Traffic Safety Committee Meeting

CITY OF LOS BANOS TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES October 3, 2017 ACTION MINUTES – These minutes are prepared to depict action taken for agenda items presented to the Traffic Safety Committee. CALL TO ORDER: Police Chief Brizzee called the Traffic Safety Committee Meeting to order at the hour of 2:00 p.m. ROLL CALL – MEMBERS OF THE TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMITTEE PRESENT: Mason Hurley, Assistant Fire Chief (Fire Department); Mark Fachin, Public Works Director/City Engineer (Public Works Department); Gary Brizzee, Police Chief (Police Department); Stacy Elms, Community & Economic Development Director (Community & Economic Development Department); Erik Limon (Planning Commission Representative). STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT: Assistant City Clerk/Human Resources Technician Sousa. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: Motion by Limon seconded by Fachin to approve the agenda as submitted. The motion carried by the affirmative action of all committee members present. PUBLIC FORUM: MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC MAY ADDRESS THE COMMITTEE ON ANY ITEM OF PUBLIC INTEREST THAT IS WITHIN THE JURISDICTION OF THE CITY; INCLUDES AGENDA AND NON-AGENDA ITEMS. NO ACTION WILL BE TAKEN ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS. SPEAKERS ARE LIMITED TO A FIVE (5) MINUTE PRESENTATION. TRINA PATTERSON, Los Banos, stated she has lived in the same spot for sixteen years, there is a park across from her home, just this morning her son was leaving for school and cars were stopped on Cabernet Street waiting to turn and the cars on Birchwood Avenue were traveling 50-60mph and there was a near miss, last week there was a three car pileup and that is what prompted her to come in and request a stop sign, she personally goes out to stop traffic because she is afraid the children will be hit, there are no painted crosswalks to get to Birchwood Park, if on Cabernet looking toward Lorena Falasco you cannot see what is coming in your direction, she’s witnessed three car accidents in front of her home, she’s witnessed three accidents at the intersection as well, she has a camera on her home and can show several near miss accidents at the intersection, one of her neighbors brought a petition to the City last year and someone came out to survey the area at 11:00 a.m. on a rainy day, she’s requesting that someone come out to survey the area again during peak hours, a few years ago a young boy was crossing the road with a dog on a leash and a vehicle struck and killed the dog while the boy was walking it. No one else came forward to speak and the public forum was closed. CONSIDERATION OF A REQUEST TO INSTALL STOP SIGNS ON BIRCHWOOD AVENUE AT CABERNET STREET. Police Chief Brizzee stated that the committee looks at traffic data in regards to installation of traffic controls, how the Caltrans manual states that stops signs should not be used as a manner of enforcing speed. Public Works Director/City Engineer Fachin stated he visited the intersection several times and when sitting at the stop sign on Cabernet Street heading south and looking west you cannot see traffic heading in your direction, the sight distance issue usually supersedes the need for the traffic requirement in the manual and he believes there is a need to install the stop signs due to visibility issues at the intersection and the safety of others. Motion by Fachin, seconded by Elms to install stop signs, complete with crosswalks, on Birchwood Avenue at Cabernet Street. The motion carried by the affirmative action of all committee members present. CONSIDERATION OF A REQUEST TO INSTALL STOP SIGNS ON RANCHWOOD DRIVE AT SANTA BARBARA STREET. IVAN LUCAS, Los Banos, stated he lives one house over from the corner of Ranchwood Drive, for the last few months his neighbor across the street has been in Portugal so Lucas is crossing the street to water the neighbor’s lawn and has had to run across the street for fear of getting hit by an oncoming vehicle, vehicles are traveling freeway speeds on these streets, there are small children in the area, it is difficult to wonder why there isn’t a stop sign at the intersection, it would be nice to have speed bumps there but there are a lot of requirements, all lives are important; SHELLY WEST, Los Banos, on Santa Barbara there are stop signs and vehicles will stop at that intersection and then proceed because they already made their stop, they don’t realize that Ranchwood Drive doesn’t stop because the intersection is so large it looks like a 4-way stop. POLICE CHIEF BRIZZEE, stated this item has come to the committee for consideration in the past, how the committee cannot use stop signs as a means to control speed, the intersection didn’t meet the requirements for stop signs, he would like to do a thorough examination of the intersection and take today’s comments into consideration, the committee also looks at the existing signage and will move to carry this forward. PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR/CITY ENGINEER FACHIN stated the citizens on the block are able to start the process for speed cushions and that is always an option for them to look into. Motion by Brizzee, seconded by Fachin to deny the request to install stop signs on Ranchwood Drive at Santa Barbara Street. The motion carried by the affirmative action of all committee members present. Motion by Elms, seconded by Brizzee to conduct a traffic survey and bring the item back to the January 2018 meeting for consideration. The motion carried by the affirmative action of all committee members present. Public Works Director/City Engineer Fachin asked to include the speed cushion option when the Police Department conducts their speed survey in case that is requested at a later date. CITIZEN APPEAL REGARDING THE DENIAL OF SPEED CUSHION INSTALLATION ON DOVE STREET BETWEEN SKYLARK AVENUE AND MEADOWLARK AVENUE. Public Works Director/City Engineer Fachin stated the request was brought to the Police Department to conduct studies and the street doesn’t meet one of the most basic criteria in that it is not a local street, it is a conductor or major arterial and based on that alone the Public Works Department had to deny the request. BOB ZAVALA, Los Banos, stated he has lived on Dove Street since 1986 and the traffic is very high as well as the vehicle speed, understands that Dove is an arterial street but feels sometimes exceptions need to be made, Overland Avenue is also an arterial street and there are several stop signs on it, initially he asked for a 4-way stop on Meadowlark Avenue and feels that if the speed cushions cannot happen then maybe the stop sign can, there is a problem on our street and we need help; VIOLET GARCIA, Los Banos, stated the survey was conducted right in front of her house and she’s the fourth house from the corner of Meadowlark Avenue, how she had a grandson killed by a car in Newman and knows what that’s like and doesn’t want that to happen to anyone else, since Dove is designated as an arterial until the year 2030 she wants to know what can be done before then to change the designation. COMMUNITY & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR ELMS stated the City is looking into the future with the General Plan document, Dove has been designated as an arterial and has been for quite a while, the designation is the designation of the street today, it’s the existing setting today and planned for the future. PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR/CITY ENGINEER FACHIN stated the speed survey did qualify the street for cushions but since it’s an arterial it cannot be done according to policy. JOHN LUPINI, Los Banos, stated that east of Meadowlark there are only two residents and the rest is a park and sidewalk surrounded by walls, there is a lot of time for someone to pick up speed before they reach the residential area, parents are lining up to pick up their children, he and his wife won’t sit out front when school is out for fear of seeing a child get hit be a vehicle, even his own truck is cussed everyday by his wife because she tries to back up out of the driveway and cannot see around his truck which means others can’t either, people use the park for soccer practice, vehicles do not slow down when heading to Mercey Springs and they’ve already picked up speed, we’re a transitioning neighborhood and younger families are coming in, the commuters are just trying to see if they can save two minutes; DENNIS WULLINGTON, 1325 Dove, Los Banos, stated he has lived in his home since 1991, there is a real safety concern for the residents because there is an awful amount of speeding going on, when he first moved in it didn’t seem like much of an issue, there is a school bus that stops on Dove and loads and unloads many children, hoping that somehow the committee can relieve the problem; ROGER WILBER, Los Banos, stated that many times he’s backing out of the driveway and has had to lock on the brakes; COLLEEN CRAWFORD, Los Banos, stated she understands what they’re going through and has tried to get speed cushions going on Quail Street, speeding is an issue, doesn’t want to waste the Police Department’s time complaining about speeding on her street, there has been an increase in traffic and she’s tried everything to get the speed cushions, everyone except one resident is for the speed cushions and she’s frustrated, she can see the problem on Dove Street, she understands there is supposed to be a future signal at Mercey Springs Road and Dove Street. POLICE CHIEF BRIZZEE explained that the Public Works Department followed the required process and found that speed cushions could not be approved because Dove Street is a collector street and speed cushions are not allowed on collector streets, when this development was created it was designed to handle a lot of traffic, we may need to consider something a different to address speed. Assistant Chief Hurley spoke about speed cushions slowing down emergency vehicles and asked how many speed cushions were requested on Dove Street. PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR/CITY ENGINEER FACHIN stated that there were two speed cushions shown in the document. POLICE CHIEF BRIZZEE explained the beginning process and the appeal process. PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR/CITY ENGINEER FACHIN stated he is totally against a 4-way stop at Dove and Meadowlark because it doesn’t meet the required warrants, feels this is a special case and even though Dove Street is a collector street it did exceed the speed requirement, it meets curvature as well. POLICE CHIEF BRIZZEE spoke about the committee having the ability to approve items according to specific situations. PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR/CITY ENGINEER FACHIN stated that even if the appeal is approved there is still a process remaining as it was stopped mid-stream due to the street being a collector, spoke about Cardoza Road and how it changes from 35mph to 25mph as soon as it hits the residential area. Motion by Brizzee, seconded by Fachin to support the appeal of speed cushion installation on Dove Street between Skylark Avenue and Meadowlark Avenue due to the fact that it has local street characteristics in that the speed limit is not more than 25mph, it meets all other speed survey requirements, the street segment is at least 600 feet long, and it has residential driveways on both the north and south sides of the street. The motion carried by the affirmative action of all committee members present. COMMITTEE MEMBER COMMENTS. Committee Member Limon stated he was approached by several business owners on Sixth Street who are having issues with numerous bicyclers and skateboarders on sidewalks and wanted to know what he could tell them. Police Chief Brizzee stated it was an enforcement issue. Fire Chief Hurley stated he appreciates the patience of the committee in explaining speed cushions, sticks with his opinion on speed cushions in regards to safety vehicles and wants to follow existing policies. ADJOURNMENT. The meeting was adjourned at the hour of 3:22 p.m. APPROVED: / s / Gary Brizzee _______ ATTEST: Gary Brizzee, Chairman / s / Jana R. Sousa ______ Jana R. Sousa, Assistant City Clerk