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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/25/1989SPECIAL MEETING OF DIAMOND BAR CITY COUNCIL APRIL 25, 1989 Call to Order: Mayor Papen called the meeting to order at 3:15 P.M. Roll Call: City Clerk called the roll; those present we re; Councilman - Forbing Miller Werner Mayor Pro Tem - Horcher Mayor Papen City Manager Qualifications: Mayor Papen introduced Linda Holmes, City Manager of Walnut and Bob Poff, City Manager of San Dimas both have agreed to assist Diamond Bar in the City Manager selection process. Each member of the Council offered comments as to the qualifications and caliber of the person they hope the permanent City Manager will have. Linda Holmes presented some material designed to help the Council with a selection. Council asked the two Managers to review resumes as they are received and also to ask the City Manager of Rancho Cucamonga to assist in the review process. Recreation Program: Mayor Papen asked Chris Adams from Walnut Valley Recreation to review with the Council more of the details of W.V.R. proposal. After discussion, the Council by consensus agreed to table this item until the next regular meeting and asked Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation to send a representative to discuss the County proposal for a recreation program with the City Council. Resolution 89-26 The City Attorney explained the content of the resolution and read it by title: A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DIAMOND BAR APPROVING AND RATIFYING A LINE OF CREDIT WITH SECURITY PACIFIC NATIONAL BANK. Councilman Miller moved to adopt the Resolution. The motion was seconded by Councilman Forbing and carried by the following roll call vote: AYES: Councilmen - Forbing, Miller Werner, Horcher and Papen NOES: Councilmen - None ABSENT: Councilmen - None Resolution 89-27: The City Attorney explained the resolution and read it by title: A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DIAMOND BAR APPROVING AND RATIFYING POLICIES OF MUNICIPAL LIABILITY INSURANCE. Councilman Werner moved to adopt the resolution. The motion was seconded by Mayor Pro -Tem Horcher and carried by the following roll call vote: AYES: Councilmen - Forbing, Miller, Werner, Horcher and Papen NOES: Councilmen - None ABSENT: Councilmen - None Committee Appointments: Mayor Papen appointed Councilman Forbing and Horcher to a sub -committee on personnel matters. Mayor Papen appointed Councilman Werner and Miller to a sub -committee on architectural review matters. Recess to Close Session: The City Council recessed to a closed session at 4:45 P.M. to review with the City Attorney pending litigation. Reconvene: The City Council reconvened to open session at 5:45 P.M. The City Attorney announced that there were no decisions made. Adjourn: Councilman Miller moved to adjourn. Councilman Werner seconded the motion and the City Council adjourned the special meeting at 5:47 P.M. 2 Terms of Walnut Valley Recreation and City of Diamond Bar Summer Recreation Program Dates: Monday, June 19, 1989 through September 1, 1989 Walnut Valley Recreation will provide: 1. 14 Recreation Leaders at an average pay rate of $6.50 per hour to work at 7 specified park sites, from 10 am to 4 pm, Monday through Friday, plus training and preparation time. SUI, Workers Comp, and partial health benefits are included. 2. 1 Recreation Coordinator at $9.25 per hour, to work approxinately 30 - 35 hours a week, supervising Recreation Leaders and providing training workshops. SUI, Workers Comp, and partial health benefits are included. 3. Program Administration: i.e. publicity, purchasing, handling inquiries, payroll. 4. All necessary supplies, such as sporting equipment, arts and crafts equipment, special event supplies, etc. Approximately $500 per park. Total Cost of program, not to exceed $58,776. (This figure is higher than originally proposed budget, due to the addition of Peterson Park, at City Council request.) City of Diamond Bar will provide: l.Payment for services upon receipt of invoice from Walnut Valley Recreation within 30 days. Payments should be made out to Walnut Valley Unified School District. 2.Program Liability 3.Parks Maintenance. Park Sites: Heritage Park Maple Hill Park Paul C. Grow Park Peterson Park Ronald Reagan Park Summit Ridge Park Sycamore Park Miscellaneous: Walnut Valley Recreation will also conduct the Summer Youth Baseball Program at Heritage Park, in conjunction with the Heritage Park Recreation Council. This program will be completely self- supporting, and liability costs will be covered by the School District. This should be reviewed by Pat Cisneros, attorney for WVUSD. Mayor Papen, Members of the City Council Thank you for the opprotunity to present a citizen's group law suit. That law suit is to restrain San Bernadino Co. from opening Grand Avenue until they have complied with the mitigation measures set forth in their own Chino Hills Specific Plan. A copy of that suit is before each of you. All of us are aware of problems that already exist with traffic in our city. Intersections are clogged during rush hour and there are several roads that have poor safety records. Our avenues and some residential roads are used as by-passes for two freeways. The existing conditions are a challenge for our City Council but won't be addressed here. Instead, we will now quickly review the impact throughout the City of opening Grand Ave without first imposing adequate mitigating measures. Then we will cover how the law suit addresses reducing that impact. State Patrol records and San Bernardino's own "Analysis of Chino Hills Traffic Impact on Grand Avenue in Diamond Bar" will be used to provide indications of the traffic that will exist even if specified mitigating measures are taken. GRAND AVENUE: According to State Patrol records for the last three months in 1988, accidents on Grand just from Diamond Bar Blvd to the S.B. Co line were running at a rate of 48 a year with one third of them involving injuries. About 300 students board school buses on this same short stretch. Consider the safety impacts when traffic goes up just from the current 12,000 to the 35,000 vehicles predicted by the traffic study. Remember, the additional traffic will be through traffic which is usually faster than local traffic. There could be over 50 more injury accidents, and possible fatalities, each year. Future residents of S. B. Co, who are hurt on the Summitridge portion of Grand, would likely bring suit against the "City of Diamond Bar" claiming that the Diamond Bar portion of the road is unsafe for through traffic. Compare these safety implications with the main purpose of opening Grand, which seems to be to support the building of additional houses to increase the tax base for S. B. Co supervisors. The additional traffic would not only affect the people along Grand, it also would affect most of the rest of the people of Diamond Bar. NORTH DIAMOND BAR: Some residents in north Diamond Bar have expressed the opinion that opening Grand to the east will allow cars, which are currently cutting through on Golden Springs and Diamond Bar Blvd, to go east on Grand to get e7kA V� #1 (�46vlf k� tic, back on 60. They feel that this diversion would reduce traffic congestion in north Diamond Bar. True, not covered in the study is the point that drivers will explore avoiding the 57/60 interchange by taking Grand east. However, understand that the main purpose is to open Grand to support the building of additional homes, not to support existing residents (S. B. Co has already granted permits to build 10,000 additional homes based on Grand). Also consider that, Grand Ave, Golden Springs and Diamond Bar Blvd will all be clogged according to the traffic study; therefore, Grand will not be able to provide relief to the two avenues in northern Diamond Bar. Traffic will find the path of least resistance which will still saturate north Diamond Bar. Another factor is that some of the traffic generated by the new homes in S. B. Co will turn north from Grand onto Diamond Bar Blvd to get to hwys 10 and 210 to go west and north. These factors support at least the Traffic study conclusion that traffic will increase in north Diamond Bar. The chart is based on the traffic study. People who live in north Diamond Bar and work in Orange Co, will have a longer delay getting to and from work because all of the north/south routes will be carrying more traffic. The additional traffic coming off of Grand and trying to merge into the 57/60 Interchange certainly will Increase congestion in the interchange. Imagine the effect of 10,000 additional cars coming east from L. A. on 60 and trying to cross 57 traffic to get off onto Grand or getting off of Grand and trying to cross 57 traffic to go west on 60. The only way to fix the "cut through Diamond Bar" problem is to fix the freeway interchange. The extension of Grand would not decrease but would increase the traffic impact on north Diamond Bar. SOUTH DIAMOND BAR: For south Diamond Bar, the evening traffic along Diamond Bar Blvd to Grand will likely backup all the way to 57. It will be difficult to move on Diamond Bar Blvd and nearly impossible to get on without the assistance of a traffic light. Expect traffic to be using residential streets to avoid Diamond Bar Blvd. THE COUNTRY: The people in The Country are not likely to escape. They will be encumbered at both ends. How many injuries have already occurred in an attempt to get onto Grand? Why not add a traffic light instead of adding more traffic? A traffic light at this location would also provide a means for our children who are meeting school buses to cross Grand. The Traffic Study showed that existing traffic already Nqr-11 warrants traffic lights along Grand at Summitridge, Montefino, Rolling Knoll, and Cleghorn as well as left turn arrows at Diamond Bar Blvd. There already is an exit problem at The Country's Diamond Bar Blvd gate. The traffic study does not suggest a light for The Country for either gate. San Bernardino's "Analysis of Chino Hills Traffic Impact on Grand Avenue in Diamond Bar" very likely understated projected traffic and still concluded that the opening would immediately saturate Grand intersections at Diamond Bar Blvd and at Golden Springs. It concludes that even if Grand Ave approaches to Diamond Bar Blvd were widened to three through and one left turn lane and Diamond Bar approaches were widened to three through and two left turn lanes Call with turn arrows) rush hour traffic could still take several light changes to move through the intersection. The Golden Springs intersection would be even worse. 4Ad yl (2kevfN Indications of the understatement of projected traffic are: 0"."413 1) Last summer's Gateway Traffic Study predicted that traffic would be far higher. 2) Just over one year ago Chino hired a firm to do a Chino Circulation Plan Update which was not referenced, why not? 3) The Grand Ave. report used standards which would not likely apply to Chino Hills, i.e., the average distance to work used was 10.5 miles yet there are less than 1,000 jobs in Chino Hills which will have tens of thousands of houses, and of the standard 152,000 daily trip generations from Chino Hill's population 45,700 were to stay within Chino Hills-- with few jobs, schools, etc. where would they go? Many of those normally local trips would likely become non -local trips. I having complied with its 1982 General and Specific Plans which would have meant that Highway 71 was improved to freeway standards, Tonner Canyon and Dudley Roads were built, and that Chino Ave was extended from Highway 71 to Tonner Canyon-- none of these improvements have been made, yet new home construction has proceded as if these road projects had been completed. 5) Carbon Canyon Road has not been Improved as planned and is currently gridlocked at over 2000 of capacity. Yet the f;r�, study shows that some of the traffic to be generated by the C14 v� 26,000 to 38,000 more homes to be built will use Carbon Canyon. With Hwy 71 and Carbon Canyon saturated, the only way west will be Grand Ave. 6) There are several other good indicators of the understatement of traffic from Chino Hills which could be included, one is that it only addressed the near term impact through 1996 and did not address full build out in Chino Hills. LL Not considered in the report were such factors as safety (can a traffic impact report not address safety?) and noise and emissions, all subjects for an Enviormental Impact Report (EIR). Our citizens concluded that we had a real and legitimate concern and therefore developed and filed the law suit. The law suit was built using thousands of resident contributions of both money and time. Research has been done which would take months to reaccomplish. Hearings have been attended which were necessary in order to establish cause and claims. Expertise was found and used throughout the community. Special mention mus go to Vivian Shallito, attorney for the case, and to Kim Ko man, city planning specialist, for their extraordinary contributions. The law suit is based on the following facts: 1) San Bernardino Co. updated their General Plan and their Specific Plan, which did not follow their General Plan, back in 1982, 2) There have been numerous changes and new information has become available, yet the plans were never updated as required by law, 3) The EIR, which was built based on these two plans and which did not take into account regional factors as required, also has not been updated, and the 4) Most important fact is that they did not follow their own plans and take the mitigating actions required by thier own plans. As an example, they have built 33% of their homes but have only 10% of their infrastructure in place. They are out of compliance and should be made to bring their plans and their EIR up to date and then take the required mitigating actions before opening Grand Ave. Diamond Bar would have the legal opportunity to make inputs during any EIR review process. go to page 16 of the law suit go to 2 on page 20 and 21 The citizen's law suit against S. B. Co. is now in position to provide support to the City in fighting S.B. Cols. legal action to allow Grand to be opened. Likewise, the City is in position to provide support to the citizen's law suit. i!� 16 . A-uge 2 Ue 2-/ Mayor Fapen and City Council Members, we offer our support and would like your support. Stir-n�ll�•c�