HomeMy WebLinkAbout1980-12-02; City Council; 6442; Landscape Median Design Standardrrq
CITY OF CARLSBAD
.. Initial :
AGENDA BILL NO. bc/r/a Dept. Head c.
DATE : December 2, 1580 C. Atty VFfi
SUBJECT: LANDSCAPE MEDIAN DES I GN STANDARD
STATEMENT OF THE MATTER
On October 28, 1980, City Council adopted a set of revised standards for use in the
design of public improvements within the City. At that meeting staff indicated they
were not prepared to recommend a median design without further investigations into
the matter. After a detailed study staff narrowed the range of possiblities to three
Alternates. Alternate A with full landscaping, Alternate B with 30% landscape and
70% colored texture concrete and Alternate C which is the deletion of the raised
median and its replacement with a painted stripe island. The attached Engineering
memorandum further details these designs and explains some of the issues to be con-
sidered in making a decision on the matter. The alternatives were presented to the
Parks and Recreations Commission and their recommendation is presented below.
F I SCAL I MPACT
The construction of the medians will be borne for the most part by adjacent property.
developers. In areas where development has already occurred and there are no medians
or the existing medians are not up to standards, the City may elect to construct or
reconstruct the medians. If so the construction per 100 foot of median would be
approximately $4,000 for Alternate A, $6,300 for Alternate B and $40 for Alternate
C.
The primary fiscal impact to the City, however, will be the ongoing maintenance cost.
When all 35 miles of the medians are completely built out, approximate total cost in
todays dollars to maintain them would be $181,100 for Alternate A, $51,700 for Alter-
nate 6, and$l8,600 for Alternate C.
EXH I B ITS
1. Memorandum to City Engineer
2. Memorandum to City Manager.
3. 4. Wall Exhibit A.
Letter to City Engineer for Rick Engineering
RECOMMENDATION
1. Adopt Alternative B Band Median Design as outlined by the visual aid.
2. Assure that the Parks and Recreation budget is increased proportionately to meet the
additional maintenance and/or any future construction costs.
., 3. The distance between the colored texture material and the landscaped band areas may
be from 50 feet to 150 feet, depending on location and that,
The use of striped medians may be used until such time as development takes place,
then they are to be replaced with the raised median cgncept.
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AGENDA BILL NO. 6442 Page 2
Council Action:
12-2-80 Council approved the four staff recommendations enumerated on page 1.
TO: CITY ENGINEER
FROM: ASSOCIATE CIVIL ENGINEER, ENGINEERING DESIGN SECTION
DATE : November 19, 1980
SUBJECT: M€DIAN LANDSCAPES
The City Manager has requested that staff incorporate a median deisgn into the recently adopted City Standards. The Engineering Design Section and the Parks and Recreation Department have developed two alternates, A and
B, for a median design.
Alternate A consists of full landscaping with a two-foot coRcrete strip
along the sides for maintenance and safety purposes. Alternate B consists of 20-foot bands of landscaping separated by 50 feet of textured concrete. The Alternate B landscape areas will also contain the two-foot concrete
stips along each side.
It has also been suggested by some staff members that there be an alter- nate C which consists of the elimination of the raised median and replace- ment with a painted stipe median on an asphalt surface. design would require some revision of the Carlsbad General Plan Circula-
tion Element.
This alternate
Staff feels the issues to be considered in making a decision on the matter
are safety, economics, aesthetics and environment.
brief discussion of each of these issues as they relate to the three a1 ternates.
The following is a
Safety
Primary safety considerations are provision of adequate sight distance, traffic separation, and keeping obstructions away from the roadway.
nates A and B are about equal in these regards. Both terminate the land-
scaping sufficiently away from the intersection to provide adequate - sight distance. Both serve to effectively separate traffic and both pre- sent about the same amount of obstructions to out-of-control vehicles. However, both alternate A and B will have their trees set about seven feet off the roadway within raised medians which would reduce the likeli-
hood of this type of collision. Alternate C has excellent sight distance
and presents no traffic obstructions; however, it is not an effective
means of traffic separation.
of head-on collisions for out-of-control vehicles, but would also increase
the number of cross traffic turns from adjoining properties.
experience with projects such as Andersen's Pea Soup, Car Country and
Palomar Airport Business Park have shown how difficult it is to restrict developers' access rights onto Arterial Roads. Raised medians serve as an effective means to mitigate these access effects by eliminating the
possibility of vehicles making cross traffic turns.
A1 ter-
Not only would it increase the likelihood
Recent
One advantage Alter-
nate C would have would be to allow emergency vehicles to have a free lane to travel in should the road become congested.’
Economics
Economic considerations should take into account both initial cost and long-term maintenance cost. A1 ternate C would obviously be the cheapest to install and maintain. All it would require is to extend the roadway through the median area and the painting of lines. The only maintenance would be the repainting of the lines and the sweeping of the roadway. cluding Alternative C, Alternative A with the full landscaping will init- ially cost the least to develop. However, Alternative B with the greater amount of concrete will provide a substantial savings in the overall main- tenance cost between these two alternatives. Please refer to the attached Chart A for a detailed breakdown of the estimated construction and mainte- nance cost. For both landscape alternates, staff has attempted to reduce maintenance cost by requiring native and other drought-tolerant plantings and by utilizing low flow bubbler or drip irrigation systems. evident economic impact is the effect attractively landscaped medians would have on drawing additional shoppers into the City thereby increas- i ng the City’ s economic base.
Ex-
A less
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is a difficult consideration to objectively discuss. Aesthetics is generally a matter of personal preference. It could be assumed that the more concrete or asphalt used (even colored textured concrete) the less aesthetic will be the appearance, but not everyone would agree with that statement. Beyond the initial aesthetic consideration, the City could pur- sue a thematic approach to the median landscaping: for example, Spanish and California native plants along the El Camino Real Scenic Route; Cali- fornia coastal along Carl sbad Boulevard; and Mediterranean along Rancho Santa Fe. Such landscape designs could become a unique and distinctive asset to the City.
Environment
Environmental considerations are generally ignored in making decisions such as this, but their effects, though very subtle in nature, can greatly affect the spirit of a local community.
As Carlsbad evolves from the peaceful serene beach community it once was into a fast-paced urban suburbia, we must decide what it is that gives a community a sense of being and direction. Is it solely the population density of the concrete-covered urban jungles that makes City dwell ers emotionally detached and crime rates soar or is it that past City planners
didn’t recognize the importance of the human need for contact with nature on a daily basis? Staff cannot answer that question, but it is a fact that plants do play a significant role in sustaining the ecology of the local environment. sects and wildlife, they also help control the local atmospheric environ- ment by reducing the heating effect of the roadway pavement, by releasing oxygen and by filtering out atmospheric pollutants, including that of automobi le exhaust. A we1 1 -landscaped median can a1 so reduce 1 oca1 noise 1 eve1 s .
Not only do plants provide refuge and forage for in-
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Alternative A maximizes these beneficial environmental and community effects while Alternative B only minimally does so.
As additional background, we have included a few statements from the City of Carl sbad' s General P1 an elements that concern 1 andscape planting :
Scenic Highway Element, Section 3c, Pages 12-13 - 'I.. .where applicable establish regulations and guidelines regarding ...p reservation and restor- ation of plant materials.. ."
Traffic Circulation Element, Paragraph 14, Page 7 - "Design roads to enhance scenic areas ; encourage roadside and median 1 andscapi ng. 'I
Traffic Circulation Element, Section 4, Paragraph 3, Page 10 - "A divided arterial provides an outstanding opportunity by attractively landscaping the dividing median."
Open Space and Conservation Element, Section I1 of Goals and Policies, Subsection A7, Page 7 - 'I.. .to conserve and encourage the use of all forms of vegetation need to. ..(b) protect air water resources and (c) protect and enhance visual resources. It
Recommendation
The Engineering Design Section recommends a compromise solution between the full landscaping design (Alt. A) and the partial landscaping design (Alt. B). El Camino Real should be fully landscaped with an Early California thematic approach in keeping with its scenic route designation. Full landscaping should also occur for a distance of 200 - 300 feet inside all arterial entrances into the City and at special locations throughout the City as deter- mined by the Council at the planning phases of adjacent developments. Alternate B partial landscaping design would then be used at all other locations in the City. Carlsbad Boulevard South of Palomar Airport Road which is also designated scenic route and which presently has full landscaping should be excluded from these design alternates and treated separately at a later date.
The
This compromise recommendation would seem to be the best way to adequately balance all the economic, safety, aesthetic and environmental factors while keeping to the high standards of quality set for the City.
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TO : Frank Ale:hire, City Itaiuger .
VIA : David Zradstreet, Parks znd Re'creation Director @
FROPI : Douglas Duncanson, Parks
DliTE : October 2, 3.950
SUBJECT:
The City cf Carlsbad has planned a substzntial number of'medim 'islands for development in the coming years. should be landscaped to be aesthetically pleasing, yet as low maln- tenance as possible.
Mainltenancc Impact of Median Islands
Staff feels these islands
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To meet .both the needs of aesthics and low cost maintenance, the 'Parks
aiid Recreati-on Department proposes that the Alternate "B" type median irlanci, BS presented at the council workshop of SepternSer 23, be adopte6. These medians should have automatic low pressure bubbler heads and be plazted with drought tolerant and native s?ecies plant materials.
. KH.4LYSIS
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The Alternate B type of zncdicn tiould incorporate landscaping with r.ext-urec? concrete. by 20' in length. A11 area in between planters is proposed to be textured concrete, a low maintenance material.
In addition to the standard size planters, the department feels that
key entrances to the city (i. e. El Camino Real, Palomar Airport Road, Alga) should have a larger, more exrensively landscaped planter. length of these entry planters should-be 150'.
The cSty's master plan calls for all prime major and major arterials to have medians. be approximately 35 miles of medians (allowances were made for inter-
sections and left turn lane areas). miles of iiiedians are broken down info the foll-owing categories:
The size of the ?lanter areas should be 14' wide
The distance between each planter shall be 50'.
. The
The Engineering Departnent has calculated this to
The 1980 cost to maintain 35
I ALTERNATE A TYPE MEDIAN -
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This median consists of continuous planting throughout the median.
Linear Feet Total Square Cost Per Yrly Maintenance Milei. Land s c a2 (? d Feet Sq. Foot cost
35 1.84,800 2,587,200 -. $.05 . $129,300 .
35 184,800 2,587,200 $.07 $181,100
35 . 184,800 2,587,200 $.lo $258,700
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ALTERNATE €3 TYPE MEDIAN _I
This median consists of a 20' x 14' landscaped planter area every
50'. The unplanted part of the median is to.be textured concrete.
Total Number Of Square Feet Total Sq. Cost/ Yrly Maintenance Miles Planters 1/70' Per Planter Footage Sq .Ft. .. cost
35 2640 280 739,200 $.05 $36,950
35 2640 280 - 739,200 $.07 $51,700
35 2640 280 739,200 $.lo $73,900 -
The cost to maintain one square foot of landscaped medians varies from $ .04 to $ .46. Several other public agencies and private landscape maintenance firms were cor,tacted as to their costs of main- taining medians. U on review of these costs, the Parks Division feels
that the figure of 5 .07 per square foot is an equitable figure to use in determining maintenance costs for Carlsbad's medians. The $ .07 figure includes: trash removal, water, fertilizer, pesticides, equipment, fuel, irrigation supplies, labor and administrative over- head.
The following chart shows the cities contacted and.their response to maintenance costs:
City Cost/Square Feet Type of Landscaping
Anaheim '$.136 Qhrubs, trees, some turf
Huntington Beach $.lo - .12. Shrubs, trees, ground cover
Fuller ton $.05 Shrubs, trees, ground cover
Garden Grove $.46 Tusf, ground cover, shrubs, trees
Irvine . No figure computed -% of medians maintained by
El Cajon No figures available 9
business and industry
'San Diego Varies with landscape '
Long Beach $.22 shrubs, trees and turf -
In addition to the public agencies a large private firm (Environmental Care Industries) was contacted. (June) to the City of San Diego was $.043 per square foot to maintain landscape medians. However, this cost only reflects labor, materials and occasional irrigation head adjustment or cleaning. cover water, repairs due to vandalsim, vehicular damage or acts of God.
They stated that their most recent bid
It does not
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Another source of maintaining mediaris is requiring business and .industry to be responsible for the maintenance of the medians fronting on their property. This is currently the case in the city of Irvine where medians fronting on their property are maintained by the private sector.
Because the medians are in the public'right of ways, another possible alternative to explore for funding is gas tax funds.
The Parks Division staff, along with Engineering, feels that the use of low pressure bubbler heads, along with drought tolerant and native plant materials,. will result in low cost maintenance. As stated earlier, the square footage of landscaping should be kept minimal, yet be adequately aesthetic, safe and provide visual relief.
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cc: Bill Baldwin, Assistant City Manager
Ron Beckman, Assistant City Manager Les Evans, City Engineer v/ Larry Dossey, Principal Engineer .. -. ..
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MEMORANDUM
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TO : Frank Aleshire, City Manager @ FROM : David Bradstreet, Parks and Recreation Director
DATE : November 19, 1980
SUBJECT: Council Information (Median Design)
At the November 17, 1980 Parks and Recreation Commission meeting, the following motion was made and passed by a three to one vote:
Recommend that Council 1. Adopt Alternative B Band Median Design as outlined
2. Assure that the Parks and Recreation budget is
by the visual aid.
increased proportionately to meet the additional maintenance and/or any future construction costs.
3. The distance between the colored texture material and the landscaped band areas may be from 50 feet to 150 feet, depending on location and that,
4. the use of striped medians may be used until such time as development takes place, then they are to be replaced with the raised median concept.
DLB : kap
cc: Bill Baldwin Ron Beckman Les Evans Larry Dossey David Hauser Doug Duncanson
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3088 P10 PIC0 IX. SUITE 202 CARLSBAD, CA 92008
P.O. BOX 1129 PHONE AREACODE714 729-4987
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October 30,
Mr. Les Evans CITY ENGINEER
CITY OF CARLSBAD 1200 Elm Avenue Carlsbad, CA 92008
1980
RE: CARLSBAD STANDARDSlRAISED MEDIANS ON MAJOR THOROUGHFARES]
Dear Les :
A question has come up recently at the City Council relative the installation of raised medians on the prime and major arterials within the City of Carlsbad. The concern of some of the Council
members and the staff were the increased cost for installation of median improvements and the perpetual maintenance and upkeep, ...
Because of the ever increasing concern to "hold the line" on expen-
diture of public money for capitol improvements and maintenance, I would usggest that you consider the following. 8
El Camino Real is a scenic corridor and I believe should maintain and develope with the scenic corridor character. I would think that where existing medians area, that they should be enhanced and
maintained with public money. Where possible, those existing medians should be planted with drought resistance and low main- tenance type planting. In addition to the planting, in areas
that are hard to maintain, you may want to consider some kind of hard surface that there is virtually no maintenance on. In areas along El Camino Real that are yet to be developed, I would suggest that raised medians only be used at intersections for traffic control, and that all other areas contain painted medians, I think the planting in the new medians where acceptable should be kept to a minimum and again, some kind of hard surface be used in the narrower ends of the left turn pocket and raised median areas.
I would suggest that all the remaining streets within the City of
Carlsbad that would fall in the prime arterial and major arterial categories[l26 foot right of way, and 102 foot right of way) should be constructed between curbs and the medians should be painted accord- ing to current traffic engineering standards. I would think the
Mr, Les Evans
October 30, 1980 Page Two
City Engineer should retain the option, or the ability,to require
adeveloperto put in medians to discourage left turns across the painted medians into driveway areas or areas that are restricted to left turns. This probably would only occur where existing de- velopment is and not in newly developed areas, You may also want
to consider putting in raised medians only at intersections as sug-
gested along the new sections of El Camino Real.
There are some definite advantages, I feel, for eliminating the
raised medians other than the obvious cost savings. Quite often,
if a raised median is installed along a curved road that does have super elevation, you do have the problem of drainage accumu- lating along the curb line adjacent to the high speed lane. At
the end of the curve, if the water is not picked up in a storm drain, it will cross back again over the travel lanes and can cause a serious traffic problem. In either case, the installation of a storm drain is probably necessary and does again add to additional
cost of street improvements.
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I think a very important factor to consider is that if you-have any kind of major accidents, or events that would block traffic up, and also have the raised medians, there is noaccessiblearea.
within the travel lanes for emergency vehicles. With th,p painted:
medians, the fire trucks and emergency vehicles can easily travel if traffic is stopped in both directions. provides an emergency area for stalled vehicles if the traffic is
heavy and the car in trouble cannot get over to the right hand side of the road.
The painted median also
There are going to be areas within the City where developers may
want a raised median opposite his project and where he would be willing to plant attractive planting, provide irrigation systems, and provide money for the maintenance of those areas. think that a standard could be written to allow that subject to
the City Engineers approval.
I would
1 would ask that you consider my recormendations for requiring medains in only certain areas within the City and to delete the requirement for medians on the remaining major and prime arterLals,
I would be happy to discuss this with you at your convenience.
Sincerely,
Robert C. Ladwig
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