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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-01-09; Traffic Safety Commission; MinutesMEETING OF: DATE OF MEETING: TIME OF MEETING: PLACE OF MEETING: MINUTES TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMISSION (SPECIAL MEETING) January 9, 2017 5:00 p.m. City Council Chamber 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Hunter called the Meeting to order at 5:05 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL: Present: Chair Chuck Hunter Commissioner Kathryn Fox Commissioner Fred Muir Commissioner Monica Gocan Absent: Commissioner Ervin Poka Staff Members Present: 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: December 5, 2016 Doug Bilse, City Traffic Engineer Craig Williams, Transportation Manager John Kim, Associate Engineer Jim Gale, Engineering Technician ACTION: Motion by Commissioner Muir and seconded by Commissioner Fox to approve the minutes of the regular meeting held on December 5, 2016 with the following correction to Section 3, Approval of Minutes: "Motion by Commissioner Fox and seconded by Commissioner Muir..." should read "Motion by Commissioner Poka and seconded by Commissioner Muir to approve the minutes of the regular meeting held on November 7, 2016". VOTE: 4/1 AYES: Hunter, Fox, Muir, Gocan NOES: None ABSENT: Poka ABSTAIN: None 4. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS/PUBLIC COMMENT: None 5. PREVIOUS BUSINESS: None January 9, 2017 6. NEW BUSINESS: A. New Speed Zones • None Traffic Safety Commission Meeting Page 2 B. Transportation Projects • La Costa Avenue Traffic Calming CIP/Complete Streets Update — Information Item Only Associate Engineer John Kim presented the report and reviewed a PowerPoint presentation (on file in the Office of the City Clerk). Gene Belton, President of Alta Verde Homeowners Association, 2322 La Costa Avenue, expressed concerns about a recent traffic collision that occurred on La Costa Avenue adjacent to his residence and said the design of the road encourages motorists to drive faster. He thanked the Traffic Safety Commission and staff for their professionalism. Catherine Belton thanked the Traffic Safety Commission for their service and praised staff and City Council for the City's General Plan. She shared photos of a recent traffic collision that occurred adjacent to her residence on La Costa Avenue. She would like to see traffic calming implemented as soon as possible to help prevent traffic collisions such as the one mentioned previously. Evelyn Montalbano, 2404 La Costa Avenue, expressed concerns about the difficulty that residents of Costa Pointe Town homes, located on the south side of La Costa Avenue, have when exiting their driveway and turning to the west. She would like something done to improve the situation and make it safer for them such as installing landscaped medians. Ernest Trujillo, 2644 La Costa Avenue, supports staff's recommendation. He expressed concerns about the noise level of the traffic on the subject portion of La Costa Avenue and asked that the number of signs and size of signs be increased. Sara McCarty, 2320 La Costa Avenue, supports staff's recommendation. She said there are a large number of driveways along the subject portion of La Costa Avenue. She'd like to see the roadway narrowed so that it feels more residential. She also expressed concern about the noise level of the traffic and lack of sidewalks. Manuel Harris, 2322 La Costa Avenue, lives on the north side of La Costa Avenue across the roadway from where the subject traffic collision occurred. He appreciates the improvements done previously because it enables him to utilize the center turn lane to turn into his driveway. He is very concerned, though, about the several times he has seen impatient westbound motorists use the bike lane and center turn lane when passing a westbound motorist who is driving the speed limit. He said at those times he is concerned that he, and others, could be involved in a head-on collision. He said additional signs are not the answer but believes physical improvements are necessary. He'd also like additional enforcement of the speed limit to occur. He thanked the Traffic Safety Commission and staff. January 9, 2017 Traffic Safety Commission Meeting Page 3 Aaron McCarty, 2320 La Costa Avenue, thanked the other La Costa Avenue residents for attending the meeting and said he'll continue to encourage residents to attend future meetings as well. He appreciates that this item is moving forward and he looks forward to when the speed is reduced along the roadway. Christine Davis, 2412 La Costa Avenue, has lived on La Costa Avenue for 20 years, and has enjoyed it for the most part. She appreciates all the previous improvements to reduce the speed including reducing the number of westbound lanes and installing several warning signs and three speed feedback signs. All of it has helped and she wants the City to keep going with additional measures to improve the roadway and slow traffic including reducing the two eastbound lanes to one lane. Mehdi Zomorrodian, 2464 La Costa Avenue, says he lives across the street from the Costa Pointe development. He explained that when the project was approved, $200,000 was received by the City to install a traffic signal at the project driveway. He suggested installing the subject traffic signal now and then narrow the roadway and install medians and landscaping as part of the road diet. Kazem Zomorrodian, 2400 La Costa Avenue, says he has seen great changes on this portion of La Costa Avenue since the westbound travel lanes were reduced from two lanes to one. He would like to see additional measures undertaken to improve the safety of the roadway. Chuck Hunter asked Mr. Bilse to give a status on the traffic signal that Mehdi mentioned earlier. Doug said Mehdi is correct that $200,000 was given to the city from the developer of the project as a condition of approval for construction of a traffic signal. After discussing the matter with the city, the developer was open to the funds being used for traffic calming of the roadway, not necessarily for a traffic signal. Doug said the city recommends a roundabout for the development's driveway at Sitio del Mar. He said the $200,000 is included in the total project cost that John Kim mentioned earlier. • Carlsbad Coastal Corridor Transportation Manager Craig Williams presented the report and reviewed a PowerPoint presentation (on file in the Office of the City Clerk). C. New Traffic Control Devices • Striping Treatments for Bike Facilities Transportation Manager Craig Williams presented the staff report (on file in the Office of the City Clerk). Craig said this item is based on a request from Ms. Judy Frankel. She sent a letter which he asked be included in the record and read a portion of the letter aloud. (the letter is on file along with the staff report in the Office of the City Clerk) In response to inquiry from Commissioner Muir, Mr. Williams clarified that city paint crews are not able to apply anything other than water -based paints. Any other paints, such as epoxy paint or January 9, 2017 Traffic Safety Commission Meeting Page 4 thermoplastic, must be applied by an outside contractor since the city doesn't have the equipment to do so. Commissioner Muir also inquired as to whether a cost/benefit analysis was done regarding spending the additional funds to have contractors apply thermoplastic as compared to city crews who use paint. Commissioner Muir asked what the difference is between the different applications when roadways are wet. Craig said glass beads are mixed into thermoplastic. As a result, he believes the traction is better than with epoxy paint or water -based paint. Craig said he'll provide a follow-up report to the commission regarding this subject. D. Legislation and Policies • Traffic Safety Commission Procedure Rules — Request for any proposed changes Mr. Bilse presented the staff report and said the Traffic Safety Commission was established in 1990 along with the original procedure rules. He thoroughly reviewed the current "Traffic Safety Commission Procedure Rules", as adopted by the Traffic Safety Commission on February 1, 2016, while highlighting the most important points and staff recommendations for changes to be made. (Report on file in the Office of the City Clerk) Chair Hunter said the last paragraph of Section 5, "Approval of Minutes", should read "If there is no objection...", not "If there is objection...", as it currently reads. Discussion ensued and all were in agreement with Chair Hunter. Chair Hunter said Section 6, "Oral Communications", says "A total of 15 minutes is provided for oral communications'; but doesn't mention a limit of 3 minutes per speaker. Discussion ensued. It was decided to remove the mention of "15 minutes" and change the name of the section to "Public Comment" rather than "Oral Communications". Chair Hunter mentioned that the first sentence of the eighth paragraph of Section 8, "New Business", states "Voting shall be conducted by the use of a voice vote." He suggested adding the words "or electronic method" to the end of the sentence. All agreed. Chair Hunter reminded staff that the third paragraph of Section 5, "Approval of Minutes", states that "A copy of the previous Commission meeting minutes shall be distributed to each Commissioner one week prior to the subsequent meeting." Mr. Bilse assured the commissioners that, in the future, they will receive the minutes as stated. Commissioner Hunter suggested reversing the order of Sections 9 and 10, "Report from Traffic Safety Commissioners" and "Report from Traffic Engineer". All agreed. Chair Hunter said Section 13, "Legal Guidelines'; states "Robert's Rules of Order" for item number 2 in the category of "state guidelines". He said it should read "Rosenberg's Rules of Order" if that is what City Council adheres to. All agreed. January 9, 2017 Traffic Safety Commission Meeting Page 5 Mr. Williams suggested changing the end of the fourth paragraph of Section 5, "Approval of Minutes" to read "....the minutes become a permanent public record and are filed accordingly" instead of "....and are filed in the Transportation Department". All agreed. Mr. Williams suggested changing Item #5 in Section 12, "Code of Conduct", to read "Shut off all electronic devices" instead of "Shut off all cell phones and beepers". All agreed. Mr. Bilse said he'll bring this item back at a future meeting along with a revised version of the rules to be voted on. E. Other Issues a. None F. Police -Related Matters b. None 7. REPORT FROM CITY TRAFFIC ENGINEER: None 8. REPORT FROM TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMISSIONERS: None 9. ADJOURNMENT: By proper motion, Chair Hunter adjourned the meeting of January 9, 2017 at 6:33 p.m. Respectfully submitted, James Gale Engineering Technician II