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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSafety Commission mins 1993/10/14 . MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE CHULA VISTA SAFETY COMMISSION Thursday, October 14, 1993 7:10 p.m. Co unci I Chambers Public Services Building CALL TO ORDER 1. Roll Call: Present: Chair Thomas, Commissioners Bierd, Koester, Pitts, and Smith MSC (Thomas/Smith) to excuse Vice Chair Padilla due to an out of town business commitment and Commissioner Matacia due to illness. Approved 5-0-2 with Vice Chair Padilla and Commissioner Matacia absent. Excused Absences: Vice Chair Padilla and Commissioner Matacia Also Present: Harold Rosenberg, Traffic Engineer; Frank Rivera, Associate Traffic Engineer; Sgt. Tom Schaefer, Police Department; and Shirley Buxton, Recording Secretary 2. Pled!!:e of Alle!!:iance/Silent Praver 3. ODenin!!: Statement - Read by Chair Thomas 4. Aooroval of Minutes: September 9, 1993 - No action taken. . 5. Soecial Orders of the Dav: a. Comments by new Commissioners The new Commissioners were introduced by Chair Thomas. b. Voting and Attendance Procedures Shirley Buxton, Recording Secretary, informed the Commission of attendance procedures according to the B/C/C handbook. Also, she told them that if they voted "no" on a item or needed to abstain, a reason needed to be presented. If the reason for a no vote was not apparent throughout the discussion, the Chair would then call on the Commissioner to ask their reason. The instructions were per the City Council who desired to know why a Commissioner voted against an item. c. Meeting Order of Progression - Moved to Commissioner Comments. MEETING AGENDA 6. REPORT on Request for crosswalks in the vicinity of Rohr Elementary School Frank Rivera presented staff's report and the Commissioners viewed slides of the area. . MSC (Koester/Pitts) that the Safety Commission concur with the School Safety Task Force's recommendation and not add any additional crosswalks at the intersection of Malta Avenue and Slate Street and at the intersection of Max Avenue and Malta Avenue. Approved 4-0-2-1 with Vice Chair Padilla and Commissioner Matacia absent, and Commissioner Bierd abstaining due to location of residence. Safety Commission Minutes October 14, 1993 Page 2 7. REPORT on Request for time limited parking on a portion of East Park Lane between Davidson and F Streets Frank Rivera presented staff's report. Harold Lineweber, 276 Ash Avenue, Chula Vista, CA 91910, said the problem with diagonal parking was that it would be striped were it was approached from the north, but most motorists came from the south off F Street, which meant vehicles would have to U-turn into the parking stall. The enforcement of the area was also a concern. He said there were signs posted for parking prohibition on Fridays from 6:00-8:00 a.m. for street sweeping and in 2 1/2 years his side of the street had never been swept. The parking prohibition was not being enforced and the street was not being swept. Cleanliness was a problem on the entire street. The City was not maintaining the street. The angle parking was not acceptable. He asked who was going to enforce and pay for the enforcement of the area. He did not feel it was workable program. John Neibert, 260 Ash Avenue, Chula Vista, CA 91910, agreed with Mr. Lineweber and said because of the Friday parking prohibited signs, he got up and moved his car every Friday. He did not see how two hour parking would work unless an officer was always present. Chair Thomas said staff's recommendation was for a trial traffic regulation and if it didn't work, the area could be revisited. He asked staff if they could respond to the street sweeping schedule. Frank Rivera said the sign indicated "No Parking 6:00-8:00 a.m. Friday." The street sweeper swept the street every other Friday, but there was no way to sign the street for every other Friday. Since staff began working on the item, many business owners commented on the street sweeping. The street sweeper apparently was going up the center of the street and did not sweep along the edges of the buildings. The Police Department had notified the businesses that they would be enforcing the parking. He clarified that the "diagonal" parking was a misnomer because it was actually perpendicular parking which currently existed. The reason for "diagonal" parking was because that was the schedule in the Municipal Code that allowed vehicles to park at an angle 18" away from the curb. MSC (Pitts/Koesler) to recommend that two Trial Traffic Regulations be established: 1) diagonal parking along the wesl side of East Park lane between F Street and a point 100 ft. south of the south curbline of Davidson Street; and 2) establish a two-hour parking limit on a 40 ft. portion of the west side of East Park lane beginning at a point 133 ft. north of the north curbline of F Street and ending at a point 173 ft. north of the north curbline of F Street. Approved 5-0-2 with Vice Chair Padilla and Commissioner Matacia absent. 8. REPORT on Request for all-way stop at Allen School lane and Allen School Road Frank Rivera presented staff's report and the Commission viewed slides of the area. Commissioner Koester asked if the school crossing sign were removed and replaced with a stop sign, if staff would install a "stop ahead" sign. Frank Rivera said underneath the stop sign would be a plate that said "all-way." The stop ahead sign was used when a motorist could not see the stop sign and would come on a stop sign abruptly. Staff did not feel the intersection would need a "stop ahead" sign. Commissioner Pitts asked if the crosswalk would be moved on Allen School Road to allow for visibility of Allen School lane. . Safety Commission Minutes October 14,1993 Page 3 Frank Rivera said the crosswalk should line up with the path of the pedestrians. Staff would look at the area to see if the crosswalk needed to be moved. Hal Rosenberg said that staff wanted to assure that motorists would not encroach into the path of the pedestrian. It was critical that the limit line was placed appropriately. Commissioner Pitts asked if staff would be adding an additional crosswalk in the area. Frank Rivera said a new crosswalk would not be installed because the primary path of the students led to the east leg of the intersection where the current crosswalk was located. If another crosswalk was added, it would cause confusion on where students should cross. . Peter Matz, 385 Canyon Ridge Drive, Bonita, CA 91902, Principal of Allen Elementary School, spoke in favor of staff's recommendation. He thanked staff for the prompt attention to their request. The concern was for students and the community. He believed it was a matter of time before there would be a serious tragedy at the intersection. There had not been previous accidents, but his data showed there were three near accidents per week at the location. The School had taken many measures to improve the situation. He felt the School had one of the best trained school safety patrols in the County. Traffic had been re-routed in the area as much as possible by asking parents and bus drivers to use certain routes. The drop off and pick up areas had been revised. Newsletters were used to remind parents about safety in the area. Some parents started the "Good and Safe" program and went out to the site and stood in key locations to help remind parents and students procedures for safe patterns. The "Good and Safe" program volunteers gave a "Wow" slip to students who used safe crossing skills or for parents who used the drop off and pick up areas correctly. The slips could be traded in for prizes. The School felt the area would be improved if the Commission agreed with staff to install the all-way stop. Chair Thomas asked what kind of cooperation could be received from the County to trim back trees at the northwest corner of Allen School Road. Frank Rivera said the only recommendation staff could make would be to notify the County of San Diego and have the tree trimming crew look at the situation and notify the homeowner to trim the shrubs and trees. Chair Thomas asked if staff would include that in their recommendation. Frank Rivera said if that was the Commission's desire. Hal Rosenberg said the visibility problem would cease once the all-way stop signs were installed. Although it would help slightly, it would not be critical any longer. The motorist entering the intersection would not have to gauge the gap in traffic to determine when it was safe to enter the intersection. All approaching vehicles would have to stop. Chair Thomas withdrew his request. Frank Rivera reviewed the placement of the stop signs and crosswalks in the area. . MSC (Thomas/Pitts) to install the all-way stop at the intersection of Allen School lane and Allen School Road via a Trial Traffic Regulation. Approved 5-0-2 with Vice Chair Padilla and Commissioner Matacia absent. 9. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS - None. Safety Commission Minutes October 14, 1993 Page 4 STAFF REPORTS 10. 1993-1994 ClP Status Report - Distributed for Commissioner information. 11. Chula Vista Police Department Traffic Summary for January - July 1993 (Revised 9/10/93) and August 1993 - Distributed for Commissioner information. OTHER BUSINESS 12. B/C/C Workshop Meeting & Banquet Information - Distributed for Commissioner information. 13. The Traffic Safety Sienal- CalTrans - Distributed for Commissioner information. 14. Safety Commission Budget - Distributed for Commissioner information. 15. Commissioner Comments Chair Thomas reviewed the order of progression for the Safety Commission Meeting (Item 5C) and asked that the outline be available at every meeting for each Commissioner. ADJOURNMENT 16. Adjourned at 8:15 p.m. to the Safety Commission meeting scheduled for November 11,1993. Respectfully Submitted, fe--t-J SB:SAFETYIfOI493.MIN 101693