Planning Commission Meeting

MINUTES PLANNING COMMISSION Tuesday, May 14, 2013 AFTERNOON SESSION ONLY 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm FEW MEMORIAL HALL OF RECORDS, COUNCIL CHAMBERS 580 PACIFIC STREET MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA Commissioners Present: Davis (Arrived 4:04 pm), Garden, McCrone (Arrived 4:04 pm), Osorio, Stocker, Reed, Widmar Commissioners Absent: None Staff Members Present: Principal Planner Cole, Principal Planner Caraker, Traffic Engineer Deal, Recording Secretary Lebda CALL TO ORDER Chair Garden called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. CONSENT ITEMS On a motion by Commissioner Stocker, seconded by Commissioner Reed, and carried by the following vote, the Planning Commission approved the CONSENT ITEMS: AYES: 5 COMMISSIONERS: Garden, Osorio, Stocker, Reed, Widmar NOES: 0 COMMISSIONERS: None ABSENT: 2 COMMISSIONERS: Davis, McCrone ABSTAIN: 0 COMMISSIONERS: None RECUSED: 0 COMMISSIONERS: None Approval of Minutes 1. April 23, 2013 ACTION: Approved as submitted. ***End of Consent Agenda*** PUBLIC COMMENTS None. PUBLIC APPEARANCE 2. Receive Report on Holman Highway 68 / Highway One Roundabout Project ACTION: Received report on Holman Highway 68 / Highway One Roundabout Project. Informational report only; no action taken. Planning Commission Minutes Tuesday, May 14, 2013 Staff Presentation/Commission Questions Richard Deal presented staff report and answered Commissioners’ questions. He reported that the 4-lane Holman Highway Widening Project is on hold due to a lack of funds, and in the future MST will remove the current Professional Center bus stop. He said that staff realizes the community will have a learning curve with the concept of the roundabout, but staff will educate the public on the comfort and convenience of the traffic signal versus becoming accustomed to the concept of a roundabout. Mr. Deal said this roundabout project will help slow traffic resulting in fewer and less severe accidents, that there is a smaller affected footprint with fewer tree removals, and lower costs with a better overall solution to the current traffic congestion. He said this is a Pebble Beach and Cal Trans project and City of Monterey General Funds will not be used. Rather, Monterey is contributing staff time and expertise for the development of the project because when the Defense Language Institute closed to through traffic, 600-1000 cars were diverted to Highway 68 and Skyline Forest with no other traffic calming solutions. Public Comments Judy Karas said she has experienced roundabouts in England and Santa Cruz, but there are few in this area. She would like to see other roundabouts before this large roundabout is completed. She asked: What type of diversion of traffic is planned during construction? Who has the right-of-way coming off Highway 1 to Pacific Grove and to Carmel from over the bridge since two separate lanes merge into one lane. She said it is hard to merge onto Highway 1 going south from Pebble Beach and Pacific Grove. She said she loves roundabouts, but it is incredible to get people to understand how it works. She advised to be sure signage and reduction of speed are good. Jim Cullen, Skyline Forest Board Member, said the City is helping with this development because of their concerns on the traffic impacts to the Skyline Forest neighborhood and Pacific Grove. He said he has driven this location for many years and has experienced confusion primarily from tourists coming off Highway 1 to Pacific Grove and he has seen people blow through the red light at that intersection. He said roundabouts are engineered differently--not like those back East—but they are new to our area. He said with roundabouts there is less energy used resulting in less air pollution, and they are much safer. He said it is a win-win all around and most will get use to using it if driven on a regular basis. Patrick Talbot said he use to live on Mar Vista and he is not sure if that has anything to do with this project, but he believes it does. He said he is sure there will be spear chuckers out there and they have their opinion and we have our answers. Mr. Deal answered questions from the public. Regarding the staging for construction he said the consultant will be doing the primary work effort and they expect the project to be done in three separate stages—the asphalt, then west to Pacific Grove, then the middle component. He said staging is critical to provide movement and access but they don’t want to move dirt more than once. He clarified that the roundabout will improve movement of traffic at slower, safer speeds. Commissioner Comments Commissioner Osorio said the project needs to move on; and, it is a new idea, but compared to other analyses it seems to be the best project. Planning Commission Meeting Minutes Tuesday, May 14, 2013 2  Planning Commission Minutes Tuesday, May 14, 2013 Commissioner Stocker said during his recent international travels he went through many roundabouts on highways through towns. He said they are extremely logical and moves traffic well. He said this design reduces the number of tree removals, Pebble Beach pays for it, and there are a whole series of wins. He said change is different but that he is strongly in favor of the roundabout. Commissioner Davis said that signage is the key. Commissioner Widmar said he agrees that signage is important and he likes the signage painted on the road as seen in the roundabout video. He also encouraged signage such as electronic signage to dynamically guide drivers to specific events. Commissioner Reed said he was coming into this concept fairly skeptical, but now he is less skeptical. He said he supports the project. Commissioner McCrone said that during the public outreach, it is important to emphasize and show how the roundabout is engineered and how it works. He said he has seen how well roundabouts can work, but it does take interpretation the first couple of times into it and the difficulty is where to get off. But, he said, this is basically a one-lane, no problem roundabout and he doesn’t think the two lanes in one place will be a problem. He said he wholeheartedly supports the project. Chair Garden said this is a better solution than the earlier project that was introduced. He said he can appreciate that it is important to make decisions the way we route traffic now, but he won’t lose the dream for affordable, alternative transportation by 2030. COMMISSIONERS COMMENTS  Commissioner Osorio addressed the flier placed on the dias, “Moving Forward” from AMBAG regarding sustainable solutions. He said the Community Workshop Schedule is on the flier and they are seeking community input.  Chair Garden reported that he appointed Commissioner Reed to the Lighthouse Specific Plan Committee. INFORMATIONAL REPORTS & STAFF COMMENTS 3. Planning Office Update Report received. New Comments:  Ms. Cole reported to expect the May 28 Planning Commission Meeting to be both afternoon and evening sessions. With the Memorial Day Weekend preceding the meeting, Commissioners determined there will not be a field trip for this meeting.  She said later this summer there will be a second Request for Proposal (RFP) for additional seating on Alvarado. She said the proposals will come back to the Planning Commission Subcommittee to evaluate proposals and street layout. Then the recommendation will go to City Council.  Ms. Cole said the hot dog stand and taco stand applications will be schedule for the June 4 City Council Meeting. The Simoneau Plaza Subcommittee report will Planning Commission Meeting Minutes Tuesday, May 14, 2013 3 Planning Commission Minutes Tuesday, May 14, 2013 also be on this agenda. Commissioner McCrone reminded that at the last Mayor’s Meeting it was determined to be careful of subcommittees of judicial nature and if going to a Commission then there should not be a subcommittee established.  She said the June 11 Planning Commission Meeting will be a joint meeting with ARC for a presentation on the Van Buren Housing project. Also, she informed that the day before that meeting the new audio/visual equipment is scheduled to be completed in the Council Chambers.  Chair Garden requested of staff to provide a time line for the Specific Plans and Master Plans. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 5:38 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Approved, Kimberly Cole, AICP Chair Principal Planner Planning Commission Planning Commission Meeting Minutes Tuesday, May 14, 2013 4