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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMin - TSP - 2015.09.101 TRAFFIC, SAFETY AND PARKING COMMISSION Approved Minutes Regular Meeting of Thursday, September 10, 2015 1. CALL TO ORDER. 7:00 p.m. 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG. 3. ROLL CALL. MEMBER PRESENT: Martos, Londer, Akers, Wettan MEMBERS ABSENT: Noworolski 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The minutes for the August 13, 2015 Traffic, Safety and Parking Commission were delayed and will be included on the October 8, 2015 agenda for approval. 5. PUBLIC COMMENTS – NON-AGENDA Irwin Dawid spoke regarding his concerns for bicycle and pedestrian safety on California Drive. Based on his observations at this location, he suggested the City consider automated traffic enforcement on California in front of Stack’s. Mr. Dawid also suggested the City address mid-block turns while crossing double yellow lines along Broadway. 6. DISCUSSION/STUDY ITEMS (Chair Martos suggested and received consensus agreement from the Commission to move item 7(a) forward on the agenda as the first item of discussion due to those in attendance. Subsequent items resumed the order shown on the meeting agenda.) a) Hoover School Update Mr. Chou led the presentation and discussion on Hoover School. The Burlingame School District (BSD) made an appearance and presented a brief update on Hoover School at the July TSP meeting. Since then, staff has met with the School District on 2 several occasions and obtained maps of the student attendance areas and various paths of travel. Mr. Chou gave credit to BSD for providing the maps. Mr. Chou proceeded to go over the maps, reviewing the three defined paths of travel as determine by BSD. • Path #1: northeast attendance area, accessing Hoover via Summit Drive, Hillside Circle and Hillside Drive. • Path #2: north attendance area, accessing Hoover via Alvarado Drive, Hillside Drive, Hillside Circle, Summit Drive, and Canyon Road. • Path #3: southeast attendance area, accessing Hoover via Hillside Drive and Easton Drive. The City and BSD have already identified some potential improvements along the paths such as crosswalks, curb ramps, and stop signs. Staff is recommending a matrix of proposed improvements with the goal of working with the School District to populate the matrix and include the responsible party and estimated costs with input and concurrence from the Commission, and then ultimately take the list to City Council. Chair Martos sought clarification on the number of proposed stop signs and Mr. Chou explained that numbers are preliminary and staff is seeking input for future meetings with BSD. Chair Martos opened the floor for public comment. Tim Ryan, Director of Facilities with the Burlingame School District passed out images taken in May on the various paths of travel. He stated that the School District is not asking the City to mitigate upcoming impacts, but to bring existing sidewalks, curbs, and crosswalks up to code. BSD is willing to pay for the crosswalk striping as part of their encroachment permit. Mr. Ryan went on to emphasize that there will be 250 students attending Hoover School in 10.5 months. He went on to acknowledge his appreciation of Mr. Wong and Mr. Chou for their expertise and efforts. Commissioner Akers questioned why the proposal is just now being presented with only 10.5 months remaining until the school opens. Mr. Ryan explained that the District’s application was submitted to the City in January 2014, but a lawsuit halted construction. Chair Martos noted that the Commission has discussed the Hoover site over the last six months, including safety strategies, and is aware of the urgency. The Commission is ready to work with BSD to make the area a safe place for students. Commissioner Wettan encouraged the group to stay away from the long history of the project and plow forward. 3 Mike Jarod has been tracking the progress of Hoover School throughout the litigation process as he lives behind the site. Unfortunately there is no good route from his property; Burlingame Hills does not have an adequate path of travel. He stated the plans for improvements look reasonable and suggested that an 80/20 analysis be considered for stop signs and appropriate markings. This is an opportunity to improve pedestrian access. Vice-Chair Londer stressed the desire to work with BSD and make access as safe and smooth as possible. The Commission is willing to help. Commissioner Akers stated the changes make sense as they make a more walkable and possibly more drivable neighborhood. He questioned if there is anything else we could at the Hillside Drive intersection and asked where the gates on Easton came from. Mr. Wong explained that the gates on Easton were installed as a dedication project with City concurrence. If this is going to be a path of travel for students, the bottom portion of the gate should be removed. It is reasonable to keep the upper portion of the gate intact. Commissioner Wettan took the floor commented on the following: There is a large population east of Alvarado and north of Hillside with no natural path of travel. Path #1 is out of their way and there is no proposed crosswalk coming down Alvarado. At the top of Hillside Circle/Summit, the property owner parks on the sidewalk. This is a critical spot with no easy solution. It would be worthwhile to plan for a drop-off site for traffic coming from Alvarado at Hillside Circle, and a second drop-off site elsewhere. Strongly consider limiting traffic coming out of Summit/Easton drop-off point; don’t want traffic in both directions (possible left-turn or right-turn only; this may require a discussion with Hillsborough). Sidewalk improvements are very important, notably on Easton. Encourage staff to revise the chart of proposed improvements to avoid discussions on who is responsible for the associated costs which could delay the completion of the list. Mr. Chou suggested we hide (not delete) the column for the responsible party as it will be needed down the road for City Council. Commissioner Akers suggested a “plan b” for items the City can implement solo and 4 quickly if we don’t get 100% cooperation from our neighbors. The group agreed to add a time frame column at Commissioner Wettan’s suggestion. Commissioner Londer encouraged the reduction of traffic at the school site; have drop off points as suggested earlier with possible parent volunteers to walk the students from the drop off site to the school. Chair Martos stated the cost of the improvements is important to the matrix but should not impede the creation of the list. He also inquired about the decision criteria used for coming up with the present improvements and proposed pedestrian routes. Mr. Chou took the floor and responded by explaining the process began with the School District and various walk-throughs with City staff in order to develop potential concepts both parties agreed upon to build from. Mr. Ryan also indicated they had an initial walk-through with architects to identify existing conditions and used that (in addition to the enrollment area) to come up with the three paths of travel. The BSD has been using a common-sense approach. Chair Martos continued with this input, stating that he would like more information related to the gates on Hillside to which Mr. Chou indicated they were public gates and they have to be manually opened—they are not locked. Vice-Chair Londer and Commissioner Wettan discouraged crossing Hillside Drive. Commissioner Akers pointed out that drainage should be addressed. As a result of the Hoover School discussion, the Commission agreed to form a subcommittee to work with the School District. Mr. Chou will work with City staff to figure out the dynamics but the subcommittee should have two representatives from the Commission—Wettan and Akers. The subcommittee could meet in between the TSP meetings and Hoover School will be a reoccurring agenda item until the work is complete. b) Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee Update After Mr. Wong went over the staff report regarding concerns pertaining to the structure and goals of B/PAC, Chair Martos opened the floor for public comment. The following people spoke: Irwin Dawid, a B/PAC member, agrees with the issues stated in the staff report and would like to see more structure to the group. The overall goal of B/PAC should be to make Burlingame a bike and pedestrian friendly environment. 5 Laurie Simonson disagreed with the original interpretation of the purpose of B/PAC and shared the defined purpose outlined by City Council in 2004. She also emailed the Commission information regarding best practices and what the purpose a B/PAC should serve. Ms. Simonson would like to see the B/PAC with more structure and energy, while also channeling more public participation. Jeff DeMartini was stunned by the role of B/PAC given the recent talks about pedestrian safety at Hoover School. Mr. DeMartini attended the Silicon Valley Bike Summit and shared his embarrassment of the Burlingame B/PAC after listening to the progress of other B/PAC activity in the area. When he joined B/PAC the group was active and no longer is. He would like to see the group active again with a clear vision of what the role is. Chris Bush felt B/PAC was the group of small thinking which made it challenging to focus on details and overcome obstacles. He would like to see B/PAC stick to an agenda when they meet, define what membership means, hold a “vision” meeting at the beginning of each year, and have a lead for the group to keep on task with a defined structure and goals. All present TSP Commissioners spoke and shared the same sentiments and support regarding B/PAC. There is potential for B/PAC to be productive in the community but the team needs to have more structure, clear expectations of membership, and the vision and priorities need to be identified in order for the B/PAC to produce deliverables. More specifically related to membership, the TSP Commission would like to see a representative from the Planning Department, Planning Commission, Public Works Department, and someone from the senior community on B/PAC. 7. ACTION ITEMS a) Larkspur Drive/Linden Avenue Traffic Circle Mr. Wong went over the staff report and presented a PowerPoint illustrating the temporary traffic circle, while also sharing the positive impact it has had against speeding and reckless driving. Chair Martos opened the floor for public comment. Matt Carlson has seen a noticeable difference in the reduction of speed since the installation of the temporary traffic circle. The benefits to the traffic circle outweigh the loss of parking. Since there are a lot of families with small kids that reside along Larkspur Drive/Linden Avenue, he feels the benefits of the traffic calming measure have made the neighborhood more pleasurable. Mr. Carlson is very much for the installation of a permanent traffic circle. 6 Janet McDonald echoed Mr. Carlson’s sentiments and is greatly supportive of the installation of a permanent traffic circle. The loss of parking is a non-issue. Irwin Dawid was initially shocked to see the temporary traffic circle but is also very supportive of the traffic calming measure. He feels the area is safer to bike through and he is happy with the aesthetics. The loss of parking is also a non-issue. In addition, he encouraged the City to make traffic safety a higher priority and would like to see more traffic calming solutions like this implemented in other areas of Burlingame. Once public comment closed, Mr. Wong shared additional responses he received with the Commission. Four (4) residents support the installation of a permanent traffic circle; one (1) resident would like to see an all-way stop, and one (1) resident is against the installation of a permanent traffic circle. Commissioner Wettan believes that local residents have a clear vision and the City should defer decisions like this to them as long as it aligns with engineering practices. Motion: Move to recommend installation of a permanent traffic circle on Larkspur Drive and Linden Avenue. M/S/C: Wettan/Akers; 4/0/0 8. INFORMATION ITEMS a) Engineering Division Reports Mr. Wong went over the staff report and provided updates on the following projects: • 2015 Street Resurfacing Program • US101/Broadway Interchange Project • Broadway Grade Separation Project • California Drive Roundabout • Caltrans’ ECR/Floribunda Project It was suggested that the TSPC Priority List be in order of highest priority to the lowest priority; Hoover School should be moved to the top. 1) Hoover school update 2) Caltrans’ ECR/Floribunda 3) Parking strategies update 4) Stop sign installations 5) B/PAC set-up 6) Floribunda corridor 7) California Drive parking restrictions 7 8) California roundabout 9) General Plan – circulation element 10) Larkspur/Linden traffic circle 11) Commuter bike route Commissioner Wettan would like to have Floribunda/El Camino Real as a future agenda item. b) Police Department Reports Sergeant Ford reported the Police Department amped up traffic enforcement efforts at the start of the school year. Flyers were distributed to schools and Parking Enforcement was present for the first two days of school. All went as planned. September is the last month of grants for checkpoints. At the last two DUI checkpoints, BPD checked 1500 vehicles, conducting 40 field sobriety tests which resulted in the discovery of two drunk drivers. In addition, 6 citations were issued and one stolen car was recovered. The new grant cycle for checkpoints will begin October 1, 2015. There are two new BPD employees assigned to traffic: Mike Martin and Garrett Penn. Vice Chair Londer gave kudos to the Police Department for their work during the downed power lines on Hwy 101. Vice Chair Londer also mentioned his concerns regarding dangerous U-turns southbound on Rollins. Sergeant Ford said the PD will continue to monitor that area. c) Farmer’s Market The TSP Commission agreed to be present at the Farmer’s Market on Sunday, September 20, 2015. Commissioner Wettan agreed to work the 9:15 am -10:45 am shift, and Commissioner Martos committed to working from 10:45 am – 12:15 pm. Vice- Chair Londer will take care of the pick-up and drop off of supplies. Commissioner Wettan brought up a past suggestion to utilize the Farmer’s Market to pose questions on topics such as public parking. d) TSPC Chair/Commissioner’s Communications Vice-Chair Londer attended the Citizens Advisory Committee meeting on August 26, 2015 regarding the General Plan. Attendees split up into three groups and were all asked the same question—where do we see things staying the same and where do we see room for improvement. Each group essentially came up with the same response. Participants agreed that the neighborhoods should stay the same and improvements 8 should be made along Bayside and Rollins Road, in addition to three commercial areas (Broadway, Burlingame Plaza and Downtown). , 9. COMMISSION & COMMITTEE REPORTS None. 10. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS a) Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee Update b) Hoover School Update c) Hoover School Subcommittee d) Floribunda/El Camino Real 11. ADJOURNMENT Chair Martos requested a moment of silence for the passing of Recording Secretary Louie’s brother.