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HomeMy WebLinkAbout5/9/2002CITY OF DIAMOND BAR MINUTES OF THE TRAFFIC AND TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION MAY 9, 2002 CALL TO ORDER: Chairman Virginkar called the meeting to order at 7:12 p.m. in the South Coast Air Quality Management/Government Center Hearing Board Room, 21865 E. Copley Drive, Diamond Bar, California 91765. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Vice Chairman Morris led the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL: Present: Chairman Virginkar, Vice Chairman Morris and Commissioners Vinod Kashyap, Liana Pincher and Tony Torng. Also Present: David Liu, Director of Public Works, John Ilasin, Assistant Engineer; Kirk Phillips, Associate Engineer, Sharon Gomez, Management Analyst, Debbie Gonzales, Administrative Assistant and Deputy John Burdelas, Walnut/Diamond Bar Sheriff's Department. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: A. B Minutes of March 14, 2002. VC/Morris moved, C/Torng seconded, to approve the March 14, 2002 minutes as presented. Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COMMISSIONERS: NOES: COMMISSIONERS: ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: Minutes of April 11, 2002. Kashyap, Pincher, Torng, VC/Morris, ChairNirginkar None None C/Kashyap moved, C/Pincher seconded, to approve the April 11, 2002 minutes as presented. Motion approved by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COMMISSIONERS: Kashyap, Pincher, Torng, ChairNirginkar NOES: COMMISSIONERS: None ABSTAIN: COMMISSIONERS: VC/Morris ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: None III. COMMISSION COMMENTS ChairNirginkar stated that he prepared a memo with attachments for Commissioners regarding alternate means for traffic speeding mitigation. MAY 9, 2002 PAGE 2 T&T COMMISSION IV. PUBLIC COMMENTS Melanie Southard, 22932 Sunset Crossing Road, wanted to make the Commission aware that there is a lot of drag racing occurring on Sunset Crossing Road near the YMCA baseball field. Vehicles reach speeds of 70 to 80 mph. She proposed stop signs be installed on Sunset Crossing Road at Chaparral, Prospectors Road and Old Trail. Deputies are doing what they can but it is not enough. There are only three patrol cars for all of Diamond Bar. Chair/Virginkar asked staff to prepare a report and place this matter on next month's agenda. VC/Morris suggested that the Sheriff's representative speak with Ms. Southard about patrolling the area at the appropriate times. In response to C/Kashyap, Ms. Southard indicated that this phenomenon was occurring daily. The suspected speeders live off of Sunset Crossing Road. Deputy Martin went to her home yesterday to receive a report from her. In all, she believed there were two individuals involved. C/Torng suggested that the Neighborhood Watch Program might be able to assist in this matter. DPW/Liu stated that staff would work with the Sheriff's Department to make certain this issue is addressed. C/Kashyap commented that in approximately six weeks kids would be on vacation for the summer. He suggested that something positive be done about the drag racing before the kids are on vacation. Kwang Ho Lee, 23746 Goldrush Drive and Tom Poulson, 23737 E. Goldrush Drive stated that due to the significant increase in population in the city, there are inherent problems that need to be addressed: noise, heavy traffic, speeding traffic, etc. Mr. Lee stated that these factors present an unsafe environment. He used a delicate device to measure the noise level. Today he measured between 4:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. behind a closed window (59.8 Db) and from his open door (80 Db). He believed that much of the increased noise level resulted from speeding vehicles. The Botts dots have been totally ineffective and useless. No one pays attention to the dots and the vehicles traveling over them increase the noise level. In addition, the 25 mph speed limit is not suitable to Goldrush Drive. There are approximately 700 vehicles per hour driving on his street. The average driving speed of those vehicles is about 37 mph. He believes the speed for the street should be 15 to 20 mph. The current speed limit is not enforced and continuing police patrol is not realistic. Further he recommended the city consider use of video enforcement. He proposed the following: 1) Remove the Botts dots. 2) Post speed limit signs for 15 or 20 mph. 3) Install video camera enforcement on the street. He asked the Commission to provide a formal response to their requests. MAY 9, 2002 PAGE 3 T&T COMMISSION Tom Poulson said he had a vehicle end up in his yard — his neighbor has had two. He has gone through a lot of trouble with insurance companies in an attempt to get his property repaired. It scares him to go to his mailbox on the street. Law enforcement is present on his street a lot of the time but they cannot be there all of the time. A lot of children live on Goldrush Drive. They cannot play in their front yards and they cannot walk to and from school. During the city birthday party, Goldrush Drive was like a main street and vehicles did not pay attention to the speed limit. He believed a video security system was a good idea and an economical solution. DPW/Liu said that more than a quarter of the city's annual budget goes toward public safety. The City Council is looking at short term and long-term traffic mitigation measures as part of its next fiscal year budget considerations. Tom Poulson suggested closing the street at the top and using the other two streets for ingress/egress. Don Sizemore, 23751 E. Goldrush Drive, said that his street is a 12 percent grade street. The Botts dots do nothing more than create noise. As long as there are no vehicles parked at curbside, most people make a best effort to sidestep the dots by driving as close to the curb as possible. Leyland Drive has two strips of dots that are extended from curb to curb. Those dots are also ineffective - they merely create twice the noise. This matter was discussed at the last Commission meeting and when he arrived home after that meeting he saw a vehicle in his neighbors yard. The day the speed trailer was placed on Goldrush Drive it was not operational. Unfortunately, the SR 57/60 has become the busiest freeway interchange in Los Angeles County. CalTrans uses video security on the freeways for vehicle accident enforcement and they work. According to his calculations during peak hours, the average speed on his street is 37 mph for an average 750 vehicles per hour. Tom Ortiz, 3308 Hawkwood Road, reiterated his concerns about the citation (Case No. A02924) he received for gates that open outward and have for the last 24 years. In response to C/Kashyap, DPW/Liu stated that Mr. Ortiz received a notice, not a citation. C/Kashyap asked staff to research the code to see if Mr. Ortiz could be granted the opportunity to maintain his current gates and arrange for supervised ingress/egress. MAY 9, 2002 PAGE 4 T&T COMMISSION V. CONSENT CALENDAR None The Commission concurred with Chair/Virginkar's request to move the Traffic Enforcement report by the Sheriff's Department to immediately following Consent Calendar. VI. ITEMS FROM STAFF A. Traffic Enforcement Update — presented by Deputy John Burdelas. Deputy Burdelas explained that it is not possible to change the prima facia speed on Goldrush Drive. He said he has been writing tickets in that area for several years and it is less of a problem now. It is rare to have someone drive extremely fast in that area. VII. OLD BUSINESS A. Adelphia Parking Needs on Brea Canyon Road. DSA/Smith presented staff's report. Staff recommends that the Traffic and Transportation Commission receive public comments, discuss the issues and concur with staff's recommendation to retain the red curb markings on the westerly side of Brea Canyon Road from Lycoming Street beyond the Adelphia driveway. (Continued from the April 11, 2002 meeting) Joe Dunn, Adelphia, said he originally requested the red curbing because the truckers going into AM/PM were parking on the portion of street used by Adelphia's technicians for loading and unloading. When the red curb was installed there was no issue of a sight visibility problem. Ordinarily, technicians are parked on the street for a total of two to two and one-half hours out of the day. The reason Adelphia does not use its parking lot for the purposes of loading and unloading is that the entire lot is assigned parking. There is very little parking. There are two systems that report to Diamond Bar (Glendora and Diamond Bar) and they are on different schedules. If Adelphia tried to fit all of the vans into the parking lot it would be extremely difficult because the gate is on remote control and the gate closes behind every van. He asked the Commission to consider making the area a temporary loading/unloading zone during specific hours such as 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday or to allow Adelphia to engage in a permit system with the city. The majority of loading and unloading occurs in the morning hours. VC/Morris felt staff should revisit this area with respect to the sight visibility issues and make an accommodation to the business similar to that made in the area of Charlie's Sandwich Shoppe. MAY 9, 2002 PAGE 5 T&T COMMISSION DPW/Liu explained that staff previously determined a sight visibility problem due to the size and type of vehicles. Staff believes that the business could do better in terms of managing their on-site parking. Charlie's Sandwich Shoppe has no on-site parking. Based upon staff's site observations and information received from Adelphia, staff would not recommend modifications or changes to the current red curbing. B. Speed Hump Policy AE/Phillips explained the proposed changes to the proposed speed hump policy. Staff recommends that the Traffic and Transportation Commission receive staff's report, discuss the proposed City of Diamond Bar Speed Hump Policy and recommend that the City Council adopt the City of Diamond Bar Speed Hump Policy. Chery Cooper, 23826 Decorah Road, commended staff on incorporation of ideas presented by members of the public. The homeowners association now has 67 percent acceptance of the combined number of residents (the entire stretch of Decorah and Navajo Springs Road) The policy is generally the same as the policy presented by staff last month. There is a negative tone to the policy and she would prefer that it be written in a more positive tone. She presented her draft proposed (positive) policy to the Commission. She took exception to the statement that the problem of speeding is "elusive" and the statement that "nevertheless, residents continue to request the installation of some type of traffic control measure to address the real or perceived speeding problem in their neighborhood." Further, the criteria are couched in negative language such as "shall not" repeated over and over. She wanted "shall" in place of "shall not" statements. The third element of Vehicle Code Section 40802B would exclude many streets in Diamond Bar and she believed there should not be a definition included that disallows streets unless they are '/z mile in uninterrupted length. Last month staff defended the statement that allows for removal or modification of a speed hump without regard to the policy. She did not believe it was appropriate to have a statement in a policy that says the policy has been adopted but the city does not have to follow it. To include a statement that the city can remove a speed hump suggests the city is not going to follow the policy but everyone else has to follow the policy. She asked that this language be excluded. She again expressed concern about the 67 percent. She gave the Commission information she acquired from the City of Sacramento. She reiterated her suggestion that the policy be written in a more positive tone. C/Kashyap recommended that staff continue to work with Chery Cooper on the tone of the policy. Jerry Berns, 225 N. Platina Drive, opposed the speed hump policy. When temporary speed humps were installed on adjacent streets, traffic on his MAY 9, 2002 PAGE 5 T&T COMMISSION street increased dramatically. He agreed with VC/Morris that when you "fix" a problem on one street it creates a problem on other streets. He was also concerned that in case of emergency the speed humps would slow down response from emergency services. Dan Hibbard, 328 Navajo Springs Road, welcomed the speed humps. He agreed that traffic still moves too fast. He suggested considering speed bumps because they are higher. He thought the speed survey should be conducted between the speed hump on Decorah Road and the north end of Navajo Springs Road. He did not believe that emergency vehicles were deterred by speed humps. He would like to see a greater partnership with the sheriff's department with regard to traffic enforcement. He disagreed that peace officers have more important things to do than traffic enforcement. Lillian Hayes, 222 N. Platina Drive, spoke against installation of speed humps. They may serve a good purpose but they have created a big problem for Platina Drive. Platina has now become a cut -through street to Diamond Bar Boulevard. She asked the city to survey her street. Ray Hollenbeck, 208 Navajo Springs Road, sympathized with the residents who live on Platina. Surveys of his street indicate traffic has decreased so it is being rerouted to other streets. Overall, the speed has been cut in half on his street so he does not believe the speed humps should be removed. C/Pincher suggested a reference to the standards for speed humps be included in the policy. VC/Morris felt that the draft policy should be forwarded to the City Council as an informational item to be part and parcel of a complete comprehensive traffic mitigation system for the city. C/Kashyap would like staff to look at the scope of work — speed humps, stop signs, video cameras, blocking off streets, etc. He did not believe any one of those options on their own merit was the answer. Given a choice of these and any other mitigation measures that might be considered, the city should look at an overall package application and use this type of criteria to arrive at a best answer. He is concerned about the runaway cost of speed humps. He believed that if the city concentrated on the streets that form arteries to the freeways a large portion of the problem would either go away or be close to going away. Further, he believed that the community should partner with the sheriff's department to make mitigation efforts successful. ChairNirginkar said he is most concerned about the increase in the number of vehicles traveling in excess of 50 mph. It tells him that people are adjusting to the speed humps. He concurred that this policy should be a MAY 9, 2002 PAGE 7 T&T COMMISSION part of the citywide package. He spoke about other cities' policies regarding traffic enforcement. C/Kashyap moved to accept staff's recommendation to recommend that the City Council adopt the City of Diamond Bar Speed Hump Policy. Motion died for lack of a second. C/Torng stated that it is an irresponsible reflection on the commission; however, the situation is a very difficult one since they are also trying to consider the needs of the residents on Platina. DPW/Liu explains that if the speed hump policy were forwarded to City Council it would be proposed that the commission change portable speed humps into permanent speed humps. C/Torng moved, C/Kashyap seconded, to recommend that the City Council adopt the City of Diamond Bar Speed Hump Policy. Motion approved by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COMMISSIONERS: Kashyap, Torng, Pincher NOES: COMMISSIONERS: VC/Morris, ChairNirginkar ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: None VIII. NEW BUSINESS A. SigmaNet Parking Needs at 732 N. Diamond Bar Boulevard. MA/Gomez presented staff's report. Staff recommends that the Traffic and Transportation Commission concur with staff's recommendation to establish approximately 460 feet of parking zone for Sigma Internet, Inc. on easterly N. Diamond Bar Boulevard. VC/Morris did not understand why this matter was referred to the Traffic and Transportation Commission rather than the Planning Commission. The Commission recently denied similar requests from businesses for parking. Does this business have a right to receive an exception? Council Member Debby O'Connor explained that the City Council approved to look into whether or not it was viable to provide street parking. There is no way that the city could specify that this parking would be available to SigmaNet exclusively. The Council agreed to try to provide the opportunity for street parking. C/Torng asked if it is possible to extend the area since there is no sight visibility concern. MAY 9, 2002 PAGE S T&T COMMISSION DPW/Liu responded that the request was to provide a minimum of 20 on - street parking spaces only. The spaces would be available on a first-come first -serve basis. VC/Morris reiterated his concern about setting a bad precedent. Further, he felt that the bike lane should not be disrupted. DPW/Liu stated that this is one of the negotiated conditions and was established as part of the agreement. Staff felt that the Traffic and Transportation should be informed of this matter. C/Torng moved, C/Kashyap seconded, to establish approximately 460 feet of parking zone on easterly N. Diamond Bar Boulevard. Motion carried by the following Rall Call vote: AYES: COMMISSIONERS: NOES: COMMISSIONERS: ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: B. Area 4 Slurry Seal Striping Kashyap, Pincher, Torng, ChairNirginkar VC/Morris None AE/Phillips presented staff's report. Staff recommends that the Traffic and Transportation Commission receive staff's report, receive public comments, discuss, and concur with staff's recommendation to reinstall all of the existing residential street centerline striping in Slurry Seal Area 4 as it currently exists. Don Sizemore, 23751 E. Goldrush Drive, said that the letter he received from the city regarding this matter stated the Botts dots would be reinstalled. He asked that the Botts dots not be reinstalled or reinstall them in two separate rows curb to curb. Debby O'Connor read a letter from Bob Huff, 441 Navajo Springs Road, into the record. Mr. Huff asked that for reasons stated, that the Commission not recommend restoring double -yellow lines in neighborhoods, but instead, place the skipped yellow lines where appropriate. Debby O'Connor, 23725 Bower Cascade Place, stated her personal views about slurry seal practices. When her street was slurry sealed in 1997 a double yellow stripe was placed down the middle. To date, she has not received information and copies of the study she requested in 1997 that were used to determine that a double yellow stripe should be placed in the center of Bower Cascade Place. There are 656 homes in the Diamond Point Homeowners Association, a portion of slurry seal area 4. Approximately 81 households responded and approximately 24 (30 percent) requested changes in the striping. She asked if it is reasonable to re -install the same striping that was done prior to the existence of a striping policy, or should the matter be re- MAY 9, 2002 PAGE 9 T&T COMMISSION I►A evaluated to determine which, if any, striping should be done. In her opinion, residential streets do not need double yellow centerline striping. The July 31, 2001 minutes of the joint City Council/Traffic and Transportation Commission meeting indicate that Sergeant Flannery, Los Angeles Sheriff's Department made this quote: "The Sheriff does not wish to enforce crossing over the lines in residential areas." AE/Phillips responded to ChairNirginkar that staff's reason for reinstalling the original striping is that short of doing a survey on every street that currently has residential centerline striping, it would be logical to assume that the survey for the striping was determined before the striping was laid down. To go back and do another study would not be necessary. Following extensive Commission discussion, VC/Morris moved, C/Pincher seconded, to direct staff to evaluate the streets in slurry area 4 with existing striping, modify the striping to the least invasive striping that allows adequate safety concerns and provide advance notification to the residents. Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COMMISSIONERS: NOES: COMMISSIONERS: ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: STATUS OF PREVIOUS ACTION ITEMS: Kashyap, Pincher, Torng, VC/Morris, ChairNirginkar None None DPW/Liu stated that at its May 7 meeting, the City Council approved the "Safe Routes to School" grant funds application for possible construction funding of two left -turn signals currently under design on Pathfinder Road — one at Evergreen Springs and the other one at Brea Canyon Road/Fern Hollow. Also at that meeting, the Council approved the pians and specifications for Area 4 slurry seal as well as, approved a resolution in establishing parking restrictions within the limits of all freeway over and underpasses. On May 21, 2002, the City Council will consider the three-way stop signs on Summitridge Drive at Softwind. X. ITEMS FROM COMMISSIONERS: C/Torng was happy to hear that Council considers traffic mitigation as one of its top priorities. He hopes that the city can come up with a total package that will be robust enough to solve this very difficult problem. He has heard many complaints about Goldrush Drive and the larger picture needs to be addressed. Goldrush Drive is one part of the problem. C/Kayshup thanked staff for an outstanding job in presenting all sides of several issues this evening. It was an eye-opening evening. MAY 9, 2002 PAGE 10 T&T COMMISSION VC/Morris reported that following an accident at the corner of Carpio Drive and Golden Springs Drive the traffic signal was repaired. However, there are four overhead streetlights that have not been repaired. He said his daughter tells him that the westerly left turn signal from Golden Springs Drive onto Diamond Bar Boulevard is too short. During peak school hours traffic is backed up to Rancheria Road and numerous vehicles run the light after the signal turns red. ChairNirginkar asked if the Commission should agendize the Navajo Springs Road speed hump issue and potential effects on adjacent streets such as Platina Drive for further consideration. VC/Morris suggested this would be a good item to discuss during the Commission's joint meeting with the City Council. ChairNirginkar believed that the Commission should review its goals and objectives prior to meeting with the Council. XI. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS: A. Future Agenda Items — as indicated. XII. SCHEDULE OF FUTURE CITY EVENTS — as agendized. ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business to come before the Traffic and Transportation Commission, ChairNirginkar adjourned the meeting at 11:47 p.m. Respectfully, D -bid Liu, Secretary Attest: Chairman Arun Virginkar