Streets & Roads Commission

Streets and Roads Commission Meeting Minutes October 26, 2017 Commission members in attendance: Jennifer Smith; Councilman Scott Strong; Karl Munder; Cindy Dunigan; Town Engineer Barney Quinn. Citizens: Dan Strayton I. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. II. Administrative items a. Approval of Meeting Minutes 1. The Commission members approved the meeting minutes for the August 24, 2017 meeting. b. Notes from the Chair 1. Chair Nick DiTizio was not in attendance. Jennifer Smith filled in for Nick. c. Council Liaison Report 1. Councilman Strong relayed the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) has stated that improvements to signalization at the intersection of South Main Street and MD 27 are not feasible at this time. 2. Councilman Strong indicated school bus crossing warning signs will be installed on Candice Drive at Sterling Glen Way and on Buffalo Road at Old Vintage Run as requested at the previous Streets and Roads Commission meeting. 3. A volunteer appreciation dinner will be held at the Fireman’s Carnival Grounds Activity Building at 6:00 pm November 29, 2017. III. Citizen Comments a. Health Unlimited request for temporary parking on west side of Century Drive. Dan Strayton was in attendance to speak on this issue. See New Business for more information. IV. Old Business a. South Main and Route 27 See Council Liaison Report. b. School Bus Stop Warning Signs 1  See Council Liaison Report. V. New Business a. Health Unlimited request for temporary parking on west side of Century Drive. The bulk of the Streets and Roads Commission meeting was spent discussing a request from Dan Strayton of Health Unlimited to allow temporary (or even permanent) parking along the west side of Century Drive during the first few months of the new year. Each year Mr. Strayton submits a similar request to the Town Council and the Town Mayor. During the first few months of the new year, health unlimited experiences a surge in attendance at its facility located on Century Drive. Attendance is high due to swimming lessons scheduled for this period of the year. This combined with a large group of members wishing to start off the new year with high levels of physical activity leads to a larger than normal level of drivers trying to park in the facility parking lot. Overflow parking tends to result on Century Drive. The east side of Century Drive along the frontage of the Health Unlimited property is currently available for on street parking. However, the west side of Century Drive in this area is restricted for on street parking. Century Drive is a collector road with a pavement width of 40 feet. This is a standard width of a road designed for the level of traffic, in particular truck traffic, experienced on Century Drive. With a standard on-street parking space width of 8 feet the remaining travel lane width when one side of on-street parking is present is 16 feet. A typical travel lane for a collector road is 12 feet wide. This road is planned to be a collector road in the future. A motion was made to recommend to Town Council to allow the request for temporary parking. The motion was seconded but the motion failed during the full commission vote. After further discussion, the Commission decided not to make a recommendation to the Town Council on this request. However, the Commission recommended to Mr. Strayton that he collect information from nearby businesses and residents that might be affected by this request and present this information along with some visual diagrams to the Town Council for review. b. Paving Town Engineer Barney Quinn mentioned the Town has spent approximately ½ of its annual paving budget. The Town is working with the Village of Tall Oaks regarding paving of streets and parking spaces in this area. Any additional requests for repaving or patching of public roads should be forwarded to Barney’s attention. 2  c. Request for pedestrian crossing across Prospect Road at the intersection of North Main. Town engineer Barney Quinn said he will discuss this request with the Town Public Works Director Brian Johnson. Barney will investigate performing a speed and traffic study of the area. VI. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 9:15pm. The next meeting will be held on December 28, 2017 at 7:30 p.m. Respectfully Submitted by, Jennifer M. Smith 3