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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMin - TSP - 2005.10.13 The City of Burlingame CITY HALL - 501 PRIMROSE ROAD CALIFORNIA 94010-3997 www.burlingame.org TRAFFIC, SAFETY AND PARKING COMMISSION Meeting Minutes - Approved Thursday – October 13, 2005 Commissioners Present: Stephen Warden, Chair Eugene Condon, Vice-Chair Russ Cohen Dan Conway Victor James Commissioners Absent: None Staff Present: Traffic Sergeant Don Shepley, Police Department Augustine Chou, Traffic Engineer, Public Works Lori Brock, Secretary, Public Works Staff Absent: None Visitors: Boys Scouts Troop 28 Charles Eigenbrot, 1129 Bernal Avenue Pat Giorni, 1445 Balboa Paul Hohenschuh, 2884 Canyon Road 2 1. CALL TO ORDER 7:03 p.m. 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 3. ROLL CALL 5 OF 5 Commissioners present Boys Scouts Troop 28 was present. Their Scout Master informed the Commission that they were here to fulfill their Communications Merit Badge requirement for Eagle Scout ranking. Commissioner Cohen asked the Troop if they could provide a copy of their final report sometime after this meeting. He also said that they were welcome to talk and ask questions during the Commission meeting. 4. CURRENT BUSINESS 4.1 ACTION ITEMS 4.1.1 Minutes for September 8, 2005 Staff informed the Commission that the meeting minutes would be ready for Commission review and approval at a later date. 4.2 DISCUSSION ITEMS 4.2.1 Cowan Road/Mahler Road/Gilbreth Road – Height, overnight, and limited-time parking restrictions. Traffic Engineer Chou reported that LSG Sky Chefs completed their facilities consolidation, and relocated all of their employees to the Cowan Road facility. He reiterated that this means there were about 150 new employees to the Cowan Road site. Mr. Chou said that a public meeting was held on Wednesday, October 5, 2005 at 11:00 a.m. at Sky Chefs’ facility to provide the neighboring businesses a chance to discuss parking concerns that they might have. Mr. Chou explained at this meeting, that the City was represented by himself and Commissioner Condon. Two Sky Chefs representatives and several business representatives also attended this meeting. During the discussions, Sky Chefs representatives agreed that changing the first block of Gilbreth Road, at the northern end by Cowan, to 8-hour parking might work for them. Mr. Chou explained that in doing so, the City should consider shifting the existing 4-hour parking on Gilbreth over to Cowan. He said that this was to continue to address the need for shorter-term parking in the area. He also added that the City would look into installing two or three, 24-minute green 2 zones in the front entrance of 1818 Gilbreth Road to accommodate some of their concerns. Mr. Chou explained that LSG Sky Chefs was to provide the City with the approximate number of their employee vehicles currently parking on Cowen. He said that this information would be used by staff to calculate the feasibility of the idea to switch time limits. Mr. Chou stated that the question before the Commission at the next public meeting was whether or not the Commission sees a need to expand the 4-hour limits onto Mitten and Malcolm Roads. He said that Cowan, Mitten and Malcolm were different from Stanton, Mahler, and Hinkley. The latter three streets would benefit more with 4-hour parking, than Malcolm and Mitten. Mr. Chou explained that this was because almost all of the businesses on Cowan, Malcolm, and Mitten Roads already have sufficient on-site parking available to their tenants and employees. Mr. Chou concluded by saying that a second public meeting was planned to be held at City Hall during the evening hours. This meeting would include a clearer plan based on the parking-needs information obtained from LSG Sky Chefs. Commissioner Condon informed the Commission that the meeting also brought to light additional parking problems and abuses related to hotel employees and car-rental shuttles. He stated he was concerned about pushing problems from one street to another within the area and reiterated that the City considers remedies that would address the whole area. 4.2.2 Easton Drive – Eucalyptus tree at Easton and Cabrillo. Traffic Engineer Chou informed the Commission that a staff recommendation could not be presented at this time since necessary traffic counts could not be completed due to the presence of the Easton Creek Sewer Rehabilitation project, which was currently disrupting traffic in the area. Mr. Chou informed the Commission that the sewer rehabilitation project might not be completed until January 2006, and suggested moving this item to inactive. 4.2.3 Trousdale Drive/Quesada Way (Franklin School) – crosswalk enhancements. Traffic Engineer Chou explained that the Franklin School Safety Committee had originally made the request for crosswalk enhancements. He stated that no decision was made previously because the Commission had a subcommittee looking into developing guidelines for crosswalk enhancements at schools and parks. At the same time, the Commission also asked staff to examine the feasibility of installing traffic signals at the same intersection. Mr. Chou informed the Commission that since the guidelines have been 3 presented and accepted by the Commission, this request was being looked at again. Mr. Chou stated that staff did not recommend any further enhancements to the crosswalks, and also did not recommend consideration of traffic signals at Trousdale and Quesada. He said that the results of a traffic signal warrant study demonstrated that signals were not warranted at that location. He added that currently, the intersection was controlled by stop signs on Trousdale and Quesada, and pedestrian warning signs were already posted at the crosswalks. Mr. Chou also noted that a crossing guard was already posted at the controlled crosswalk one block west of this intersection, at Trousdale and Castaneda Drive. That meant this intersection was deemed the dedicated route to school and most likely had more pedestrians crossing there. Commissioner Conway stated that although the signal warrant study did not indicate a need for signals at this location, as a member of the crosswalk sub- committee, he wanted to take a second look at the intersection of Trousdale and Quesada to see if some of the enhancements should be further considered. Paul Hohenschuh, 2884 Canyon Road, spoke stating that Franklin School has grown over the last ten years, which contributed to major traffic on Trousdale between 7:30 to 9:00, and 3:00 to 5:00 . He said that cars were backed up from one stop sign to another and asked if there were other possible routes that could be taken (Highway 280 or El Camino Real). Chair Warden said that he believed Trousdale continues to have selected enforcement for speed. He also stated a concern over the possible traffic impacts on Trousdale once the Mills/Peninsula Hospital project was completed. Pam Giorni, 1445 Balboa, asked the Commission for a crosswalk with flashing lights which would be operable during school hours. She said that these lights would provide more awareness of children crossing at this intersection. Chair Warden informed Ms. Giorni of the cost ($50,000) for such an installation. 4 4.2.4 Howard Avenue and Crescent Avenue – pedestrian crosswalks. Traffic Engineer Chou reported that two pedestrian studies showed that this crosswalk was minimally used during a typical weekday. He also reported that only the Crescent Avenue approaches were controlled by stop signs, while the Howard Avenue approaches were not. Mr. Chou said that it was not unusual to see drivers on Howard suddenly stopping at the crosswalk despite having no stop signs. He also stated that drivers on Crescent were observed stopping, then proceeding out in front of Howard traffic expecting them to stop as well. He added that this situation was causing confusion and the potential for accidents at this intersection. Mr. Chou stated that staff’s recommendation was to remove the crosswalks across Howard and keep the crosswalks on Crescent. He offered an option to keep the crosswalks in place, but also install pedestrian warning signs at the uncontrolled approaches of the crosswalks. Commissioner Conway stated that he supported keeping the existing crosswalks and also wanted to see additional pedestrian warning signs for the uncontrolled approaches on Howard Avenue. Commissioner Cohen stated his concern that the crosswalks across the Howard approaches are creating a situation where drivers are led to assume that there are stop signs on those approaches. He supported removing the crosswalks. He said that pedestrians might be more careful about crossing Howard Avenue because they would be forced to be more watchful without crosswalk lines. Commissioner Condon agreed with both Commissioners Cohen and Conway that the crosswalk lines might give pedestrians a false sense of security, but, he also agreed with Commissioner Cohen’s comments. Chair Warden asked about the accident history on Howard Avenue, and whether or not signage stating “Oncoming Traffic Does Not Stop”, would alleviate the Commission’s concerns. Traffic Engineer Chou reported that there were no recorded accidents. He also said that the suggested signage would not be used for this type of situation. Chair Warden stated that based on his observations of weekend traf fic and people walking east on Howard, he felt that there was a need for something to aid people in getting to the park. He concluded that he was in favor of adding new signage and retaining the crosswalk across Howard Avenue. Commissioner Conway said that he did not believe the confusion aspect at the crosswalk, along with no accidents, was not a strong enough reason to remove the crosswalks. He said that removing crosswalks was different than 5 deciding not to put one in originally. He concluded that although he agreed with both sides, he also felt that there was a need the crosswalks, along with new pedestrian warning signs. Motion: To move to action. M/S/C: Condon/Conway; 5/0/0 Motion: To retain the crosswalk across Howard Avenue at Crescent Avenue; and add pedestrian warning signs for the east/west approaches of Howard Avenue. M/S/C: Conway/James; 3/2/0 5. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF NEW ITEMS None. 6. FROM THE FLOOR 6.1 Pat Giorni, 1445 Balboa, spoke regarding the crosswalks at Hillside and Balboa. She informed the Commission that she would like to see crosswalks just across Hillside because when cars travel down the hill (eastbound), they are controlled by a signal at Cabrillo and Hillside, but cars traveling up from El Camino Real had no traffic controls to slow them down when they approached the crosswalks from that direction. She added that there was a neighborhood mailbox on the corner of Balboa Avenue that nobody could reach because of speeding cars from the El Camino Real. She said, however, that if she walked to the next block where there are painted lines, and look both ways, drivers tended to slow down because she thought they saw the painted lines first. Ms. Giorni also commented about the temporary stop sign situation at Sherman and Cortez. She felt that the intersection was such that drivers on Cortez might not be aware that Sherman meets it. Ms. Giorni had some concerns over pedestrian safety at the intersection of Broadway and Rollins Road. She was particularly concerned about the absence of marked crosswalks for pedestrians as they cross over US101 from the hotels. Traffic Engineer Chou informed the Commission and the public that the City has already communicated its concerns over the same issue with Caltrans. Mr. Chou cited three future projects currently planned through Caltrans to address these concerns. They are the Caltrain/JPB railroad grade separation at Broadway/California, the reconfiguration of the Broadway roadway overpass above US101, and the new US101 pedestrian overcrossing. 6 Commissioner Condon asked the members of the Boys Scouts the age that their schools currently allow children to ride their bicycles. The troop informed the Commissioner that most of them were driven to school by parents, and only one student rode his bike to school. Commissioner Condon asked the troop to look into the age that their schools allow students to ride their bikes and to relay the information back to the Commission. 7. INFORMATION ITEMS 7.1 Bicycle Safety Issues in Burlingame None. 7.2 From Council to Commission/Staff Chair Warden reported that during the Council/Commission Joint Meeting held just prior to this meeting, several items were discussed. He stated that Council and the Commission agreed to review the following:  Parking permit program for business employees and residents  Develop a formal appeals process for the Commission  Staff support to the Traffic Engineer  Concerns regarding the traffic situation at El Camino Real and Floribunda  Parking at City Hall Lane, between Primrose and Lorton  Smart meters  Traffic calming program  Commissioner’s role  School and crosswalk safety plan 7.3 From Staff to Commission 7.3.1 Traffic Engineer’s Report City Hall Lane Permit Parking – Traffic Engineer Chou reported that Engineering and Police staff interviewed petitioners regarding the City Hall Lane permit parking request. Mr. Chou informed the Commission that the petitioners stated that they understood the petition’s request, but they did not want to individually administer the proposed “self-management” plan due to workloads. He added that staff would figure out the next steps and then inform the Commission of the results. Sherman/Cortez stop sign – Mr. Chou reported that traffic counters were placed to record speed and volume profiles for Cortez, Balboa, and Cabrillo. 7 He said that this information would be reviewed to see if construction work on Easton had adversely affected the counts. If not, these counts would serve as baseline numbers to determine whether or not the approved temporary stops should become permanent. Mr. Chou also reported that some neighbors and residents on Cabrillo and Balboa had voiced concerns that they did not support the requested stop signs, and did not believe they were fully involved in the decision process. TDA Projects – Traffic Engineer Chou informed the Commission that staff was aiming to complete the Carolan/Morrell illuminated crosswalk project and the Countdown Pedestrian Signal Project by the holiday season. 7.3.2 Traffic Sergeant’s Report Sergeant Shepley informed the Commission that staffing continue d to be a challenge. He added that Police staff was down to two PEOs, two per-diem PEOs, one meter maintenance PEO, one motor officer, and one sergeant. Sgt. Shepley then provided the Commission with a written report regarding selective enforcement, sobriety checkpoints, and OTS grants. Chair Warden asked about PEOs chalking tires on Burlingame Avenue and Broadway, as he had witnessed a lot of meter feeding from merchants in and out of their businesses on these two streets. Sergeant Shepley informed the Commission that the PEOs tended to chalk in response to complaints. Traffic Engineer Chou informed the Commission that at the next Cou ncil meeting, a parking study presentation would be conducted by the Engineering staff. 7.4 From Commission to Staff 7.4.1 Reports of citizen complaints or requests A request has been made to red zone at Floribunda and El Camino Real. No additional comments were heard. This request will be looked into. 7.5 Comments and communication None. 7.6 Next regular meeting: November 10, 2005 Commissioner Condon announced that he might be absent from that meeting, and that he would notify the Commission via e-mail. 8 8. INACTIVE ITEMS None. 9. AGENDIZED ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING – NOVEMBER 10, 2005 9.1 Items requiring written staff reports.  Item 4.2.1 – Cowan Road/Mahler Road/Gilbreth Road  Item 4.2.3 – Trousdale Drive/Quesada Way  Removal of mid-block crosswalk at Crescent Avenue (by Pershing Park)  Hillside Drive/Balboa Avenue crosswalk enhancements 10. ADJOURNMENT 8:15 p.m.