HomeMy WebLinkAboutMin - TSP - 2007.05.10
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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:
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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 ,
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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.