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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/12/2017 - Minutes - Regular MeetingCITY OF i. • 1 .. _ _ - _. JANUARY 12, 2017 Chair Pechy called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in the Diamond Bar City Hall Windmill Community Room, 21810 Copley Drive, Diamond Bar, California 91765. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Commissioner Garg led the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL: Commissioners Mahendra Garg, Shokoufeh Mirzaei, Cynthia Quan, Vice Chair Surendra Mehta, Chairman Ed Pechy 0-4-1:41Z Commissioner Mirzaei was excused. Also Present: David Liu, Public Works Director; Kimberly Young, Senior Civil Engineer; Christian Malpica, Associate Engineer; John Beshay, Associate Engineer; Fabian Aoun, Assistant Engineer; and, Marcy Hilario, Administrative Coordinator A. Minutes of the November 10, 2016 Regular Meeting C/Garg moved, C/Quan seconded, to approve the Regular Meeting Minutes of the November 10, 2016. Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COMMISSIONERS: Garg, Quan, VC/Mehta NOES: COMMISSIONERS: None ABSTAIN: COMMISSIONERS: Chair/Pechy ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: Mirzaei II. PUBLIC COMMENTS: Rajvir Dua, Diamond Bar High School honor student, shared that a couple of months ago he began researching traffic in Diamond Bar because it affects him and his father on a daily basis. He recently sent an email to C/Garg indicating his interest in working with the Commission to help with research as a volunteer intern. JANUARY 12, 2017 PAGE 2 T&T COMMISSION PWD/Liu explained that staff received his interest today and the attached resume, which was forwarded to the City's Human Resources division. He added that the City has an internship program; however, students must go through proper channels to take advantage of the program. At this time, the Public Works Department has that position filled. The internship program is for a 12 -month term and the speaker's information will be kept on file for future consideration. C/Garg stated the resume was very impressive and the letter as written is, in his opinion, far beyond high school level. ITEMS FROM STAFF: A. Traffic Enforcement Update: 1. Citations: October, November & December 2016 2. Collisions: October, November & December 2016 3. Street Sweeping: October, November & December 2016 C/Quan moved, C/Garg seconded, to Receive and File the Traffic Enforcement Update for October, November & December 2016. Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COMMISSIONERS: Garg, Quan, VC/Mehta, Chair/Pechy NOES: COMMISSIONERS: None ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: Mirzaei PWD/Liu reported that, effective February 1, 2017, parking fines related to no parking on street sweeping days will increase from $40 to $50 per ticket. When staff compiled the annual street sweeping parking violation information for Council's consideration, the numbers were as follows: For Fiscal Year 2013-14, the total annual number of parking citations was 4,904; for Fiscal Year 2014-15, the total annual number of parking citations increased to 4,969, and for Fiscal Year 2015-16, the total annual number of parking citations increased slightly to 4,977. Since the number is approximately 5,000 per year, it was determined that the $40 did not appear to deter illegal parking during those specific hours. In addition, the Citywants to promote and make sure that it has the most effective street sweeping operation that meets federal requirements with respect to meeting the Stormwater Quality Mandates. Chair/Pechy asked if there would be public notification to encourage people to move their vehicles to which PWD/Liu responded affirmatively. C/Mehta asked for clarification regarding the total number of citations and the total cost. PWD/Liu explained. JANUARY 12, 2017 PAGE 3 T&T COMMISSION C/Garg asked how long the increase would be in effect. PWD/Liu responded that this will be set until the City Council decides otherwise. IV. OLD BUSINESS: None V. NEW BUSINESS: None VI. STATUS Or PREVIOUS ACTION ITEMS: None C/Garg asked how to get to the South Point Residential Project. SCE/Young explained that the access is located off of Larkstone Drive, which is on the other side of the gate in front of South Point Middle School. In order to access the site, one must travel west on Golden Springs Drive and turn left on Lemon Avenue, then head into the neighborhood. The gate is located on school property and it is used for circulation. When the school was constructed, one of the requirements was that the gate remain closed and be opened only for emergency purposes to prohibit cut - through traffic from Brea Canyon Road to Golden Springs Drive. This decision was made due to concerns expressed by the neighborhood within the Lemon Avenue residential Community when the school was being constructed. C/Garg asked if South Pointe Middle School .was in Diamond Bar or Walnut. SCE/Young responded that the school is located within the city limits of Diamond Bar and may have a Walnut mailing address and zip code; as do many properties west of Brea Canyon Road. One's address is dictated by the post office that delivers to the property, not by the physical city in which the property is located. As a result, Diamond Bar has several residences, businesses and schools that have Walnut addresses and zip codes, but reside within the City of Diamond Bar's jurisdictional limits. C/Garg asked about the left turn phases at the intersection of Diamond Bar Boulevard & Grand Avenue. He noticed that they are not the same for each direction. AE/Malpica explained that split phasing is done to accommodate different situations at intersections and to accommodate changes in traffic and pedestrian flow, school traffic and enhanced circulation including safety measures. PWD/Liu added that staff considers a variety of factors when looking at each intersection by tailoring each timing plan to those specific conditions. He explained how the traffic signal system, timing and phasing, is set up to benefit the most amount of traffic during specified hours depending on the time of day, amount of traffic, direction of traffic and how it effects various neighborhoods. This is a very dynamic process that staff studies on an ongoing basis. JANUARY 12, 2017 PAGE 4 T&T COMMISSION Chair/Pechy asked if the phase. changes were computer generated or personal monitoring.. AE/Malpica responded that currently, there are different timing plans (morning, midday and afternoon) that were set up based on the Traffic Engineering Study and are imbedded in the system to be implemented at specified times automatically. VIII. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS: A. Traffic Signal Infrastructure Upgrades Project, Phase I through Phase III — AE/Malpica —. Phase I construction has been completed and includes replacement of 5.5 miles of copper cable with fiber optic cable to provide greater bandwidth; rewiring of three intersections, and replacement of video detection at, Grand Avenue and Diamond Bar Boulevard. The final project cost was under the authorized budget. The Notice of Completion is scheduled for the February 7th City Council meeting. For Phase II, project specifications were. made available to bidders on December 15, 2016, with the bid opening on January 9, 2017. Eight bids were received, with the lowest bid being $449,772 submitted by Elecnor Belco Electric. The engineer's estimate was for $452,000, and after review of the contract bids and references, Elecnor Belco Electric was selected as the lowest responsible bidder. Staff will recommend award of contract at the February 7th City Council meeting. Phase II includes replacement. of 4.3 miles of copper with fiber optic, rewiring of three intersections, replacing the traffic signal controllers, and upgrading any signal components within those intersections. The Phase. III design contract was approved on November 15, 2016. Once signed, staff will move forward with the .Notice to Proceed for the City's consultant to start the design. Phase III includes replacing copperwith fiber optics forthe remaining 4.3 miles, rewiring of two intersections, replacement of the remaining controllers, and other upgrades in the cabinets. B. Adaptive Traffic Control Signal System m RFP — AE/Malpica — The City's Traffic Engineering Consultant has gathered field and critical data and has begun the design process. The vendor demonstrations are scheduled for the .week of January 23rd C. Copley Drive/Golden Springs Drive Intersection Enhancements — AE/Malpica — Staff received the engineer's Traffic Study Report. The report is currently under review and once staff approves the recommendations, it will be brought back to the next Traffic and Transportation Commission meeting. D. Battery Backup Project (BBS) — AE/Malpica — The plans and specs were available to bidders on November 21, 2016, with bid opening on December Stn Staff received six (6) proposals, with the lowest bid of $193,560 submitted by Elecnor Belco Electric. The engineer's estimate was $200,000. After review of the bid proposal and references, it was determined that Elecnor Belco Electric was the lowest responsible bidder. Staff will recommend the contract award at the January 17th City Council meeting. The purpose of the BBS is to JANUARY 12, 2017 PAGE 5 T&T COMMISSION maintain the intersections running in normal operation for 5 hours, and an additional 4 hours on red flash in the event of a power outage. Chair/Pechy asked if the batteries are recharged or if they have to be replaced periodically. AE/Malpica responded that they automatically and continuously recharge themselves with filtered power from the SCE line. E. Area 4 Road Maintenance Project — AE/Beshay - The contractor has completed all work required for this project, including all of the punchlist items. A Notice of Completion will be presented to the City Council for consideration at its January 17th meeting. This project was completed nearly $150,000 under the overall authorized project budget. F. Area 5 Road Maintenance Project — AE/Beshay — This project is located south of the SR -60 and east of. Diamond Bar Boulevard. On December 20tH staff received four (4) proposals for design services for Area 5 and Brea Canyon Cut-off Drainage Improvements and Rehabilitation Project. The design service contract will be presented for award at the City Council's January 17th meeting. If approved, Onward Engineering will be the designer for this project, with authorization of $70,000 including the contingency. G. Willow. Heights Construction Update/Diamond Bar Boulevard/Brea Canyon Road Intersection Enhancements AE/Beshay — This project has been completed and will be presented for Notice of Completion to the City Council on January 17th. This project was completed $16,000 under the overall. authorized budget. H. Lemon Avenue Interchange Project - SCE/Young — Construction is well underway at this project location along Lemon Avenue at the SR -60 freeway. However, due to rain delays, staff is expecting a longer construction schedule. Traffic control was.recently modified based on feedback received from drivers and the City's Traffic Engineers who reviewed installation of the traffic control installed along Golden Springs Drive and Lemon Avenue, In the coming weeks, additional traffic control will be installed along northbound Lemon Avenue as the roadway is narrowed to one lane similar to the way it was narrowed on southbound Lemon Avenue. The Walnut Valley Water District has completed their work along Lemon Avenue and the contractor will now install k -rail and channelizers to narrow the northbound side. SR -57160 Confluence Project— SCE/Young —Construction is well underway. The westbound on-ramp continues with construction and the westbound off ramp began construction last month. The biggest impacts from this construction will be felt beginning nextweekwhen the narrowing of northbound Grand Avenue, similar to southbound Grand Avenue, takes place with the addition of k -rail along Grand Avenue. This will reduce northbound bridge lanes from three to two lanes. Staff expects heavy congestion during this time and will continue to monitor the area for traffic mitigation. Barring weather JANUARY 12, 2017 PAGE 6 T&T COMMISSION delays, the westbound off -ramp project is expected to be completed in 18 months. Chair/Pechy asked if the old Honda dealership building would be demolished. PWD/Liu responded that the property owner promised to have it done many months ago. He said he would follow up with.the Community Development Department and get the information back to the Commission. Chair/Pechy stated that leaving buildings vacant for extended periods of time is not desirable. PWD/Liu shared that just before the holidays, staff worked closely with Metro, Caltrans and SCAG to put together the second FASTLANE Application. SCE/Young's update included the fully -funded portion of the SR -57/60 Confluence Project. The funding gap is about $205 million, which is listed as a project to be funded in Measure M; however, the funding Will not be procured until 2025. Staff hopes to have additional help of about $35 million from the federal government that will allow the next phase of the project to move forward by 2020. Grand avenue/Golden Springs Intersection Improvements Update — SCE/Young — The design consultant continues with the design plan working with utility companies on various issues to ensure they are properly resolved and shown in the project plans before they go out to bid. The landscape designer is working on the conceptual plan for the improvements at Grand Avenue and Golden Springs Drive and staff hopes to present a conceptual plan to Council for review within the next few months. The targeted construction start date for this project is summer 2017 and if this project stays on schedule, the Grand Avenue/Golden Springs Drive intersection and all of the work along Grand Avenue related to the freeway on and off ramps will be under construction at.the same time. Staff will do its best to coordinate signal timing and work to mitigate traffic; however, knowing construction will be simultaneous, staff anticipates other areas of the City will accept diverted traffic as needed. C/Garg asked when construction would be completed for the Grand Avenue/Golden Springs Drive intersection. SCE/Young responded that she is not aware of the total expected construction time because plans and specs have not yet been finalized. K. Neighborhood Traffic Management Program (NTMP) — SCENoung (Armitos Place Neighborhood) — Since the September 2016 meeting, staff has not received any new information from residents who attended. The last she heard from one of the captains last month was that they were having a difficult time getting signatures with only about 20 out of just over 100 needed. The resident stated that she would keep trying until they are able to present sufficient signatures to staff for consideration. There is no deadline for the signatures; therefore, this portion of the program continues. JANUARY 12, 2017 PAGE 7 T&T COMMISSION AE/Malpica (Crooked Creek Drive Neighborhood) — Staff received the preliminary plans which includes three sets of speed cushions, signage, and striping to include a double center line from Cold Springs Lane along Crooked Creek Drive to Diamond Bar Boulevard. Once the plans have been reviewed, staff will schedule the second meeting with the neighborhood to discuss the plans.and gather their approval.for the next phase which would be to move to construction and implement the recommendations. Commissioners will be notified of the next steps and are welcome to attend these neighborhood meetings. L. Morning Canyon Road Rehabilitation Project — PWD/Liu — The plans and specs for. this project should be finalized within the next two weeks. Subsequently, staff will work with the CDC on this CDBG funded project to obtain the final approval. The schedule going forward is to advertise the project for three weeks in February with a bid opening in early March and award of construction contract toward the end of March/beginning of April with completion by the end of summer. , M. Diamond Bar Boulevard/Maple Hill Road Median Modification Project — PWD/Liu — City Council awarded the construction contract at their December 20, 2016 meeting. Construction is scheduled to begin mid-January with completion slated for the end of February. N. TR 63623 — Southpointe Residential Development/Larkstone Park — AE/Aoun — This development is currently under construction. Community roadways have been paved and partial permits have been pulled for the homes and construction. has begun on the model homes. Final plan -check was completed for the park landscaping and a. park pre -construction meeting will take place next week. Final construction of the lower park pad is scheduled in March along with model homes. Shortly .after, the entire development will be constructed. O. Diamond Bar Ranch Shopping Center (Old Kmart) Development — AE/Aoun — This project is in the review phase and there is a large banner on the building indicating that Ross is coming soon. The major plan -checks are currently underway with the City for grading, building and redevelopment of the area. The building permits for the interior demolition in preparation for new tenancy should be forthcoming. Also, construction vehicles, etc., will be onsite shortly. The development is scheduled to open by the end of 2017. VC/Mehta asked if staff was at liberty to discuss how the development would unfold. AE/Aoun said that while things may change, at this time, the old Kmart building will be split into four separate units for four tenants. There will be a major grocery store (Sprouts), Ross, an empty tenant, a newly constructed building that will be split into three suites for which the tenants are unknown at this time. There will be a new building constructed toward the Diamond Bar JANUARY 12, 2017 PAGE 8 T&T COMMISSION Boulevard edge of the property which will be split between Chipotle and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, with a drive through. Chair/Pechy said he noticed that the parking lot at the site is turning into a truck stop at night. They park in the back dark areas and have to drive on Diamond Bar Boulevard to get to the site which he believes is a violation and asked if there was anything the City could do to stop that practice. PWD/Liu said that if the developer moves forward on schedule, pretty quickly there will not be an opportunity for trucks to park at that location. In the meantime, he will pass the information on to the Planning and Code Enforcement staff to work with the property owner to discourage any and all parking at that site. VI. SCHEDULE OF FUTURE CIT`( EVENTS: As presented in the agenda. C/Quan mentioned the Winter Snow Fest scheduled for next Saturday, January 21St. PWD/Liu indicated that today, the decision was made that the event will be canceled due to inclement weather forecast. Also, the park grounds are very wet due to ongoing rain we have been experiencing and, to prepare for the event, heavy vehicles would have to enter the grounds which would cause considerable damage. Chair/Pechy asked how the information was being circulated. According to the email PWD/Liu received from the Public Information Manager, the event cancellation information has been distributed to local media outlets, posted on the City's website Homepage, event calendar, government access channel (DBTV) and social media. ADJOURNMENT;. There being no further business to come before the Traffic and Transportation Commission, Chair/Pechy adjourned the meeting at 7:58 p.m. The foregoing minutes are hereby approved this 12 day of January , 2017. Respectfully Submitted, -//�,/ ,-,-_7 ( - David i , Secretary Attest j 9 rr� Chairman Ed echy r r