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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-09-14 SC MINUTESMINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE CHULA VISTA (TRAFFIC) SAFETY COMMISSION September 14, 2006 Community Room 6:00 p.m. Chula Vista Police Department Headquarters CALL TO ORDER Meeting called to order at 6:00 p.m. 1. Roll Call: Present: Chair Perrett; Vice -Chair AI-Ghafry; Commissioners Liken, Lopez, Cochrane, and Rosario Absent: Commissioner Willett Also present: Principal Civil Engineer, Frank Rivera Acting Senior Civil Engineer, Patrick Moneda Officer Ryan Mullen Recording Secretary, Lindsey Walters 2. Pledge of Allegiance/Silent Praver 3. Opening Statement Opening statement read by Chair Perrett. 4. Approval of Minutes • MSC (AI-Ghafry/Rosario) to approve items 1-6 from the Minutes of August 10, 2006. (5-0-1-1 Liken abstained; Willett absent). MSC (Perrett/Rosario) to approve items 7 and 8 from `the Minutes of August 10, 2006. (4-0-2-1 Liken, AI- Ghafry abstained; Willett absent). MEETING AGENDA 5. Special Recognition — Robert White Plaque presented to former Commissioner White in appreciation of his service and dedication to the Safety Commission in the City of Chula Vista. 6. Oral Communications ■ Mr. L.J. Abston Jr.. 950 Nacion Avenue, Chula Vista o Speeding issues on Nacion, affecting wife's preschool, which is on Nacion, across from the Lolitas center. o Requested speed bumps and/or a traffic signal with a camera to catch speeders. ■ Michael Ary. 951 Nacion Avenue, Chula Vista o Submitted a letter citing his concerns to the Safety Commission. ■ See Attachment 1. o Officer Mullen spoke briefly about actions that have been taken by the Police Department, as Mr. Ary has spoken with Officer Mullen about issue. ■ Email sent to Frank Rivera from Elroy Kihano requesting DUI checkpoints in Eastern Chula Vista. o Read into record by Ms. Walters. o Traffic staff will work on addressing his concerns. Safety Commission Minutes September 14, 2006 ia� 45 Page 2 7. Report on request for an all-waV stop at the intersection of East `J' Street and Via Escalante Brief presentation given by Mr. Moneda. On December 11, 2005, the request for an all -way stop at the intersection of East 'J' Street and Via Escalante was initially presented before Safety Commission. The Safety Commission voted in concurrence with staff's recommendation to deny the installation of all -way stop control and included an additional recommendation of creating a traffic calming project to address the traffic concerns of this particular neighborhood. Recently, there was an inquiry regarding the status of the traffic calming measures for this area. Since staff is currently underway with a traffic calming pilot program at a different location and does not anticipate completion until early 2007, staff decided to return back to the Safety Commission with a traffic calming recommendation for the East 'J' Street and Via Escalante area. Staff is presenting this item to Safety Commission for reevaluation and reconsideration of the all -way stop request. All the affected residents have been notified of tonight's meeting. Staff Recommendation: That the Safety Commission concur with staffs recommendation to: ■ Approve the installation of an all -way stop at East'J' Street and Via Escalante as a traffic calming measure. Public hearing opened. The following individual spoke in opposition to staff's recommendation: ■ Robert Oberlander, 1320 E. Vaquero Court o Applauded Safety Commission on their efforts so far, but does not believe that a 3 -way stop is the answer. o While stop sign will slow people at intersection, it will not slow people on that curve. ■ Julia Santos, 1308 East Vaquero Court o The problem is further upstream at East J Street, not at the stop sign intersection. o We need to slow cars down before they get to this intersection. The following individuals spoke in favor of staff's recommendation: ■ Madeline Kershaw, 1341 East J. Street o Was here at the first meeting back in 2005. o Feels stop sign will be beneficial, as children are being let off at crosswalk. o Lives at end of cul-de-sac, and is trying to stop speeders where she lives, and feels that the other speakers are trying to slow people down where they live. Public hearing closed. Commission Discussion: Commissioner Cochrane recommended red curbing on other side of intersection, to block parked cars from blocking view of intersection. The Commissioner also mentioned a disabled child that is dropped off on this street, and Cochrane would like this to be taken into account as well, with speeders being a huge concern to this child as they are being helped off the bus. Vice -Chair AI-Ghafry saw a benefit to an all -way stop there, although he is not usually a proponent of all - stops, as they are so often improperly installed. But Mr. AI-Ghafry agreed with respect to the stretch of East J Street that is up for discussion, that it has almost no traffic control. Commissioner Liken had a few questions for staff. Were there any signs noticing the area residents of tonight's meeting? Mr. Moneda stated that City Staff had sent postcards out to residents, and also posted signs. Commissioner Liken asked if there was any response from the neighborhood, to which Mr. Moneda responded that what they did receive was simply curiosity about what original complaint had been. Mr. Liken also asked, going back to the December minutes, how many people were in favor as well as opposed to this item when originally taken before the Commission. Commissioner Lopez asked for clarification on whether Councilwoman Patricia Chavez brought this item initially to the Safety Commission. Principal Civil Engineer Rivera said that although she was initially involved, she lives in the area, and as a Council member, cannot speak for or against the item. Commissioner Lopez was just trying to clarify that Council member Chavez was not having an influence over item. He also asked that in the future, all prior minutes relating to a current Safety Commission Agenda Item be included along 4) • 9 Safety Commission Minutes SepteMber 14 2006 Page 3 with the current month's packet. do 1) MSC (Perrett/Rosario) to concur with staffs recommendation (5-1-0-1, Liken against; Willett absent) 2) MSC (Cochrane/AI-Ghafry) to ask staff to red line the intersection at the corner of Via Escalante and East J Street (6-0-1, Willett absent). 3) MSC (AI-Ghafry/Perrett) to look at East J Street for proper signage and possibly look at other signage that would up the traffic calming (6-0-1, Willett absent). 8. Traffic Engineering CIP Proiect Update — September 2006 See Attachment 2. 9. Traffic Accident Summary Brief summary given by Officer Mullen. 10. Action Summary Update/Staff Comments October 13. 2005 o Speed Establishment at Rutaers Avenue- Commission concurred with staffs recommended 35mph speed establishment, and an item is planned for City Council in mid-November. April 13, 2006 o Bav Blvd Parking Restriction ("E" Street to "F" Street Commission concurred with staffs recommendation of establishing a speed limit of 45mph, and signing and striping was completed on August 30, 2006. . Mav 1_ 2.006 -Par o Seed limits increase from 35m h to 45mph on OI m kwa between I-805 northbound ramp; and Brand rwine Avenue: Commission concurred with staffs recommended 45mph speed establishment, and an item is planned for City Council in mid-November. August 10 2006 o First Street Stop staffs all -way stop control and/or yellow schoolosswalk suth OT Kearney Street onFirst Avenue. They instead asked staff to work with and install crosswalk, warning signs, e or hase of the property to provide and school to provide a safety a second driveway for the school tlook into purchasing ossile CMS signs. Stff will patrol. They also asked that sco tl/ ClouncaffC'ry's right-of-way agept will contactt the owneraof he prepare an action item report to y property near the School/Church to pursue the leasing or purchase of the right-of-way needed to construct a second driveway for St. John's Episcopal School. 11. Potential Safetion Agenda Item of Davidson Street between Fourth Avenue and Guava 1. Two hour parking limit along north side Avenue. a. Staff is preparing analysis and report. 2. Traffic safety issues at Old Janal Ranch Road. a. Staff is preparing traffic analysis and reviewing roadway striping on Olympic Vista Road. OTHER BUSINESS t., 12. Commissioner Comments te soon as they heard he was on the Safety Commission, ommissioner Lopez asked for some clarification in terms of conflict of interest as a Commissionerrules C approached by citizens, who as of the City, he was app in he'd lend a sympathetic ear. City Staff will check on Conflict of Interest began talking his ear off hoping Safety Commission Minutes September 14, 2006 -•,Page 4 for Safety Commissioners and report back at a later meeting. Commissioner Liken posed some requests as ideas for future meetings. • Digital timer in order to limit speakers to their allowed three minutes. ■ To include a line about silencing cell phones in the opening statement. ■ The possibility of switching locations as the Community Room is not very conducive to our purposes. o Ms. Walters replied that an alternative location had been brought before the Commission in the past; however, the only night that Council Chambers was available was the first Wednesday of every month. Many Commissioners had scheduling conflicts that did not allow for this particular change. o Also, there are few venues in the City that allow for such a large crowd, as well as the audio/visual setup required. o Mr. Rivera suggested rearranging the furniture, and that City Staff would look into different room setups. 13. Staff Comments None. ADJOURNMENT AT 7:45 P.M. to the next regularly scheduled meeting of November 9, 2006. Attachments 1) Letter from Mike Ary related to Nacion Avenue 2) Engineering CIP Project Schedule — 9/01/06 J:\Engineer\SAFETY\2006\091406_MIN.doc Respectfully submitted, AV*a)&&4 Lindsey Walters, Recording Secretary i Ip