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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMin - TSP - 2007.05.10 Page 1 of 7 The City of Burlingame CITY HALL - 501 PRIMROSE ROAD CALIFORNIA 94010-3997 www.burlingame.org TRAFFIC, SAFETY AND PARKING COMMISSION Meeting Minutes - Approved Thursday, May 10, 2007 Commissioners Present: Victor James, Chair Dan Conway, Vice Chair Michael Bohnert Mark Noworolski Stephen Warden Commissioners Absent: None Staff Present: Augustine Chou, Traffic Engineer, Public Works Sgt. Dean Williams, Police Department Joanne Louie, Administrative Secretary, Public Works Visitors: Rudy Horak, 1332 Edgehill Drive Farris Horak, 1332 Edgehill Drive Wendy Gale, 1301 Mills Avenue Craig Horak, 1032 Paloma Avenue Diana Mason, 1451 Balboa Drive Pat Giorni, 1445 Balboa Drive 1. CALL TO ORDER. 7:00 p.m. 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG. 3. ROLL CALL. 4 of 5 Commissioners present. Commissioner Noworolski arrived at 7:25 pm. 4. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT None. 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES - Motion: To accept the minutes of April 12, 2007 with the following corrections: Page 2 of 7 Chair’s Prologue, paragraph 4. Replace “idea” with “concept”: “Chair James stated that the concept behind Quad Maps is to take government to the citizens.” Chair’s Prologue, paragraph 5. Chair James asked that this paragraph be revised to provide more detail on the discussion of commission and staff roles, that neither could dictate to the other. He referred staff to listen to the audio tapes and submit a revised version of the paragraph. Commissioner Bohnert asked that statement under 9.1, paragraph 23 read: “Commissioner Bohnert states that as on Broadway we have over used signage as a way to compensate for lack of enforcement.” Chair James’ statement under 9.1 paragraph 27 . Replace “CIP” with “Capital Improvement Projects”: “Chair James asked for confirmation that dealing with speeding was difficult due to Capital Improvement Projects and personnel expenses.” Chair James asked that statement under 9.1 paragraph, 30 be revised to not reflect a linkage between speeding and crosswalks. He referred staff to listen to the audio tapes and submit a revised version of the paragraph. Chair James’ statement under 10.2 paragraph 2. Replace “remove” with “repeal”: “Chair James stated that part of the process to repeal an ordinance was to open it for public input and make TSPC aware of what staff was considering.” M/S/C: Warden, Conway; 4/0/1 (Commissioner Noworolski not present at the time) 6. CHAIR’S PROLOGUE Chair James thanked Commissioner Conway for his report for Council, and said he would like to get everyone’s report before the last week of May so they can be compil ed and brought back to the Commission officially before given to the Council. Chair James revisited the process for speaking - which was a round amongst the Commissioners. It had been brought to his attention that staff felt they were not given the opportunity to rebut or respond to items after Commission or public discussion. Chair James said that in the future, after the round of Commissioner input, the Commission would ask for further comment from staff before taking a vote. Chair James reported that he received a letter from Ms. Hagerty, which he assumed that staff received a copy also, and questioned whether this was forwarded to the commissioner of the Quad. Commissioner Warden stated that he received a letter via email which he responded to and invited the Ms. Hagerty to call him. Chair James request ed that this item be listed on next month’s agenda under Communications. Page 3 of 7 7. CONSENT No discussion 8. PUBLIC COMMENTS Mr. Horak spoke as a representative of the Broadway Area Merchants Asso ciation, specifically representing the President, Ross Bruce. He said the Broadway Merchants were very pleased with the activities to date on grant item #6, in-pavement lights on Broadway. He said it was their understanding that the $40,000 grant would be included in the next fiscal year, starting in July. Mr. Horak said that the system would potentially improve safety at this intersection. He added that he would like to request that Mr. Chou include a status report at each monthly TSPC meeting until the system is operational. Ms. Mason expressed her appreciation for the concern this commission showed regarding the safety of the Balboa Avenue/Hillside Drive intersection. She also requested that another safety measure be considered – installation of reflective pedestrian signs in the middle of the road to caution drivers of pedestrians. Ms. Giorni suggested that staff put a note out via the email List Serve that Thursday, May 17th is Bike to Work Day. Ms. Giorni stated that she was not sure if the Burlingame Station would be an energizer station, but that she was fairly sure Millbrae and San Mateo stations would be, and perhaps next year Burlingame could be made an energizer station. Commissioner Warden asks that agenda item 13.2 be moved forward to accommodate the requesting resident, who had young children present. 13.2 Letter from W endy Gale regarding speeding on Mills Avenue. Ms. Gale expressed her appreciation of the responsiveness that she received regarding her letter. She said that the general concern of these few, short blocks between El Camino Real and California Drive was the speed of the drivers. She said it was excessive at times. Ms. Gale said that this block has a lot of young children, and the neighbors wanted to know if anything could be done for this situation. Commissioner Warden asked that this block be added to the selective enforcement list. Sergeant Williams responded that it should be consider as done. 9. CURRENT BUSINESS No discussion. Page 4 of 7 10. STAFF REPORTS 10.1 Traffic Engineer’s Report Mr. Chou reported that staff will be going to Council on May 21st to have a resolution approved to request MTC to allocate funds for our TDA grants as a final step to get the funds. The approved resolution would then be forwarded to the City & County Association of Governments, who would in turn issue the letters back to the qualified cities. He said that after that, the design work could begin and staff hours billed. Commissioner Bohnert questioned what the estimated lead time might be in regards to beginning design work and implementation. Mr. Chou said that staff would like to see the project in the ground around October. He said this depended on when the City were to get the authorization letter. He said once the letter was received, design could take approximately one month, dependent on where power could be drawn and how long it would take to contact PG&E. Mr. Chou reported that there was a recent joint Council/Commission meeting; and, that Council had requested some issues be brought to the public forum through th e Commission. These issues are the overnight parking permit program and a residential parking permit program. Mr. Chou advised that this needed to be coordinated with the Police Department. He said that these issues would be brought up at the June meeting with staff reports that provide more background information. Chair James asked if this would be the public hearing. He said that the reason he was asking was because of the repealing process. He said the Commission must determine how they would deal with this -whether they hold a public hearing or take it as a normal course duly noted. Mr. Chou stated that there were two approaches. In a normal course of discussion, the item would be agendized as a current business item with due notifications. The other option would be to hold a dedicated meeting on a different night. Mr. Chou suggested that if the issues appeared to be controversial, then the commission could consider holding a separate meeting. Otherwise, the first meeting could be an item on the agenda as a specific business item to be discussed openly with the public. Commissioner Warden asked if the Easton tree issue might come back to the commission. Mr. Chou stated that he had not heard that it would be coming back yet. 10.2 Traffic Sergeant’s Report None. 11. ITEMS REMOVED FROM CONSENT No discussion. Page 5 of 7 12. PENDING ITEMS No discussion. 13. COMMUNICATIONS Commission Warden said that it was brought up at the Joint Council/Commission meeting that storage containers were being parked on streets such as Edgehill Drive/Paloma Avenue and Palm/Paloma Avenues. He asked if the City could now go after the ones that were there. Mr. Chou stated that he would speak with the Public Works inspectors and determine where to go with some action. He said that the policy on this matter was recently formalized such that the City would not be issuing permits for such use. Commissioner Warden stated that he recently learned of a situation in Millbrae where their red light running photo enforcement had only one “Photo Enforced” sign at the intersection, and when a person wanted to appeal a ticket (in this case for stopping over the white line), the City of Millbrae requires a $1,500 bond to appeal the ticket. Commissioner Warden asked Mr. Chou to follow-up with Red Flex to ensure that this type of situation would not occur with Burlingame’s photo enforced program. Commissioner Noworolski asked if Burlingame was going to install red light cameras. Sergeant Williams confirmed that the northbound El Camino Real direction at Broadway would have one camera system. Commissioner Conway asked if the Peninsula Interchange area falls under Caltrans jurisdiction. Mr. Chou replied that all the interchange ramps belong to Caltrans. He added that the surrounding area by the interchange was county property which now falls under San Mateo jurisdiction. Commissioner Bohnert inquired about how to place back on the agenda, for open discussion, the previously decided matter of the Hillside Drive/Balboa Avenue intersection. Chair James responded that as a Commissioner an item that has been voted on by the commission cannot be revisited. Chair James stated that something similar to this came up a year ago. Discussion was permitted on this but as far as taking action, action is done. He said that people could take it up with the Council, but as a Commission it is now at Council level. Mr. Chou stated that he would consult this with the City Attorney. Commissioner Warden suggests that Commissioner Bohnert state what his concern was. Commissioner Bohnert said that after a conversation with Mr. Chou, he realized that the citizens were requesting a crosswalk at Balboa Avenue/Hillside Drive. He added that the assumption of the Commission was for four crosswalks. Commissioner Bohnert asked Page 6 of 7 whether or not installing one set of crosswalks across Hillside Drive would have sufficed. Chair James stated that the Commission discussed this matter for two months. He said that he was aware that staff had some problems with the final outcome of the vote , but that was part of democracy. He said that at this point, this matter would not be revisited because it was at Council level. If staff or someone did not like the decision of this Commission, the process was now with the Council. Commissioner Nowolrolski stated that his recollection was that the Commission was merely voting for the crosswalk. He said that the decision as to how many was made hastily towards the end of that vote. Chair James stated that whether the process was hastily made or however it was made, the question was whether or not was there fairness and due process. He asked if there was opportunity for people to speak and be heard and to discuss . He said this matter was debated thoroughly for two months, and the vote was taken and that it should stand as far as this Commission was concerned. He added that at the Council level there was a process to accept, repeal, reject, amend or remand back to the Commission for consideration. Commissioner Warden stated that the Commission made its decision; however, as an individual citizen, a person had the right to go to Council to express their concerns. He said even a commissioner acting as a private citizen c ould express concern that perhaps a mistake was made. Commission Noworolski noted that the motion read to install red curbing on approaching corners, and install crosswalks at the intersection. He said it did not say how many. Mr. Chou responded by saying that he thought the inference was for four crosswalks - that this was how the Commission understood it during the vote. Mr. Chou stated again that he would check with the City Attorney, but that the next course of action would typically be an appeal with City Council. Commissioner Bohnert asked how matters were brought to Council. Were they presented by the Public Works staff or by the City Manager’s staff. Mr. Chou said that if an item were to go to Council, it would always be presented in a staff report. He said the staff report would specify the recommendation by the commission and staff, and clearly state a recommendation of what to do next. Mr. Chou stated that in this case, the matter really does not need to go to Council for approval, however since there was a difference in staff opinion on this matter, it would go to Council. Commissioner Bohnert stated that a re-visit of the issue highlights how staff and some of the commissioners might be able to reflect on Commission comments at the end, and offer suggestions as mentioned in Chair James’ prologue this evening. Chair James agreed and said that the last two meetings had exhausted this matter. He noted that Commissioners Bohnert, Conway and Noworolski questioned staff a long time , Page 7 of 7 and that staff had many “bites of the pie”. Chair James said that to eliminate any confusion or misunderstanding in the future prior to voting on matters, he would turn to staff to seek any further comments. 13.1 Letter from Elisa Marcaletti regarding speed control and/or stop signs on Carmelita Avenue. Mr. Chou stated that he would be coordinating with Commissioner Bohnert and Commissioner Warden to determine the approach to handling this concern - either at a staff level or brought to the commission. 13.2 Letter from Wendy Gale regarding speeding on Mills Avenue Discussed under item number 6 - Pubic Comment 14. COMMISSION & COMMITTEE REPORTS 14.1 Burlingame Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee Commissioner Bohnert announced that Craig Horak, a citizen member of the B/PAC, was just awarded the “2007 San Mateo County Bicycle Commuter of the Year” award. He added that the B/PAC has some really exciting things going on with good people involved such as Craig Horak and Pat Giorni. Commissioner Bohnert reported that in two weeks the committee would be conducting an on-site walk of Burlingame Avenue to determine locations for the bike racks. He said they would also be visiting Cadillac Way at Rollins Road to look at the bike auxiliary overpass for bikes and wheelchairs. Commissioner Bohnert hoped to come back at the next meeting with more details on the bike racks along Burlingame Avenue. Finally, Commissioner Bohnert reported that next month they would be working on making Burlingame a “Bicycle Friendly Community”, which would involve an application process. Chair James said on behalf of the Commission, they commend the Horak family and their son. 15. ADJOURNMENT 7:52 p.m.