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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1986-06-02; Traffic Safety Commission; MinutesMeeting of: MINUTES TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMISSION Time o$ Meeting: 3:OO P.M. Date of Meeting: June 2, 1986 Place of Meeting: City Council Chambers COMMISSIONERS CALL TO ORDER: Chairman Fuller called the Meeting to order at 3:OO P.M. ROLL CALL: Present: Chairman Fuller, Commissioners Erwin, Melideo, and Wood Absent: Commissioner O'Day and the Minutes Clerk Staff Members Present: Bob Johnson, Principal Civil Engineer Mike Shirey, Engineering Technician I1 Vince Jimno, Chief of Police APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Minutes of the Meeting held May 5, 1986, were approved as presented. REPORT ON ACTION FROM PREVIOUS MEETING: Bob Johnson reported on Commissioner Wood's inquiry about the green curbing painted on the opposite side of the street from Johnny's House of Glass. Bob stated that the green curb was painted illegally and that the City's utilities department knew nothing about it. A work order has been initiated to have the painting removed. The striping on Alicante has not been completed. Chairman Fuller inquired as to the completion date. Bob Johnson responded that it should be completed in approximately one month. After the striping is completed, a traffic study will be done. ACTION ITEM: 1. Posting A Speed Limit On Cadencia Street. Chairman Fuller read the staff report on this item as contained in the packet. Recommendation was for denial. Dennis Price, 7515 Cadencia Street, thanked the Commission for their support in getting the trucks off of La Costa Avenue. Mr. Price requested a 25 mph speed limit be posted on Cadencia. He stated that the street was designated by the City as a local street and used as a collector. It is 40 feet wide from curb to curb and approximately one mile long from Rancho Santa Fe to La Costa Avenue. He stated forty homes are located along this one mile long street as well as a community park and playground, six bus stops, and eight local streets that intersect. Mr. Price presented a table of street design criteria used by the City which shows that this type of street suggests a speed limit of 25 mph. He pointed out that two years ago, before Seapoint was built, the traffic count showed 360 cars Fuller Erwin !le1 ideo Wood MINUTES TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMISSION June 2, 1986 Page 2 COMMISSIONERS v ~~~ daily. The most recent traffic count done shows 1700 cars daily. Seapoint is only at one third buildout and when that buildout is complete the projection is for 4000 cars daily. Mr. Price voiced his concern for the safety of the people who use it daily, mainly the pedestrians. He pointed out, over the objection of Mr. Sears, tha a stop sign was placed on Levante due to the Traffic Commissions view for pedestrian safety fo the school children at the new school. He also pointed out that he would like to see the same concern given here on a two lane road, as was given Alga Road - a four lane road with a 35 mph speed limit. He requested speed studies be done at six and twelve month intervals to see effects of posted speed limit of 25 mph. Commissioner Wood raised the question as to where most of the traffic was coming from on Cadencia. Mr Price stated that most of the traffic was coming from Seapoint. During the traffic count, it was found that 900 cars were going down Cadencia and only 500 cars were going back up during two 24 hour days. People were using it as a shortcut coming down Rancho Santa Fe going to La Costa and points west. Bob Johnson (in reference to the Alga Road) mentioned that a speed study will be going to Council June 3, 1986 recommending a 45 mph speed limit. Bob stated that the existing residential density does not qualify Cadencia as a residentia area per the Vehicle Code. Based upon the 85 percentile, drivers perceived that a 45 mph speed was safe and reasonable, and that posting it lower does not necessarily mean that people will drive that speed. indicative of a problem at this time. The accident history is not Chairman Fuller raised the question if a 25 mph speed limit could be enforced legally by the Police Department. A reply by Bob Johnson was that it was not possible with the conditions of the road now. Commissioner Erwin raised the question to see if the road coud be segmented with two different speed limits. The top of the hill meets all criteria for a residential area, so perhaps two speed limits could be established for the same road. Commissioner Wood stated that there are streets in Carlsbad that have two speed limits. He did not know whether it was legal or not. Bob Johnson stated that staff could check into it to see if it is possible to post two different speed limits. Mary Melideo made the comment that it might provide false security if a 25 mph speed limit was imposed and could not be enforced by th Pulice Department. A motion was made to carry over this action until staff can review and find out if the road can be legally segmented with two different speed limits and the speed limit enforced, and with a view of declaring some parts of the street residential. MINUTES TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMISSION June 2, 1986 Page 3 COMMISSIONERS The motion was moved and seconded and passed unanimously. 2. OlvmDia Drive and Elm Avenue Intersection Chairman Fuller read the staff report initiated bl Bob Ladwig on this issue. Recommendation was for denial. Gina Walker who lives at 2699 Olympia Drive supports the cul-de-sac because of increased traffic and concern for safety for the children. Abe Kate11 who lives at 2692 Medford Court pointed out the buildup of houses in that area which causes more traffic. He is not in favor of a cul-de-sac but would like to prevent any egress or ingress onto Olympia from Elm in either direction. He pointed out that their is a sight distance problem at that intersection. He also recommended that a right turn only in would take care of some of the problem. Ed Pirae, 2701 Olympia Drive favored the cul-de- sac. He stated that the City Engineer had been in favor of it. He also pointed out that the lack of accidents in that area was not valid because the danger of exiting created more driver awareness and that people were avoiding the intersection by going up Pontiac to get out. He wanted a total blockage if only one-half was going to be considered. in his area who concurred. He represented other neighbors Chairman Fuller took a count of the people in the audience who approved of cul-de-saccing Olympia but did not care to speak for the record. George Greenfield of 3485 Lawrence maintained that the exit is dangerous. He was concerned that a provision be made for pedestrians down Elm. He was assured that it would be. Charles Todda of 2709 Olympia Drive stated that the suggestion of a right turn off of Elm to Olympia was not a good idea because Elm is a two lane road. Howard Gesly of 3479 Lawrence Street asked for clarification of a right turn lane. He was opposed to making any changes at that intersection He stated that there had been a mistake with the tentative map on the traffic signal at Concord and Elm and that perhaps a signal should have been placed at Pontiac and Elm. David Phares, Vice-president of Standard Pacific, 7290 Clairemont Mesa Boulevard, San Diego, stated that his firm would be willing to pick up the cost of correcting the intersection of Concord and Elm. He commended the alertness of the residents in that area. He suggested wider striping on Elm for turning onto Olympia or blocking the intersection off completely. Fuller Erwin Melideo Wood - X X X MINUTES TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMISSION June 2, 1986 Page 4 COMMISSIONERS Chairman Fuller asked the question of Bob Johnson if there was enough right-of-way to construct a standard cul-de-sac. Mr. Johnson stated there was not enough right-of-way. One alternative that waz suggested was a barrier with a curb, which does not allow a turn-around for emergency vehicles. Commissioner Melideo asked how, if the street was closed, would this affect emergency vehicles. Police Chief Jimno responded to the question of what the situation would be if a cul-de-sac was installed. He felt that no significant impact would be felt because of the fact that it was a short block or block and one-half. The Fire Department was not represented but Chief Jimno did not think that it would be a problem for them either from a response time standpoint. Their present services are from a fire station on Chestnut and has good response time. Also, a new fire station is being planned for Calavera Hills in the near future. The radius of the cul-de-sac could be an issue for fire trucks to turn around. Access to fire hydrants is available. Howard Gesly asked if this cul-de-sac would impedt trash pick-up. As to the question of trash pick- up, no problem was expected. The residents state( that the trash trucks currently back-up when necessary. Howard Gesly stated that he thought you should no' make it a cul-de-sac if it is not a legal one. A verbal commendation was made to Standard Pacific for offering to correct the situation at Elm and Concord at their expense. John Trokey of 2723 Spokane Way stated he uses Olympia every day. He thinks that the problem is excessive speed and not anything else. ,He feels that there is enough room for making a turn safel: from Olympia onto Elm. He thinks that other routes should be studied because of the traffic ii that area. He also pointed out the lack of side- walks in some areas. Chairman Fuller also brought up the fact that if anything other than a standard size cul-de-sac is made, a street sweeper cannot get in to clean up the streets. David Phares recommended using a brick wall with reflectors instead of a curb in designing the cul de-sac. Also the question of landscaping, drainage and cleaning will have to be addressed i this is approved. Commissioner Erwin stated that there is a limitation of access of the whole tract to one street and it impacts the people on Pontiac. Mary Melideo stated that she was concerned about the width of the street and made a motion to deny the closure of Olympia. Sight distance seemed to be a problem. It was MINUTES TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMISSION June 2, 1986 Page 5 r COMMISSIONERS suggested by the Commission to move the bicycle lane by making it wider, which might improve the sight distance at the intersection. It would mov traffic toward the center of Elm making a turn onto Elm from Olympia easier. The motion was to adopt staff's recommendation. The motion passed 3-1 to deny making any changes to the intersection of Elm and Olympia. Commission recommended staff to look into moving the bike lane toward the center of Elm to improve the sight distance at Olympia and Elm. 3. Carlsbad and Pine Street Traffic Signal - Installation. Chairman Fuller read the staff report. At the November 4, 1985 meeting of the Traffic Safety Commission, the request for a traffic , signal at Pine Street and Carlsbad Boulevard was made to provide a safe and public access to the beach. It was recommended that this be postponed until a traffic study could be completed. That study is now underway. Bill Kanepa of the Tamarack Beach Resort stated that he would like a decision made prior to completion of the study using current data. A memo from Marty Bouman, Transportation Planning Consultant to the City, recommended that a signal would not solve the problem and would create more potential for accidents than currently exists. Mr. Bouman provided an alternative however to consider, that of building a pedestrian overcrossing. staff's recommendation was to defer this item until the traffic study was completed. Mr. Kanepa of 3200 Carlsbad Boulevard, suggested that an overpass would be too expensive and that people would still take the shortest route to cross to the beach. He would like to see some- thing done now even if just a stop sign; but he would rather see a pedestrian light which can be activated by a pedestrian to stop traffic so they could cross the street. Again, Commissioner Melideo brought up the question of how many people would occupy Tamarack Beach Resor at a given time. Mr. Kanepa responded that 350- 400 occupants. Mary Melideo felt that it could b too much of an interruption of traffic. Chairman Fuller made the point that since a study is already underway involving the entire Carlsbad Boulevard beach area, he recommends going along with staff until the study is complete. It is expected to be completed within the year. Pedestrian activity will be included in that study . Commissioner Wood made the motion to adopt staff' recommendation. Commissioner Melideo seconded. The motion passed unanimously. Fuller Erwin Melideo Wood Fuller Erwin Melideo Wood MINUTES