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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-06-06; Traffic and Mobility Commission; MinutesTRAFFIC AND MOBILITY COMMISSION Minutes June 6, 2022, 4:00 p.m. CALL TO ORDER: 4 p.m. ROLL CALL: Perez, Linke, Penseyres, Fowler, Coelho and Newlands Absent: Proulx PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Chair Perez led the Pledge of Allegiance. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Minutes of the Regular Meeting held March 7, 2022. Counci l Chambers 1200 Carlsbad Village Drive Carlsbad, CA 92008 Motion by Acting Chair Linke, seconded by Commissioner Fowler to approve the minutes for the March 7, 2022, meeting as presented. Motion carried, 6/0/0/1 (Absent: Commissioner Proulx) Minutes of the Regular Meeting held April 4, 2022. Motion by Acting Chair Linke, seconded by Commissioner Fowler to approve the minutes for the April 4, 2022, meeting as presented. Motion carried, 6/0/0/1 (Absent: Commissioner Proulx) PUBLIC COMMENT: Cindy Beauchamp requested that staff install on Plum Tree Road a third stop sign, or speed bumps to slow the traffic speed, a pedestrian crosswalk, and a permanent traffic feedback device. Jim Young spoke representing Tim Morgan and Michael Zepeda requesting a revision on the current pedestrian improvements on Tamarack Avenue and Valley Street. The group believes the current project is out of character of the neighborhood and has had very little community input. The project currently fails to address the root cause of the issues which are safety, speed and visibility. Tom Gibbs requested that the staff and the commissioners consider adding a safe crosswalk on Tamarack Avenue between College Boulevard and the Hope Elementary School. The visibility is difficult in this location and unsafe for pedestrians. CONSENT CALENDAR: None PUBLIC HEARING: 1. FISCAL YEAR 2020-21 GROWTH MANAGEMENT PLAN/ GENERAL PLAN ANNUAL MONITORING REPORT CIRCULATION SECTION. ADOPTION OF GROWTH MANAGEMENT PLAN FINDINGS, DETERMINATION OF DEFICIENT STREET FACILITIES -Support staff's recommendation to City Council to: 1. Receive and file the attached Growth Management Plan, or GMP,/General Plan Annual Monitoring Report Circulation Section, prepared pursuant to Carlsbad Municipal Code, or CMC, § 21.90.130(d) and Gov. Code§ 65400. Page 1 of 10 2. Recommend that the City Council adopt resolutions to: A. Determine the following street facilities to be deficient pursuant to CMC § 21.90.130(c) because they do not meet the vehicular level of service, or LOS, component of the city's circulation performance standard in the Citywide Facilities and Improvements Plan, or CFIP: 1. Eastbound Aviara Parkway between Manzanita Street and El Camino Real 2. Westbound Aviara Parkway between El Camino Real and Manzanita Street B. Determine the following street facilities to be built out and exempt from the vehicular LOS performance standard, in accordance with General Plan Mobility Element Policy 3- P.9 and the CFIP Circulation Performance Standard: 1. Eastbound Aviara Parkway between Manzanita Street and El Camino Real 2. Westbound Aviara Parkway between El Camino Real and Manzanita Street (Staff Contact: Nathan Schmidt Staffs Recommendations: Take public input, close the public hearing and support staffs recommendations. Transportation Planning & Mobility Manager Schmidt presented the report and reviewed a Power Point presentation (on file in the Office of the City Clerk) Commissioner Newlands asked about exempted facilities and if staff will ever study this facility again to see if it can be unexempted. Transportation Planning & Mobility Manager Schmidt replied that the city could revisit a location that is exempt in the future. To date, the city has not unexempted a location, but the plan is to include exempted facilities as part of the annual review. Commissioner Penseyres inquired about potential of improving the bike lane. Transportation Planning & Mobility Manager Schmidt replied that improvements to the bike lane could be done as part of a work order by staff. This could be added as part of the recommendation. Vice-Chair Linke inquired about whether a field study was done and if it was accessed to see if there are any recommendations to be done for the intersections. Were the intersections analyzed? He also asked about the intersections on the overview picture which show that eastbound on Aviara Parkway the cars are getting 475 feet. Were the cars not able to get into the turn lanes and that causes the backup? Transportation Planning & Mobility Manager Schmidt replied that they did not collect traffic intersection volumes and that is what would be needed to a high level of analysis. In the overview picture it was a combination of both the cars not getting into the turn lanes and cars had to wait. Vice-Chair Linke said that he would like to see more of an intersection analysis so that we can be improving conditions on these streets. Assistant City Attorney Contreras clarified that 3.P.11 states that after an intersection is exempted that then is the time to look at doing TDM and TSM measures. Vice-Chair Linke agreed with Assistant City Attorney Contreras, but the fact is that there will be no new projects going into this area that will fund TDM and TSM. Is this accurate? Transportation Planning & Mobility Manager Schmidt replied that this is accurate. Page 2 of 10 Vice-Chair Linke commented that this is the sixth annual report that has come out since the MM LOS has been required to be in the report and again MM LOS is not included in the monitoring report. He does not want to recommend acceptance of the overall report because the MM LOS is not included in the report. Vice -Chair Linke inquired a commissioner could go to the City Council meeting when this report is presented to ask for staff to make this a priority. Transportation Director Frank said the department is working diligently to get the MM LOS item updated as soon as possible. They can't set an exact deadline, but they can say they are trying to do this within six months to a year. They can't foresee the challenges that may come up with the ad-hoc committee. Assistant City Attorney Contreras said there are only a limited amount of times where a commissioner has attended a City Council meeting and provided comment relative to the item that was before City Council. These are usually the Semiannual Transportation Report and the T&MC Work Plan. There is no rule about expanding that and sending a commissioner about a different report. Chair Perez opened the duly noticed Public Hearing at 4:53 p.m. Hearing no one wishing to speak, Chair Perez closed the duly noticed Public Hearing at 4:53 p.m. Motion by Commissioner Fowler, seconded by Commissioner Coelho to support staff's recommendation to City Council to receive and file the Growth Management Plan/General Plan Annual Monitoring Report Circulation Section prepared pursuantto Carlsbad Municipal Code,§ 21.90.130(d) and Gov. Code §65400. Motion carried: 4/2/0/1 (No: Vice-Chair Linke and Commissioner Penseyres; Absent: Commissioner Proulx) Vice-Chair Linke and Commissioner Penseyres voted NO because the need for the inclusion of the Multi modal Level of Service monitoring in the annual Growth Management Plan monitoring report. Motion by Vice-Chair Linke, seconded by Commissioner Penseyres to support staff's recommendations to City Council to adopt resolutions to: A. Determine the following street facilities to be deficient pursuant to CMC § 21.90.130(c) because they do not meet the vehicular level of service, or LOS, component of the city's circulation performance standard in the Citywide Facilities and Improvements Plan, or CFIP: a) Eastbound Aviara Parkway between Manzanita Street and El Camino Real b) Westbound Aviara Parkway between El Camino Real and Manzanita Street B. Determine the following street facilities to be built out and exempt from the vehicular LOS performance standard, in accordance with General Plan Mobility Element Policy 3-P.9 and the CFIP Circulation Performance Standard: a) Eastbound Aviara Parkway between Manzanita Street and El Camino Real b) Westbound Aviara Parkway between El Camino Real and Manzanita Street Motion carried: 6/0/0/1 (Absent: Commissioner Proulx) Motion by Commissioner Coelho, seconded by Commissioner Newlands to nominate Vice-Chair Linke to represent the commission at City Council meeting on July 12, 2022, to discuss the need for the inclusion of the Multi-Modal Level of Service monitoring in the annual Growth Management Plan monitoring report. Motion carried: 5/1/0/1 (No: Commissioner Fowler; Absent: Commissioner Proulx) Page 3 of 10 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS: 2. POLICE REPORT REGARDING TRAFFIC & MOBILllY RELATED MATTERS DURING THE MONTH OF MAY 2022 -(Staff Contact: Lieutenant Jason Jackowski, Police Department) Staffs Recommendation: Receive a presentation Lieutenant Jackowski presented the report and reviewed a PowerPoint presentation (on file in the Office of the City Clerk) 3. THE AVENI DA ENCINAS COASTAL RAIL TRAIL AND PEDESTRIAN IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT -Receive and consider public comments for Avenida Encinas Coastal Rail Trail and Pedestrian Improvements, CIP Project No. 6004 that were inadvertently omitted from the April 4, 2022, meeting of the Traffic & Mobility Commission. (Staff Contact: Brandon Miles and Hossein Ajideh, Public Works) Staffs Recommendation: Receive and consider public comments and provide input to staff based on the project and public comments PUBLIC COMMENT: David Pierce requested that staff revise the proposed traffic lanes width on the rail trail segment on Avenida Encinas and the mixing zones and crossover for the right turn lanes. He suggested protected bicycle intersections. Lance Schulte requested that staff replies to the email from Chas Wick regarding ADA accessibility. Please consider the request to landscape the excess pavement along Avenida Encinas by creating a barrier promoting safety for bicycles. Vice-Chair Linke mentioned that last month he asked questions on this topic on behalf of public commenters. Does he need to repeat those questions today to get them on the record? Assistant City Attorney Contreras said that the item requires that input be provided to staff and that was the reason for receiving these extra public comments. We need input from the Commission as well. Relative to the public comments that have been provided, does the commission have any input that they wish to provide to staff? The material that was presented in April is part of the agenda, and the comments that were received today are also part of the agenda. Commissioner Coelho asked about segments two and three in which the design is still underway. Engineering Manager Ajideh responded that is correct for segment two the design is being finalized. For segment three we are in the early stages. Vice-Chair Linke brought up the raised landscaping which is not in the current budget. This was a request from the public. Engineering Manager Ajideh responded that the project has a limited scope and budget. We are finalizing the design to meet the deadline for the grant. Raised landscaping is not a possibility at this point. Page 4 of 10 Vice-Chair Linke asked about westbound Avenida Encinas looking north on Carlsbad Boulevard. Some commenters were concerned about the right hand, left-turn lane and that the cars come into the bike lane. Is it possible to make another set of guidelines to guide the right most left-turn lane so they don't swerve into the bike lane? Associate Engineer Miles responded that the "cat tracks" can be included to help follow the lane lines. This is a level of detail that we can add to the intersection. Vice-Chair Linke commented on the crosswalk on Avenida Encinas crossing over Ponto Drive. There is no pedestrian crossing control on Avenida Encinas. The public is concerned about having to cross on an uncontrolled crosswalk. Traffic Engineer Kim responded that Avenida Encinas is uncontrolled, and the crosswalk could be updated to include a high visibility crosswalk but would remain uncontrolled. With new development coming in we could do an analysis on this intersection. Vice-Chair Linke asked about Avenida Encinas where it crosses the train tracks near the Batiquitos Lagoon. There is a private trail on the other side and the public would like to see something put in this location. Traffic Engineer Kim responded that they looked to see if adding a marked crosswalk would be appropriate in the location. Since the trail on the north side is private, staff did not think that a crosswalk at this location would be the best use of public funds. Vice-Chair Linke inquired about the reduction to a single lane going southbound on Avenida Encinas at Poinsettia Lane. There are two left turn lanes on the plan. There are two lanes that immediately merge, so the concern is that the traffic is heavy. Will this be able to contain the traffic? Traffic Engineer Kim said that they are working the design of this section, and they intend to preserve, to the extent possible, two southbound lanes between Poinsettia Lane and the shopping center driveways. Chair Perez asked about northbound on Avenida Encinas, on the corner there is a high pitch. If a cyclist was going to turn onto that lane then it is a challenge to cut over and climb up to make the right turn. Commissioner Newlands commented that the private trail on the other side of the Batiquitos Lagoon is actually not locked and it gets a lot of pedestrian traffic. Could they reconsider this location? Traffic Engineer Kim said that staff will take another look. Commissioner Coelho reiterated that it would be great if staff could look at the Poinsettia Lane and Avenida Encinas left turn. This is a high traffic area and we want to make sure we aren't creating a bigger problem on Poinsettia Lane coming off the freeway 4. NORTH COUNTY COMPREHENSIVE MULTI MODAL CORRIDOR PLAN-Receive a report and provide input to staff on the proposed draft project for the North County Comprehensive Multimodal Corridor Plan. (Staff Contact: Nathan Schmidt, Public Works) Staffs Recommendation: Receive a presentation and provide input to staff on the plan. Page 5 of 10 Transportation Planning & Mobility Manager Schmidt presented the report and reviewed a PowerPoint presentation (on file in the Office of the City Clerk) Vice-Chair Linke talked about the Class II bike lane versus Class IV bike lanes for Palomar Airport Road, it looks like Class IV was planned for the entire length. However, for El Camino Real it states in the Strategy Page that Class IV lanes were prepared for the entire length. However, the Preliminary Program and Projects Locations page indicates that Class II bike lanes was planned for the entire length. Will we receive clarification on this from SAN DAG? The Commission has a consensus that Class II bike lane is better when there are a lot of conflicts and where there are not a lot of conflicts then Class IV bike lanes is better. He also commented on the flex lanes and that the Transit Priority Lanes are not going to work well in Carlsbad. Assistant City Attorney Contreras asked for a motion to reflect the feedback provided by the commissioners. Motion by Vice-Chair Linke, seconded by Commissioner Penseyres to support staff recommendations and provided the following input: a) The report should clarify inconsistencies within the document between the recommended bikeway facility types such as Class-II versus Class-IV bikeways b) Class-II buffered bike lanes are the preferred bikeway facility type for roadways within the city c) The commission disagrees with the implementation of transit priority lanes within the city. Motion carried: 6/0/0/1 (Absent: Commissioner Proulx) 5. INCLUSION INTO THE CARLSBAD RESIDENTIAL TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT PROGRAM AND FUNCTIONAL CLASSIFICATION CHANGE FOR PARK DRIVE -Support staffs recommendation to: 1) Include Park Drive between Monroe Street and Tamarack Avenue into the Carlsbad Residential Traffic Management Program; and, 2) Submit a request to the California Department of Transportation of a functional classification change on California Road System maps for Park Drive between Monroe Street and Hillside Drive. (Staff Contact: Miriam Jim and John Kim, Public Works Staffs Recommendation: Support staffs recommendations. City Traffic Engineer Kim and Senior Engineer Jim presented the report and reviewed a PowerPoint presentation (on file in the office of the City Clerk) PUBLIC COMMENT: Anthony Wisneske complained about speeding on Park Drive and requested that staff consider making Park Drive safer for bicycles, pedestrians and all the residents. Commissioner Fowler asked about the consequence of this project. He also inquired about a speed limit change. Senior Engineer Jim said that with the T&MC approval of Park Drive as an exception to the Carlsbad Residential Traffic Management Program, staff will work with the public to come up with traffic calming measures that will address residents' speeding concerns. In order to allow the Police Department to enforce the speed limit of 25mph on Park Drive, it would require a functional classification change to a Local Street on California Road System maps. Page 6 of 10 City Traffic Engineer Kim said that portions of Park Drive are posted at 25mph but are currently not enforceable. We need to change the classification so that the 25mph speed limit would be enforceable. Commissioner Penseyres clarified that staff is only asking for one segment to go into the CRTMP program. Why are we not doing this for the whole street? Senior Engineer Jim said that in order to consider the whole street they would need a request from residents. As of right now there have been no requests for the portion between Tamarack Avenue and Hillside Drive. This portion of Park Drive is also classified as a Major Collector on California Road System maps. City Traffic Engineer Kim said that if the T&MC would like to request all of Park Drive to be included into the CRTMP program that staff would be open to that as well. Staff just needs to receive a request for the whole street to initiate the CRTMP process. Commissioner Penseyres commented that once traffic calming measures have been applied on that one Segment, it is likely that staff will receive complaints for the other section of Park Drive. Chair Perez said that there are five schools in the area of Park Drive. There is a lot of congestion near the schools and there are lots of e-bikes in this location as well. He believes that we should really focus on safety and enforcement in this area. Motion by Commissioner Coelho, seconded by Chair Perez to support staffs recommendations and add item c) below: a) Include Park Drive between Monroe Street and Tamarack Avenue into the Carlsbad Residential Traffic Management Program; and, b) Submit a request to the California Department of Transportation of a functional classification change on California Road System maps for Park Drive between Monroe Street and Hillside Drive; and, c) Include Park Drive between Tamarack Avenue and Hillside Drive as an exception into the Carlsbad Residential Traffic Management Program. Motion carried: 6/0/1 (Absent: Commissioner Proulx) 6. TRAFFIC AND MOBILITY COMMISSION FISCAL YEAR 2022-23 WORKPLAN -Provide input to staff on the commission's draft work plan that identifies activities that the commission anticipates undertaking in the coming year. (Staff Contact: Nathan Schmidt, Public Works) Staffs Recommendation: Discuss the proposed workplan and provide input to staff. Transportation Planning and Mobility Manager Schmidt presented the report and reviewed a PowerPoint presentation (on file in the office of the City Clerk) Vice-Chair Linke inquired about the Advanced Signal Coordination Program, when the first batch of street deficiencies were disclosed in 2019 staff made a presentation to City Council which included the adaptive signal program. This was supposed to be in place by the end of 2020. City Traffic Engineer Kim said that he believes that staff did bring an update of the signal system to the Page 7 of 10 Traffic & Mobility Commission. They are evaluating signal performance and not tying the City of Carlsbad to adaptive program, but this will be reported as we move forward. The Covid situation has adopted traffic patterns and we need to assume that traffic conditions will again change from this point forward. We are coming up with signal strategies based on the data we are receiving now. We will bring an update to the T&MC in the future. Vice-Chair Linke asked about the TDM program update which has been on the work plan for the past two years. On the last work plan update a year ago it said that the Commission would get an update by September 2021. What is the status of this now? Is the program being left on the work plan? Transportation Planning and Mobility Manager Schmidt replied that the TDM Program is currently being worked on by Community Development and an update should be provided in the next three months. Vice-Chair Linke asked about the TIA Guidelines which has been on the workplan for at least two years. Is that still in process? Transportation Planning and Mobility Manager Schmidt replied yes, this is still in process. Vice-Chair Linke suggested there should be a performance review with some metrics to evaluate the TDM Program. What has the current program been doing? He would like the Commission to receive an annual report on how the TDM program is performing. How many solo drivers have been eliminated? What are the performance metrics that would be used. Transportation Planning and Mobility Manager Schmidt replied that an annual report on the performance of the TDM Program is a good suggestion. We have multiple sources that could be presented to the Commission. Vice-Chair Linke commented that the City Council is in the process of deciding Capital Improvement Projects priorities. The Sustainable Mobility Plan is a tool that could be used to help prioritize projects. The City Council was not presented with the deficiencies that could be addressed on our prioritization list. He suggested that the T&MC be involved in advising the City Council on what we think should be prioritized. The CIP project list should be provided to the Commission to provide input prior to next year's CIP prioritization meeting. Transportation Planning and Mobility Manager Schmidt replied that as part of the update to the City's Traffic Impact Fee Program, the first phase of that program was looking at prioritization of all of the projects identified in the SMP. It was a high-level plan, and we don't have tangible cost data or construction feasibility data. The TIF was intended to take a closer look at those projects to provide a more realistic prioritization list. Chair Perez reiterated that looking forward those five commissioners have terms ending in 2022. There is a lot of material that will be moving over to 2023. It would be nice to see everything we can with the months that we have left with this Commission. Motion by Vice-chair Linke, seconded by Commissioner Newlands to add the following input: a) Include annual Transportation Demand Management performance updates; and, b) Remove the request to live stream the Traffic & Mobility Commission meeting. Motion carried: 6/0/0/1 (Absent: Commissioner Proulx) Page 8 of 10 7. SEMIANNUAL TRANSPORTATION REPORT -Receive a report regarding the accomplishments of each division of the Transportation Department on the past six months and goals for the next six months. (Staff Contact: Tom Frank, Public Works) Staffs Recommendation: Receive the report. Transportation Director and City Engineer Frank presented the report and reviewed a Power Point presentation (on file in the office of the City Clerk) Motion by Vice-Chair Linke, seconded by Commissioner Penseyres to nominate Chair Perez to represent the Traffic & Mobility Commission at City Council meeting on July 26, 2022, and nominated Commissioner Coelho as an alternate. Motion carried: 6/0/0/1 (Absent: Commissioner Proulx) PUBLIC COMMENT ON NON-AGENDA ITEM CONTINUATION: Robert Beauchamp spoke about Plum Tree Road and encourages everyone to read the email with input from his wife Cindy Beauchamp who spoke earlier in the meeting. He believes the road design is too narrow. The community is requesting a third stop signs or speed bumps, a crosswalk, and a permanent traffic feedback device. CITY TRAFFIC ENGINEER COMMENTS: Traffic Engineer Manager Kim mentioned that his presentation about the westbound bike lane on Aviara Parkway at Manzanita Street was folded into the GMP presentation provided by Nathan Schmidt. Transportation Planning and Mobility Manager Schmidt informed the T&MC that the Council Chambers may not be available for the August 1, meeting due to scheduled renovations. Staff will let the T&MC know if a cancelation of the meeting will be necessary. TRAFFIC AND MOBILITY COMMISSION COMMENTS: Transportation Planning and Mobility Manager Schmidt reminded the T&MC that due to the holiday the July meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday, July 5, 2022. Assistant City Attorney Contreras said that he will not attend the July 5, meeting but that his colleague Allegra Frost will attend. Commissioner Penseyres commented on Tamarack Avenue and Valley Street and the need to address the issues. Could staff put together a history of the public request on this issue and how we got to where we are currently. We have spent a lot of money and time designing this. However, the public does not seem satisfied on this issue. How are we going to move forward and address the issues? Assistant City Attorney Contreras said the T&MC can ask staff to agendize the history of the public requests on Tamarack Avenue and Valley Street. Motion by Vice-Chair Linke, seconded by Commissioner Penseyres to request staff to agendize a future item to review the installation of a HAWK crossing at the intersection of Valley Street and Tamarack Avenue based on comments received during the public comments portion of the agenda. This item shall include: Page 9 of 10 1) An overview of the history of the project review and approval process and 2) Potential options for traffic calming at the intersection Motion carried: 6/0/0/1 (Absent: Commissioner Proulx) Vice-Chair Linke brought up a comment about the Poinsettia Lane, Aviara Parkway intersection. We have heard about this in the past. After the completion of Poinsettia Lane there is more through traffic. A commenter stated that they think that an additional through lane might be better than the second right turn lane should be considered. Another non agenda item brought up by the public was status of the No Large vehicle parking on Madison Street. Traffic Engineer Manager Kim mentioned that staff works with the police department on any parking complaints, and rely on the Police Department for these issues. ADJOURNMENT: Chair Perez adjourned the Traffic & Mobility Commission Meeting on June 6, 2022, at 7:30 p.m. Eliane Paiva, Minutes Clerk Page 10 of 10