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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/09/2020 - Minutes - Regular MeetingCITY OF DIAMOND BAR MINUTES OF THE TRAFFIC AND TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION MEETING WINDMILL COMMUNITY ROOM, DIAMOND BAR CITY HALL 21810 COPLEY DRIVE, DIAMOND BAR JANUARY 9, 2020 CALL TO ORDER: Chairman Garg called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. in the Diamond Bar City Hall Windmill Community Room, 21810 Copley Drive, Diamond Bar, California 91765, PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Vice -Chair Gonzalez led the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL: Commissioners Surendra Mehta, Cynthia Quan, Andrew Wong, Vice -Chair Michael Gonzalez and Chair/Mahendra Garg Also Present: David Liu, Public Works Director; Christian Malpica, Associate Engineer; Fabian Aoun, Associate Engineer; Nicholas "Nick" Delgado, Engineering Technician; and, Marcy Hilario, Administrative Coordinator. I. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: A. Traffic and Transportation Commission Meeting Minutes of November 14, 2019. C/Mehta moved, C/Quan seconded, to approve the Meeting Minutes of November 14, 2019 as presented. Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COMMISSIONERS: Mehta, Quan, Wong, VC/Gonzalez, Chair/Garg NOES: COMMISSIONERS: None ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: None I1. PUBLIC COMMENTS: None III. ITEMS FROM STAFF: A. TRAFFIC STATISTICS —October and November 2019: C/Quan moved, VC/Gonzalez seconded, to Receive and File the October and November 2019 Traffic Statistics. Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: JANUARY 9, 2020 PAGE 2 T&T COMMISSION AYES: COMMISSIONERS: Mehta, Quan, Wong, VC/Gonzalez, Chair/Garg NOES: COMMISSIONERS: None ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: None B. MONTHLY UPDATES OF VARIOUS PROJECTS/PROGRAMS: a) Adaptive Traffic Control Signal Sysfem (ATCS) — AE/Malpica —The system is fully deployed as of the end of December and staff is scheduled to complete a series of six training sessions this month, as well as conduct a system assessment. Staff will continue to fine-tune the system for the next couple of months to make sure it is performing properly. b) Pantera Neighborhood Traffic Management Plan — AE/Malpica — Staff invited the neighborhood to attend the second meeting this evening which will be detailed under Item 4.1. c) Castle Rock NTMP between Cold Springs Lane and Fountain Springs Road— AE/Malpica —Construction has been completed. Staff continues to work with the contractor to make final adjustments on the punch list that are slated to be completed by late January/early February. Residents have provided positive feedback to staff and have extended their thanks to the Commission for approving the devices. d) Grand Avenue/Golden Springs Drive Intersection /mprovemenfs— AE/Malpica — Construction of the Diamond Bar Golf Course hole #3 is scheduled to commence this month prior to slope work to support the roadway widening. The extra time will allow for completion of the maintenance agreement between Diamond Bar, L.A. County and the City of Industry. e) Diamond Bar Boulevard Complete Streets Corridor— AE/Malpica — The consultant continues to work on the design plans while staff continues to pursue additional funding for construction of the project. fl TR63623—South Pointe Residential Development/LarksfonePark— for the developer to finalize all final punch list items. This consists of some utility work, including annexation of the sewers to L.A. County, annexation of the street lights to L.A. County, and finalization of the Certificate of Occupancy for the homes. g) Area 7 and Diamond Bar Boulevard Project — AE/Aoun —All chip seal and cape seal applications have been completed on the local roads. Phase I and II of the slurry seal portion have also been completed with a few streets remaining for completion of Phase II. The JANUARY 9. 2020 IV PAGE 3 T&T COMMISSION last phase will begin next week and should be completed the following week of January 15". Following completion, punch list items will be addressed in the residential neighborhoods. For the Diamond Bar Boulevard portion, preliminary construction items between Mountain Laurel Way and Clear Creek Canyon Drive have been completed. Curb ramps have been completed and sewer manholes have been lowered to grade in preparation of the pavement grinding, which is scheduled to begin January 15tn and be completed by January 22nd. Paving operations will begin on January 20th and be completed by January 24tn Along this route, the traffic control has been limited to hours that avoid peak hour traffic on both northbound and southbound Diamond Bar Boulevard. C/Quan moved, VC/Gonzalez seconded, to receive and file the updates on Various Projects/Programs. Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COMMISSIONERS: Mehta, Quan, Wong, VC/Gonzalez, Chair/Garg NOES: COMMISSIONERS: None ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: None OLD BUSINESS: A. PANTERA DRIVE NEIGHBORHOOD TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT PROGRAM (NTMP) AE/Malpica updated the Commission on the Pantera Drive NTMP and provided background to the attendees, as well as a Power Point presentation to explain the proposed traffic calming devices recommended by staff. VC/Gonzalez and AE/Malpica discussed peak times of speeding and whether traffic had slowed down. VC/Gonzalez also asked about what occurs with traffic when there are games at Pantera Park in progress. He stated when visiting the area, he observed cars going much faster. C/Wong asked about alternatives to getting 67 percent of the residents to sign the petition for those who do not have on-line access. AE/Malpica explained that previously, the City had mailed letters and petitions to affected resident; however, this was found to be an unsuccessful method for getting people involved. Subsequently, the on-line petition has provided better aInd positive feedback. PWD/Liu stated that, in consideration of moving forward with the next steps of collaboration with residents, staff will need to provide an updated letter to 154 households. This will give them the option of completing the enclosed survey JANUARY 9, 2020 PAGE 4 T&T COMMISSION or going on-line to the City's website to provide comments in order to arrive at the 67 percent (103 households) approval. C/Mehta agreed with the concept of both on-line access and a mailing to residents because he felt it would increase response. VC/Gonzalez asked if the City would try one of the traffic calming options or install all of them at the same time. Center lines look like a good option for slowing the traffic, he added. PWD/Liu responded to VC/Gonzalez that based on staffs experience having implemented many of these neighborhood programs, in order to do a comprehensive job, it is most prudent to install everything at one time. The data indicates people are speeding. If, however, residents respond that they do not like to see a center line or edge lines, staff will make every attempt to educate them to the fact that this it is the right approach to install everything at the same time. Chair/Garg asked for public comments. Stephanie Lubian, 823 Rexford Court, asked if the City was also monitoring those cars that run stop signs while assessing the speeders. She feels ninety percent of the drivers who run the stop signs are not necessarily speeding. Just two days ago, she was nearly hit when she was trying to turn onto Rexford Court because the oncoming car did not stop at the stop sign. AE/Malpica responded that staff will work closely with the Sheriffs Department regarding this enforcement issue. Donovan Martinez, 635 Pantera Drive (corner of Shady Place and Pantera Drive) asked if there was any discussion about addressing this area through this program (outside of the yellow boundary indicated on the map). Pantera Drive is a downgrade, east from the school to Leyland Drive. Once drivers get on the straight line of traffic just past Sentry Drive, drivers tend to increase their speed. He asked if this area could also be considered for traffic calming devices. Cindee Ocon lives at 24309 Sentry Drive, a couple of houses away from Pantera Drive, just above where the previous speaker lives. She also wanted to know if that area had been considered from the stop sign at Bowcreek Drive down to the stop sign at Armitos Place/Leyland Drive. It is a longer stretch and there are no other stop signs to slow traffic. Ms. Ocon believes a stop sign at Sentry Drive would help tremendously. She goes to the park often to walk, and some weeknights there are a lot of people coming from outside the neighborhood to use the basketball courts. Chair/Garg said that it was not encouraging to him that only four residents were present this evening out of 154 households. He asked the speakers to JANUARY 9, 2020 PAGE 5 T&T COMMISSION help get their neighbors to sign the petition so that staff could move torward with the installation. Cindee Ocon said she has not seen the petition and asked if it had been circulated. PWDlLiu responded that this has moved beyond the petition process. This program was initiated last year when 154 households were invited to the Commission meeting to discuss the proposal. Prior to that, staff worked with the neighborhood captains to start talking with their neighbors, around April, May 2019, about participating in the program. Residents who have been involved were limited to the two streets and from the comments from folks outside of the current study area, PWD/Liu suggested that this be done in a phased approach. Currently, the 154 households have been working with staff and have been engaged in the process and the City should move forward to finish the process as initiated. Whether or not the City should expand beyond the current parameters, he would consider approaching it as a second phase. C/Wong asked if studies have shown that placing speed cushions strategically tend to stop drivers from blowing through stop signs. PWD/Liu responded there are many studies that show how traffic calming measures work together with stop sign controlled intersections. However, stop sign controlled intersections are regulated very differently. Sam Ocon, 24309 Sentry Drive, said it appears the focus is on Pantera Drive. He wondered a there was going to be another phase to this program because traffic on Sentry Drive, between Pantera Drive and Claywood Drive, is being used as a cut -through by speeding traffic. PWnil iu explained how staff arrived at the highlighted area. 1) Staff wants to have a clearly defined area to focus the studies on and 2) staff wants to make sure that, even for residents who are not close to proposed improvements, staff can identify who might be using that stretch of roadway. This is why the area goes beyond the area in and around the school. It is very clear that based on traffic counts along Pantera Drive, they exceed 1300 which indicates to staff that it is a busy street. Based on his experience, PWD/Liu is reluctant to classify traffic as cut -through, because the fact is that the people who are using those streets may actually be residents. Also, for the most part, people who use those streets are familiar with the neighborhood, which is why they use that street. In this case, staff wants to quantify the problem because the majority of those people are speeding, which is directly related to "safety" ssues for residents, drivers, pedestrians and children. While he sees the need to follow up with additional households and perhaps additional streets, the focus has been to address the bulk of the problem, which is speeding along Pantera Drive. The only effective way to deal with the speeding is with speed cushions — not the stop signs, not the edge line, and not the centerline. JANUARY 9, 2020 PAGE 6 T&T COMMISSION V VI VII C/Mehta thanked PWD/Liu for explaining the process to the speakers from Sentry Drive and stated the Commission appreciated their presence and bringing these matters to the attention of the Commissioners and staff. C/Mehta moved, C/Quan seconded, to concurwith staffs recommendation to move forward by reaching out to the residents to sign the petition for the City to move forward with conclusion of the design plans and implementation of the traffic calming tools. Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COMMISSIONERS: Mehta, Quan, Wong, VC/Gonzalez, Chair/Garg NOES: COMMISSIONERS: None ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: None NEW BUSINESS: None. STATUS OF PREVIOUS ACTION ITEMS: AE/Malpica responded to concerns expressed by C/Mehta at the last Commission meeting regarding the storage length and timing of the left turn lane being too short at the north SR-57 at Diamond Bar Boulevard. ET/Delgado determined that the lane is 150 to 160 feet long; therefore, during the last few weeks, staff extended the green light phase so that it is now consistent with the traffic signal crossing at Sunset Crossing Road and Diamond Bar Boulevard. At times, the lane may become congested; however, after the adjustments were made, the lane is cleared, most of the time. C/Mehta said he noticed the change/improvement. AE/Malpica indicated that in addition, staff added green time during peak hours (school rush hour) to the left -turn pocket on Golden Springs Drive proceeding eastbound at Diamond Bar Boulevard. The reason the lane is short is that there is a direct conflict with the left -turn on Golden Springs Drive at Torito Lane. Staff continues to monitor the intersection. ITEMS FROM COMMISSIONERS: C/Quan said that while visiting family in Claremont, as she exited the freeway, she noticed a sign "red right turn yields to green U-turn" and wondered if that would be possible to post in Diamond Bar, especially at the intersection of Grand Avenue and Diamond Bar Boulevard. PWD/Liu responded to C/Quan that Diamond Bar has several locations that indicate "right turn must yield to U-turn", such as the one at the south end of Diamond Bar Boulevard in the area of Evangelical Free Church. At other intersections, such as on Grand Avenue at Longview Drive, there are signs that simply say "no right turn on red" and on Copley Drive at Golden Springs Drive. PWD/Liu said he would work with staff to consider C/QuanIs comments. VIII. SCHEDULE OF FUTURE CITY EVENTS; As noted in the Agenda JANJARY 9, 2020 PAGE 7 T&T COMMISSION PWD/Liu stated that during the March meeting, the Traffic and Transportation will hold is annual reorganization. In the near future, Commissioners will receive an email from CC/Santana to remind all 15 Commissioners that current terms will end. The letter will remind Commissioners to reach out to the Council Member who appointed them, if they wish to continue to serve on our T&T Commission. ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business to come before the Traffic and Transportation Commission, Chair/Garg adjourned the meeting at 7:22 p.m. The foregoing minutes are hereby approved this is day of M 2020. Respectful) mi , D G, iu, Secretary Attest: