Streets & Roads Commission

Streets and Roads Commission Meeting Minutes May 7, 2019 I. Commission members in attendance: Brian Bieda, Lynne Galletti, Susan Harbison, Luci Riegel, Jennifer Smith, Councilwoman Washabaugh II. Call to Order and Pledge - The meeting was called to order at 7:02 p.m. III. Approval of Commission Meeting Minutes – Lynne Galletti noted that a change needed to be made to the March minutes to add Luci Riegel as being present. Luci Riegel made a motion to approve, Susan Harbison seconded. The vote was unanimous to add Luci to the March minutes as being present at the March meeting. The approved minutes will be sent to Town Staff to publish. IV. Council Liaison Report – Councilwoman Washabaugh reported on the May Town Council Meeting. The budget was passed with a budget for Streets and Roads of $1,859,168, also approved for 2- F250 trucks for the Town Staff for snow clearing. Susan Harbison asked if the budgeted amount includes signs and street repairs. Councilwoman Washabaugh read some of the details from the budget, however, the printed budget is available for each Commission member to obtain and read the details of the budget. Councilwoman Washabaugh praised Brian Johnson and the Town Maintenance Staff for their hard work and dedication this past winter during the snow storms. V. Community Concerns/Citizen Comments a. Nikki Jeffries, 107 Harrison Street. She presented a concern at the intersection of Buffalo Road and North Main Street. There is a south bound main street right turning lane onto buffalo road. People traveling up buffalo road are mistaking that for a left turn lane to go northbound on Main Street. It is illegal to use that lane to turn left (north) onto North Main Street from Buffalo Road. She asked that signage or markings be put up to let people know not to turn left into this merge lane. Jennifer Smith said that could be the State Highway Administration’s decision. Councilwoman Washabaugh asked Nikki Jeffries to fill out the request online to have something done. Town Engineer Barney Quinn was contacted, and he stated that the Town can put a “Do Not Enter” sign at that intersection alerting drivers that they cannot use that lane to go left/north on to North Main Street from Buffalo Road. The Mayor will ask Town Staff to put that sign up. It was agreed to add this item to the July agenda for update. 1 VI. Old Business a. Sterling Glen Speeding Issue – Held for July meeting to look at speed study summary and police report b. Twin Arch Neighborhood Speeding Issue – Held for July meeting to look at speed study summary and police report c. Back Acre Circle Parking Issue – The Streets and Roads Commission members will be following up on the new traffic patterns established (pulling in behind the building and dropping children off in the parking lot) in the next wo months they will be conducting visual studies during peak times to determine if there is still an issue with cars stopping on Back Acre Circle. Monday, Thursday Friday – Susan Harbison, Tuesday – Lynne Galletti, Wednesday – Councilwoman Washabaugh. It was agreed to keep this issue on the agenda. Mayor Rockinburg requested that the Commission review the visual studies and if the issue is resolved to remove it from our Agenda. The HOA will get back to Town Staff regarding crosswalk and solar speed sign requests. It was agreed to add this issue to this agenda item. Brian Belsky – owner of dance studio asked if there could be a crosswalk at Back Acre Circle and. Back Acre Drive. Agree to hold for July meeting after reviewing traffic and speed studies. Brian Belsky said that the U turns signs are all up, the blinkers for no parking on the street, emailed all their clients to use the upper parking lot for turnaround, they are policing the parking regularly to make sure. d. The speed studies conducted around various locations in town were received. The Mayor looked over the studies and gave them back to the Streets and Roads Committee to summarize for the July meeting. The police Department Summary dated 4/23/19 was received and will be included in the summary for the July meeting. Jennifer Smith stated that a rule of thumb is that if 85% of the traffic is going >10mph over the posted speed limit then you have an issue. Jennifer Smith asked the Mayor to ask the Police Chief to add the following information to the police department summary: school season day, 1 entire workday and 1 entire weekend day, a 24 hour period, location and possibly google map pictures showing where the study was conducted, peak hour traffic counts for am and pm. The Mayor sent an email to the Police Chief asking for this information to be contained in their traffic study summary report. The Mayor received a letter from Raymond Beechcraft about speeding down prospect road. The Mayor was asked to forward this email to the Streets and Roads Commission. It was agreed to add the summary reports to the July meeting agenda. e. Requests for Temporary or Permanent On-Street Parking – The Commission will continue to discuss a list of information needed for future requests to allow temporary or permanent on-street parking. It was agreed to keep this item on the agenda for the July meeting. f. Speed Limit on MD 27 through Mount Airy Town limits – The Commission discussed the Route 27 corridor study; SHA controls the speed on 27. It was agreed to remove this item from the agenda. 2  Councilwoman Washabaugh will respond to the resident who made the request to contact the SHA for further information regarding their traffic studies, accident reports, corridor studies and road classifications. g. Speed Control on Leafy Hollow Circle – A request was made from a resident on Leafy Hollow Circle across from Twin Ridge Elementary School to conduct speed and traffic studies. Councilwoman Washabaugh will email the resident to get the area/block to conduct the study. installed. It was agreed to keep this item for the July agenda for status update. h. Speed Control on Park Ridge – A discussion about the speed bumps on Park Ridge Drive regarding the signage determined that the signs need to be placed before the bumps in both directions. The Mayor emailed Brian Johnson to have those signs installed. Item held for July meeting for status update. VII. New Business a. Request to install additional signage for the 25-mph speed limit on Back Acre Circle – Per the Mount Airy Police Department additional signs were put up. It was agreed to keep this item on the agenda until it is verified as to the number of signs that were put up and that they were all installed. b. Request for 3 way stop sign at Reading Court and Back Acre Circle – The Town Engineer Barney Quinn recommends against a 3 way stop at this intersection - you would be stopping industrial traffic. Susan Harbison complained about safety and trucks during the day. Mayor Rockinburg pointed out that it is an industrial area and the town cannot stop the road traffic. Mayor Rockinburg will email The Town Engineer Barney Quinn to contact the industrial businesses and ask if we can send the construction traffic a different way into the area. Agreed to keep on agenda for status update on the traffic pattern of industrial traffic. c. Crosswalk at Locksley and Kings Forest – Brian Bieda will observe the crosswalk to see the traffic patterns. Jennifer Smith asked Brian to take pictures of the intersection for reference for the Commission. It was agreed to keep this item on the agenda for the July meeting. d. Entrance to Parrs Ridge – There is an issue with cars parking along the entrance road into Parrs Ridge during events at Watkins Park blocking the entrance road. Mayor Rockinburg emailed Kris Hayden, Assistant Principal at Parrs Ridge to discuss installation of no parking signs and lineage on the road. It was agreed to keep this item for the July meeting for status update. e. Next Meeting – Due to the 4th of July holiday week, it was agreed to move the July meeting to Tuesday, July 9th. Councilwoman Washabaugh emailed Town Staff to confirm the date. VIII. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 8:43 pm. Respectfully Submitted by, Lynne P. Galletti 3