSPC Priority List (Updated October 2016): TSPC Led Effort 1 Downtown Modal Access 2 B/PAC Setup 6/9/16: Item 6a 3 School Speed Limit Notices/Review 9/8/16: Item 6b 4 School Traffic Issues 3/10/16: Item 6a 5 California Drive Commuter Bike Route 2/11/16: Item 6b 6 California Drive Parking Restrictions 7/14/16: Item 7a 7 Broadway Parking 7/14/16: Item 6a 8 Public Shuttles/Transit 9 Downtown Speed Limit Review 10 Review TSPC Mandate 11 Joint Agreements with Caltrans Countywide 12 ECR Corridor Infrastructure 4/14/16 & 5/12/16 13 Bay Trail 14 Fee Schedules 15 Joint Commission Meeting (City Council) Staff Update via Report 1 Caltrans’ ECR/Floribunda Completed 2 Hoover School Update 9/8/16: Item 6a 3 Downtown Parking Strategies 7/14/16: Item 6b 4 City Hall Traffic Calming/Floribunda 9/8/16: Item 7a 5 California Roundabout 9/8/16: Item 7a 6 General Plan – Circulation Element 10/13/16: Item 8d 7 Bike\Ped Plan Update: Fwd to BPAC 8 Taxi Regulation: Update by BPD Completed 9 Carolan Complete Streets Update 9/8/16: Item 7a 10 Grant Opportunities 10/13/16: Item 7a 11 Grade Separation 4/14/16: Item 6b 12 Traffic Brochure Completed 13 San Mateo's Peninsula Ave OC 10/13/16: Item 7a Chair Londer opened public comment at Manito Velasco’s request to comment on items associated with the Engineer’s Report. Mr. Velasco suggested including all the current paving projects in the Engineer’s Report as he felt paving projects are an opportunity to make bicycle and pedestrian improvements quicker, cheaper, and easier. In regards to the Broadway overpass detours, Mr. Velasco felt the configuration is challenging to navigate and may take a while for people to adjust. He suggested 7 Caltrans add something to the project website, such as a dashboard camera to demonstrate how to navigate the current detours. Mr. Velasco also noted the pedestrian bridge is not wide enough for pedestrians, bicyclists, and people in wheelchairs to share. He also felt the lighting on the pedestrian bridge is so poor that it makes the conditions dangerous. Mr. Velasco conveyed his disappointed in the two lane design of the California Drive Roundabout Project. He stated this is very problematic as two cars will still be required to yield to pedestrians and bicycles, which is essentially the same safety concern with the current configuration. In addition, Mr. Velasco mentioned the SamTrans accordion buses (lines 46 and 292) travel on California Drive and said it becomes dangerous for vehicles and bicycles to travel next to or navigate around such a large vehicle. Mr. Velasco requested a copy of the Carolan Complete Streets striping plan and said that Summerhill is still unaware of the planned left-turn restrictions at that location. Lastly, Mr. Velasco welcomed the opportunity to bike with the consultant(s) along the path they’re designing as part of the California Drive Bicycle Facility Project, and help point out some of the areas of concern. Commissioner Bush inquired about the specific streets identified in the OBAG grant applications to which Mr. Wong indicated the applications included Broadway, El Camino Real between California Drive and Trousdale Drive, and sections of Peninsula Avenue. He explained that it is a federal grant and therefore funding can only be applied to roads on the federal classification map. Commissioner Wettan inquired about including lighting improvements for safety purposes in the OBAG grant applications on California Drive and Dufferin Avenue near the Burlingame Police Department and on the east side of El Camino Real near the cut through at highway road by the bridge. Mr. Wong confirmed staff would look into his request. b) Police Department Reports Since the last TSPC meeting, Sergeant Ford indicated there have been 33 vehicular accidents. Of the 33 accidents, 15 were with injuries that were minor in nature; there were no fatalities. One accident occurred at the intersection of El Camino Real and Floribunda but Sergeant Ford indicated details for that particular accident were not yet available. The primary collision factor was unsafe turning movements. Sergeant Ford shared that the PD participated in the Pet Parade and Bike to School Day, and have plans to participate in the upcoming Fall Festival, Teen Driver Safety Week, and Holiday Parade. The new OTS grant cycle began on October 1, 2016 and Sergeant Ford indicated they 8 received $70,000 for two DUI checkpoints. Lastly, Sergeant Ford updated the Commission about parking enforcement staffing. They have recently hired a new part-time parking enforcement officer, giving them a total of two part-time parking enforcement officers, in addition to four full-time parking enforcement officers and two meter technicians. c) Farmer’s Market Chair Londer indicated there was no Farmer’s Market last month and there were no plans for the Commission to participate in the upcoming Farmer’s Market due to the forecasted storm. Chair Londer said the next Farmer’s Market is scheduled for November 20, 2016 but the Commission agreed to discuss participation efforts at the November TSPC meeting. d) TSPC Chair/Commissioner’s Communications Commissioner Wettan provided a heads up to BPD regarding vehicles being parked on California Drive during the 5 – 7 p.m. parking restriction. Commissioner Wettan asked about an update regarding the El Camino Real (ECR) Task Force for which he volunteered to serve on months prior. He also asked about the work currently being done on El Camino Real. Mr. Wong explained the work is part of the El Camino Real Water Main Improvements Project and also indicated he would look into his inquiry pertaining to the ECR Task Force. Vice-Chair Akers completed a walk-through of the Hoover School vicinity and he received a considerable amount of praise from residents about the City and School District improvement efforts. Vice-Chair Akers also received feedback indicating the red- zoned parking restrictions may be better handled through a more limited time period and suggested we revisit the parking restrictions at some point. 8. COMMISSION & COMMITTEE REPORTS a) Downtown Parking (Martos & Wettan) Commissioner Wettan shared good news regarding the plan to measure parking vacancies in the downtown area. He indicated that Irvin Dawid, Jeff DeMartini, and Manito Velasco have volunteered to assist the Commission to gather parking data during the lunch hour on Monday and Thursday and the Friday evening slot. Commissioner Wettan felt that the Commission is on track to obtain a lot of good, robust data over the next few months. In closing, he reminded his fellow Commissioners to continue to gather feedback from the local merchants regarding employee parking. 9 Commissioner Martos noted that he drove through the downtown area on a Friday at noon and again at 6 p.m. He was surprised to find that there was very limited parking available during the noon hour (estimated approximately 5 spaces open) and significantly more parking available in the evening (estimated approximately 100 spaces open). b) Broadway Parking (Wettan & Bush) No update provided but Commissioner Wettan indicated they would follow the downtown parking efforts in the Broadway area if it proves to be a good model. c) School Speed Limits (Londer & Akers) See Discussion/Action Item (6b). d) Envision Burlingame (Londer & Martos) Chair Londer confirmed with Commissioner Martos that there have been no new updates since the previous TSPC meeting, but there is another Envision Burlingame meeting scheduled for the end of October. 9. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS • Hoover School Commissioner Wettan indicated he would like to revisit the parking conditions along the stretch of Easton Drive where parking was preserved for 3-4 homeowners. He reiterated that the vehicles parked along the sidewalk are forcing students and their parents to walk in the street as there is no viable walking path as originally anticipated. Mr. Wong replied and said that he would reach out to the homeowners to discuss the parking condition prior to placing this item on an upcoming TSPC agenda. Lastly, Mr. Wong provided feedback on two important items related to Hoover School that were not mentioned in the Engineers Report. First, he indicated that the parked vehicles along the stretch of Easton Drive leave a drivable area. However, he said if we create a defined walking path as mentioned at the previous TSPC meeting, it will push the cars further into the street and the road will no longer be wide enough for large emergency vehicles. Secondly, Mr. Wong informed the Commission that the City completed the pavement patching at Easton Circle. 10. ADJOURNMENT 8:42 p.m.