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Home My WebLink About2001-04-12 SC MINUTES MINUTES`OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE CHULA VISTA SAFETY COMMISSION April 12,2001 Council Chambers 6:30 p.m. Public Services Building CALL TO ORDER 1. Roll Call: ; Present: Chair Gove; Commissioners Acton, Cochrane, Liken, and White Absent: Commissioner Lopez and McAlister 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 6:35 p.m. MSC(Gove/Acton)to excuse absence of Commissioners Lopez and White. (5-0-2 Lopez and White absent) 2. Pledge of Allegiance/Silent Prayer 3. Opening Statement Opening statement read by Chair Gove. • 4. Approval of Minutes - March 8, 2001 MSC(Acton/Gove)to'accept minutes of March 8,2001 as submitted.(4-0-1-2 White abstain;Lopez and White absent) 5. Oral Communications None 6. Letter-Appeal on Decision on All-Way Stop - Rancho Drive and Rancho Court Letter accepted into record. ' MEETING AGENDA 6. Report on all-way stop control on "G"Street/Smith Avenue Mr.AI-Ghafry presented staff report and slide show. Staff Recommendation: That the Safety Commission accept the report and consider staffs recommendation to install an all-way stop control at the intersection "G" Street with Smith Avenue, based on the intersection receiving 52 points of a possible 100 points,where 45 points are needed tojustify the installation of the all-way stop control. Public hearing opened. w Safety Commission Minutes April 12,2001 Page 2 The following persons spoke in favor of staff's recommendation: 1. Mary Jo Buettner(Coordinator of Beacon Family Resource Center), 540"G"Street, Chula Vista,CA 91910-Spoke on behalf of families from the community who were in the audience. 2. Marilyn Prall (Principal of Vista Square Elementary School), 540"G"Street, Chula Vista,CA 91910 Public hearing closed. Commission Discussion: Chair Gove asked Ms. Buettner about the Beacon Family Resource Center. Ms. Buettner stated that it is a school-linked program that provides services to families in the community. There are 5-6 agencies that provide services and have staff onsite. There are two buildings at SmithPG"Street. The Center works with the community to provide adult education,health care,health insurance,and an interschool program. Chair Gove asked if the hearing-impaired school was still located at that site. Ms. Buettner stated yes. Commissioner White stated he was in favor of the all-way stop. Commissioner Acton stated she was in favor of the all-way stop and thanked the parents from the community for being involved in this request. Chair Gove stated she was also in favor of this all-way stop. She asked staff if any phone calls were received from the community. Mr.AI-Ghafry stated one call was received. MSC (White/Acton) to accept staff report and install an all-way stop control at the intersection of "G" Street/Smith Avenue(5-0-2, Lopez and McAlister absent). 8. Report on request for an all-way stop on Montgomery Street/Fresno Avenue Mr.AI-Ghafry represented staff report. He stated that two phone calls were received in favor of the all-stop control. Mr. Moneda conducted the slide presentation. Staff Recommendation: That the Safety Commission accept the report and consider staffs recommendation to install an all-way stop control at the intersection Montgomery Street with Fresno Avenue, based on the intersection receiving 61 points of a possible 100 points,where 45 points are needed to justify the installation of the all-way stop control. Commission Discussion: Commissioner White asked if there was safety patrol at this location. Mr. AI- Ghafry stated yes. Chair Gove stated she was in favor of this all-way stop control. MSC(Gove/Acton)to accept staff report and install an all-way stop control at the intersection of Montgomery Street/Fresno Avenue (5-0-2, Lopez and McAlister absent). 9. Report for an all-way stop at East Palomar Street/First Avenue Mr.AI-Ghafry presented staff report. He stated that three phone calls'were received. Two in favor and one in opposition to the all-way stop control. Mr. Moneda conducted the slide presentation. Staff Recommendation: That the Safety Commission accept the report and consider staffs recommendation to install an all-way stop control at the intersection of Palomar Street with First Avenue, based on the intersection receiving 63 points of a possible 100 points,where 45 points are needed to justify the installation of the all-stop control. In addition, City staff recommends that crosswalks be installed along the north and south legs of the intersection crossing First Avenue, and along the west leg of the intersection crossing Palomar Street. Public hearing opened. The following person spoke against staff's recommendation: !r�1 e , Safdty Commission Minutes • April 12, 2001 Page 3 1. Clarence E. Smith, 1278 Dixon Way, Chula Vista, CA 91911 Public hearing closed. Commission Discussion: Commissioner Liken asked if Palomar Street between Hilltop to 1-5 was controlled by a stop sign at any other location or was it completely controlled by signals. Mr. AI-Ghafry stated that all locations are controlled by signals. He also stated that this intersection was studied for a traffic signal,and it ranked #10 on the 2001 Traffic Signal Priority List. It has been incorporated into the Capital Improvement Program for FY 2003-04. In the interim, it is suggested because of the traffic volumes, an all-way stop be installed as a traffic control measure. Commissioner Liken asked if there was any location in the Citywhere a stop sign for a four-lane roadway with traffic yolumes such as Palomar Street. Mr. AI-Ghafry stated yes, before the traffic signal was just recently installed,at the intersection of East"J"Street and Paseo Ranchero. Commissioner Liken stated he had concerns about an all-way stop at this location. Specifically,he thought it would be a safety hazard and with the evidence submitted,could not see the dire need for immediate action at this location. He stated that it did not appear that there were pedestrian problems at this location and the letter of request stated an all-way stop was needed because of pedestrian traffic. Commissioner Acton asked if the elementary school had safety patrol. Mr. AI-Ghafry stated no. He stated that staff has visited the site 3-4 times throughout the year and observed that pedestrians were having a hard time crossing the street without running. Commissioner Acton asked if there were crosswalks the site. Mr.Ak Ghafry stated no, however, it is legal for pedestrians to cross at that intersection. Chair Gove stated that the report includes 5 schools in the area,which include Lauderbach, Loma Verde,and Castle Park Elementary, but did not believe these three schools would be impacted by this intersection due to school boundaries. She stated she also had concerns with an all-way stop at this location. She stated it would be dangerous to install • a stop sign. Commissioner White stated he had concerns about this location and was in agreement with Commissioner Liken. Mr. Leyva pointed out from tlie CalTrans Traffic Manual, Chapter 4, "Any of the following conditions may warrant a multi-way stop installation regardless of the point system, 1)where traffic signals are warranted and urgently needed,the multi-way stop may be an interim measure that can be installed quickly to control traffic while arrangements are being made for the signal installation." Commissioner White asked if stop signs are normally installed first before installation of a the traffic signal. Mr. Leyva stated that is generally the case,but not always. Specifically, Flower and Broadway,the traffic signal was installed due to community involvement and heavy publicity. Mr. AI-Ghafry stated.that of the first 10 locations on the Traffic Priority List, all but one (Otay Lakes Road/Apache Drive)are controlled by all-way stops. Commissioner White stated he is still not convinced that an all-stop should be installed. MSC(White/Acton)to deny the request to install an all-way stop control at the intersection of Palomar Street with First Avenue. (5-0-2 Lopez and McAlister absent) 10. Action Summary Update/Staff Comments Action Summary Update accepted into record. No staff comments. 11. Traffic Accident Summary—February 2001 No additional comments. Safety Commission Minutes April 12, 2001 Page 4 12. Commissioner Comments Commissioner Acton thanked staff for the left-tum lane at"J"/Hilltop. Commissioner White asked about Telegraph Canyon Road/Medical Center Way. Mr.AI-Ghafry stated that the left-turn pocket will be increased and the signal timing will be adjusted. Construction is anticipated to start soon. ADJOURNMENT AT 7:42 P.M. to the next regularly scheduled meeting of May 10, 2001. Respectfully submitted, Florence Picardal, Recording Secretary H'\HOME\ENGINEER\SAFETY1041201 MIN..doc