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Home My WebLink About11/12/2020 - Minutes - Regular MeetingCITY OF DIAMOND BAR MINUTES OF THE TRAFFIC AND TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION MEETING NOVEMBER 12, 2020 Consistent with COVID-19 regulations, all Commissioners and staff participated via teleconference and there was no physical location for public attendance. The Public was invited to join the meeting online or by phone at the numbers printed on the meeting agenda. CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Gonzalez called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Commissioner Mehta led the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL: Commissioners Kim Hsieh, Surendra Mehta, Cynthia Quan, Vice-Chair Andrew Wong, Chair Michael Gonzalez Telephonically Present: David Liu, Public Works Director; Hal Ghafari, Public Works Manager/Assistant City Engineer; Christian Malpica, Associate Engineer; Fabian Aoun, Associate Engineer; Nicholas “Nick” Delgado, Engineering Technician; Marcy Hilario, Administrative Coordinator I. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: A. Traffic and Transportation Commission Meeting Minutes of September 10, 2020. C/Mehta moved, C/Hsieh seconded, to approve the Meeting Minutes of September 10, 2020 as presented. Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COMMISSIONERS: Hsieh, Mehta, Quan, VC/Wong, Chair/Gonzalez NOES: COMMISSIONERS: None ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: None II. PUBLIC COMMENTS: Yoga Anand and his family reside on Hawkwood Drive. Mr. Anand explained in the past three to four years, more drivers are speeding and driving in opposing lanes on their street and there are no stop signs, speed signs or traffic barriers on the roadway. He recommended Sheriff’s presence, a flashing speed limit indicator sign and stop and speed limit signs, as well as traffic mitigation measures. NOVEMBER 12, 2020 PAGE 2 T&T COMMISSION PWD/Liu explained the Neighborhood Traffic Management Program and Mr. Anand offered to provide the City with a signed petition to initiate the program. III. ITEMS FROM STAFF: A. TRAFFIC STATISTICS – August and September 2020. C/Quan moved, C/Mehta seconded, to receive and file the August and September 2020 Traffic Statistics. Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COMMISSIONERS: Hsieh, Mehta, Quan, Wong, Chair/Gonzalez NOES: COMMISSIONERS: None ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: None B. MONTHLY UPDATES OF PROJECTS/PROGRAMS: a) Adaptive Traffic Control Signal System (ATCS) – AE/Malpica - The City’s ATCS has been adjusted to accommodate an increase in arterial traffic during weekday rush hours. b) NTMP/N. Del Sol Lane Neighborhood – Neighborhood Traffic Management – AE/Aoun – Once the data has been collected, the City will share the results with the neighborhood captain and residents. Based on those results, a determination on how to proceed with the NTMP will be made. c) Grand Avenue/Golden Springs Drive Intersection Improvements – AE/Malpica – Hole #3 has been re-graded with new irrigation lines and new sods. The intersection improvement project requires a temporary construction agreement between the County of Los Angeles, as the owner of the golf course, and the City of Industry, which is in charge of the construction work. Road work and intersection construction will likely commence in January/February 2021. d) Diamond Bar Boulevard Complete Streets Corridor – AE/Aoun – As previously reported, the design phase for the entirety of this project has been completed. Staff has received the Plans, Specifications and Estimates (PS&E) documents from the project consultant. Staff continues to pursue additional funding for the construction phase of this project before moving forward. e) Diamond Bar Boulevard Rehabilitation (Mountain Laurel Way to Pathfinder Road) – AE/Aoun – Plans and Specifications are in the final NOVEMBER 12, 2020 PAGE 3 T&T COMMISSION review stage for this project. This would begin where last year’s project left off at the intersection of Diamond Bar Boulevard and Mountain Laurel Way and extend to Pathfinder Road with a 2 to 6” pavement grind and overlay to upgrade or construct new ADA curb ramps at the intersection. Staff plans to finalize the design as soon as possible and, once completed, plans will need to be approved by the City Council before going out to bid for construction. With approval, construction is likely to begin in early 2021, which is consistent with last year’s roadway project. f) Traffic Signal Battery Backup Project – AE/Aoun – The battery backup units are a critical part of the City’s public safety efforts, which allow traffic signals to fully operate for a short period of time and then convert to red flash for several hours in an emergency situation, such as a power outage. The City now has functional battery backup units for all 66 of the City-operated traffic signals. g) DBB Complete Streets Program – AE/Aoun - In September, the City applied for an ATP grant, for up to $2 million, that gives money to projects that include active transportation efforts. The Diamond Bar Boulevard Complete Streets Project will improve the bike lanes and provide a barrier between the sidewalk and the roadway. Staff expects to hear back within the next two months if the City is eligible for this grant award and if the City qualifies. Once the full amount is received, the project will commence construction next fiscal year. h) New City of Diamond Bar Transportation Study Guidelines for Vehicle Miles and Level of Service Assessment – PWM/Ghafari – Changes in state law have fundamentally redefined how project- generated traffic impacts are measured under CEQA. Rather than evaluating how a project affects motorists, CEQA now requires impacts of project-generated traffic to be measured in terms of its contribution to greenhouse gas emissions (GHE). The new metric used to assess such impacts is “Vehicle Miles Traveled” (VMT), replacing “Level of Service” (LOS) as the measure of transportation impacts in environmental impact reports and other CEQA documents. To establish new baselines and thresholds of significance to evaluate VMT impacts, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 2020-30 at its July 21st meeting. Subsequently, the City’s Traffic Impact Analysis Guidelines (TIA, Rev. 2009) was updated to reflect the change to the project evaluation process. The City, with the assistance of a consultant, completed a comprehensive update of the City’s TIA entitled “City of Diamond Bar Transportation Study Guidelines for Vehicle Miles Traveled and Level of Service Assessment” (TSG). This replaces the TIA and the TSG and establishes the methodology for determining the baselines from which VMT thresholds are measured. NOVEMBER 12, 2020 PAGE 4 T&T COMMISSION Outside of the CEQA process, the City has the option to continue to evaluate projects using the LOS metric and still assess fair share fees for intersection and other roadway improvements. Diamond Bar will continue to do so in accordance with General Plan Goals and Policies and the new TSG. PWM/Ghafari responded to Commissioner’s questions and provided further details about how the studies are conducted and used for new projects. C/Mehta moved, VC/Wong seconded, to receive and file the updates on Various Projects/Programs. Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COMMISSIONERS: Hsieh, Mehta, Quan, VC/Wong, Chair/Gonzalez NOES: COMMISSIONERS: None ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: None IV. OLD BUSINESS: None V. NEW BUSINESS: None VI. STATUS OF PREVIOUS ACTION ITEMS: None VII. ITEMS FROM COMMISSIONERS: C/Quan thanked staff for maintaining the City during COVID-19. C/Hsieh thanked staff and wished everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Chair/Gonzales wished everyone Happy Holidays. C/Mehta wished everyone Happy Holidays and asked everyone to stay safe. VII. SCHEDULE OF FUTURE CITY EVENTS: As noted in the Agenda. ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business to come before the Traffic and Transportation Commission, Chair/Gonzalez adjourned the meeting at 7:25 p.m. to Thursday, January 14, 2021. NOVEMBER 12, 2020 PAGE 5 T&T COMMISSION The foregoing minutes are hereby approved this day of 2021. Respectfully Submitted, ______________________________ David G. Liu, Secretary Attest: _____________________________ Michael Gonzalez, Chairperson