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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-02-08 SC MINUTES MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE CHULA VISTA SAFETY COMMISSION February 8, 2001 Council Chambers 6:30 p.m. Public Services Building CALL TO ORDER 1. Roll Call: Present: Chair Gove; Commissioners Cochrane, Liken, Lopez, and McAlister Absent: Commissioner Acton Also present: Ralph Leyva, Senior Civil Engineer; Majed AI-Ghafry, Civil Engineer; Jeff Moneda,Assistant Civil Engineer; Sgt. Bryan Treul;and Florence Picardal, Recording Secretary Meeting was called to order at 6:34 p.m. 2. Pledge of Allegiance/Silent Prayer 3. Opening Statement Chair Gove waived opening statement. 4. Approval of Minutes of October 12, 2000 and January 11, 2001 • MSC (Liken/Lopez) to accept minutes of October 12, 2000 as submitted. (5-0-1-1 Acton absent, McAlister abstain) MSC(Gove/Cochrane)to accept minutes of January 11,2001 as submitted(3-0-1-3 Acton absent, Liken, McAlister, White abstain) 5. Oral Communications None MEETING AGENDA ITEM NO. 7 WAS TAKEN OUTOF ORDER DUE TO PUBLIC TESTIMONY. 7. Report on request for an all-way stop control at the intersection of Melrose Avenue and Rancho Drive/Rancho Court Mr. Leyva stated that, originally, staff was going to waive the point system and install the all-way stop at this intersection based on the current policy allowing the City Engineer to do so. At the City Engineer's request,a full study was done of this intersection and staffs recommendation, at this time, is consistent with the City Engineer's past practice and recommendations (if the intersection didn't meet the points, staff would recommend against the request). This intersection comes close,but does not meet the points required for an all-way stop. If the Safety Commission were to recommend approval of the all-way stop, then staff would concur with the Commission's decision. Mr.AI-Ghafry introduced Jeff Moneda,Assistant Civil Engineer(he is assigned to work on Safety Commission • items). Mr.AI-Ghafry presented staffs report. Mr. Moneda presented the slide show. Mr:AI-Ghafry stated that this intersection was studied using the current All-Way Stop Policy and not with the proposed Policy. Mr. Safety Commission Minutes • February 8, 2001 Page 2 Leyva stated that the proposed Policy will have a threshold of 50 points and this intersection would not have met that threshold. Staff recommendation: That the Safety Commission accept the report and consider staffs recommendation to deny the all-way control at the intersection of Melrose Avenue and Rancho Drive/Rancho Court, based on the intersection receiving 32 points out of the possible 100 points,where 35 points are needed to justify the installation of the all-way stop control. Public hearing opened. Ellen Croshier, member of Board of Directors for Rios East Homeowner's Association-Ms. Croshier spoke in support of an all-way stop control at the intersection of Melrose Avenue and Rancho Drive She stated it is a very busy intersection with a school bus stop. The Homeowner's Association has also made a request that the Police Department monitor the speed limit of the transit buses. She stated the Association is concerned that there is a good chance of an accident happening. Public hearing closed. Commission Discussion: Commissioner McAlister asked if there were any mitigating circumstances that staff considered when they were going to waive the point system and approve the all-way stop at this location. Mr. Leyva stated that he had a"gut"feeling(he did not have statistics or numbers to base this on)that people drive faster along this location because it is very close to the 1-805 freeway. He felt that people coming home from work who have just come off the freeway are conditioned to drive at the higher speed. Drivers would tend to go much faster down Melrose than if they had driven a longer distance along a surface arterial highway • before going into a residential district. Collisions have not occurred exactly at the intersection,but people have running off the road,which can be attributed to speed. Chair Gove asked what the distance is between Main Street and Rancho Court on Melrose where the proposed stop sign would be placed. Mr. Leyva stated it is a little bit more than a mile. Mr.AI-Ghafry added that Rancho Drive from Rancho Court to Regency Way is approximately 2/3rds of a mile,and Regency Way from Rancho Drive to Otay Valley Road is approximately 850 ft.(more than 1/8th of a mile but less than 1/4th of a mile). Commissioner White stated he thought the visibility at Rancho Court was quite good and he was not in favor of an all-stop at this location. He asked if there are any other alternatives (speed bumps) that could be proposed. Mr. Leyva stated that the Speed Hump Policy only applies to residential streets. This section of Melrose is a Class 3 arterial, and it would not apply. He stated that Rancho and Melrose makes a complete loop around the development,it collects all the traffic from all the side streets and alleys,then distributes that traffic to the arterial,which is Main Street. Mr. Leyva stated police enforcement might help to slow the traffic down. Sgt.Treul stated that radar enforcement has been conducted and the biggest offenders are the transit drivers. There are very few citations made out to the residents. Commissioner Liken asked what is the posted speed limit. AI-Ghafry stated that the posted speed limit is 30 mph. Commissioner Lopez asked if there was any feedback from the community regarding this request. Mr. Leyva stated that the homeowner's association has requested an all-way stop at this location for a number of years. Mr. Leyva stated the public information signs were not posted at this intersection. Mr. AI-Ghafry stated staff has kept in constant communication with the Homeowner's Association. Commissioner Liken stated that he could not support an all-way stop at this intersection because it is an odd intersection controlled on one leg by a stop sign. He stated that if the other legs were controlled,it would be similar to a crosswalk(the crosswalk giving the pedestrian an unreasonable"feeling of safety"). He felt that the stop sign would do much the same. It is a very short distance to the next controlled intersection,just over • 1/8th of mile,with good site distance. He also felt vehicles would tend to run this stop sign if it were installed at this location. ti Safety Commission Minutes February 8,2001 Page 3 MSC (Liken/Lopez) to accept staffs report and recommendation to deny the all-way stop control at the intersection of Melrose Avenue and Rancho Drive/Rancho Court. (6-0-1,Acton absent) Mr. Leyva gave a brief summary of the All-Way Stop Policy and appeal procedures. 6. Report on revisions to'existing All-Way Stop Control Council Policy Mr. Leyva presented staff report. The following is a summary of the major changes: 1) The number of points needed for justification of an all-way stop control was increased from 35 points to 50 points. 2) The Accident Warrant: For this criteria,the assigned number of points per collision was maintained at 5 points for each accident susceptible to correction by an all-way stop control and the total was maintained at a maximum of 25 points. This change increases the relative importance of accident history in the evaluation process. 3) The Unusual Condition Warrant:The responsibility of waiving the 35-point minimum requirement was kept with the City Engineer,or his designee. The unusual conditions are described more specifically in the proposed changes.. However, the total warrant points remain the same. 4) The Pedestrian Volume Warrant: Here again, the importance of pedestrian traffic was revised decreasing the number of pedestrians required to obtain points as explained in the attached All-Way Stop policy evolution. 5) The Traffic Volumes Warrant:Tha maximum number of points for vehicular volume was unchanged; however, breakdown of various traffic volume scenarios were added to this section in order to address different field conditions. The total points for this warrant,however,remains the same as the current policy. ' 6) The Traffic Volume Difference Warrant:This section remains the same as the existing All-Way Stop policy Traffic Volume Difference section. Staff recommendation: That the Safety Commission accept staffs report which proposes changes to the existing Policy Number 478-03, dated July 27, 1999, and adopted by Council Resolution No. 19547. Commission discussion: Commissioner Liken asked Mr. Leyva what his "gut feeling" on how many intersections would not meet warrants with the current policy. Mr. Leyva gave a brief summary of the intersections that were studied since 1997. Commissioner Liken stated that he still would like direction from City Council regarding the All-Way Stop Policy. Commissioner White stated that the 50 points needed to justify an all-way stop control was too conservative,but that 35 points was too low. Mr.AI-Ghafry stated that the previous policy was 30 points out of 54 points which was approximately 55 percent. The current policy is 35 points out of 100 points which is approximately 35 percent. The previous policy was very strict and the current policy is liberal. The proposed policy is a balance between the two and possibly 40 or 45 points would be the most logical minimum to qualify. Chair Gove asked if the total points could be changed from 50 to 45 points without changing any other warrants. Mr.AI-Ghafry stated that no other warrants would need to be changed. He stated that the 50 points was an average of the points that other cities were using. Mr. Leyva stated that 45 points would be right in the middle of the previous policy and the current policy. Commissioner Cochrane suggested that the policy be forwarded to Council with a recommendation of a 45-point threshold. Commissioner McAlister stated that he was in support of the 45-point threshold. It would still be ata level that the Commission could have flexibility to take other considerations in mind such as unusual conditions and • input from the community. Commissioner Lopez pointed out that,in the future,not more than one request for a stop control for the same street(e.g., East"J"or Rancho Del Rey Parkway)should be studied and brought before the Commission for consideration,to see what effect the stop control would have on traffic. Chair Gove rJ' Safety Commission Minutes . February 8, 2001 Page agreed with Commissioner Lopez. Mr.Leyva stated that there has been a significant reduction in the amount of traffic on East"J"Street since the installation of stop signs. The stop signs have encouraged drivers to use the arterials. Commissioner Liken requested that staff include in their report to the City Council that the Safety Commission recommended to change the threshold to 45 points and it is that portion of the policy that the Commission would like very specific feedback or guidance from Council. Commissioner Lopez agreed. MSC (Liken/White) to accept staffs report and refer proposed All-Way Stop Policy to City Council for adoption with the threshold points set at 45 points. (6-0-1, Acton absent) 8. Action Summary Update/Staff Comments Mr.AI-Ghafry stated staff is anticipating that removal of parking and addition of a two-way left turn lane at the 600 block of Third Avenue will be taken care of by March or April of 2001 when the pavement overlay project is underway. - Commissioner Liken asked if any of the pending items for installation of stop signs on the Action Summary Update would be completed, since it was not Council's intent to hold up any processing of intersections. Mr.Leyva stated he would seek direction from the City Engineer. Chair Gove submitted Action Summary Update into record. •9. Traffic Accident Summary—December 2000 Commissioner Gove asked for clarification on the summary. Sgt. Treul briefly went over the summary. He added that the statistics come from the City's Crime Analysis Unit. 10. Commissioner Comments • None. ADJOURNMENT AT 7:55 P.M. to the next regularly scheduled meeting of March 8, 2001. Respectfully submitted, Florence Picardal, Recording Secretary H.\HOME\ENGINEER\.SAFETY1020801 MIN.doc i