City Council

Teleconference Broadcasted Live on: Spectrum Channel 1303; Verizon FiOS Channel 38; YouTube.com/openstagemedia OFFICE OF CITY CLERK SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK AGENDA FOR THE COUNCIL CAUCUS AND THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING Webex Link: https://schenectadyny.webex.com/schenectadyny/onstage/g.php?MTID=eeb1e7025915fd961d629d527d65de091 Webex Meeting Phone : 1-415-655-0001; Meeting #: 178 671 9188 ; Meeting Password:CityCouncil Monday, February 08, 2021 5:30 p.m. PUBLIC HEARING 001 PH Regarding the Redirection of South Church Street (State Street to Fuller Street) from a Two-Way Street to a One-Way Street as a Part of the Reconstruction of South Church Street PUBLIC HEARING 002 PH Regarding the Redirection of Barrett & Huron Streets (Between South Avenue to Park Place) from a One-Way Street to a Two Way Street ORIGINAL CONSIDERATION 01 Council Member A RESOLUTION Authorizing the City to Enter Into a Contract with the County of Schenectady for Funding Under the NYS 2021 STOP-DWI Grant Program Votes Required 4 ORIGINAL CONSIDERATION 02 Council Member A RESOLUTION Authorizing the City of Schenectady Police Department to Enter into a Service Agreement with Benchmark Analytics Votes Required 4 Please visit our website: http://cityofschenectady.com/158/City-Council to add a comment for Privilege of the Floor. Thursday, February 04, 2021 Page 1 of 3  Monday, February 08, 2021 ORIGINAL CONSIDERATION 03 Council Member A RESOLUTION Authorizing the Utilization of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act Stimulus Funding Votes Required 4 ORIGINAL CONSIDERATION 04 Council Member A RESOLUTION Authorizing the Sale of 28 Chestnut Street Votes Required 4 ORIGINAL CONSIDERATION 05 Council Member A RESOLUTION Authorizing the Sale of 919 Strong Street Votes Required 4 ORIGINAL CONSIDERATION 06 Council Member A RESOLUTION Authorizing the Sale of a Vacant Lot on 941 Strong Street Votes Required 4 ORIGINAL CONSIDERATION 07 Council Member A RESOLUTION Authorizing the Sale of 1309 State Street Votes Required 4 ORIGINAL CONSIDERATION 08 Council Member A RESOLUTION Authorizing Settlement of a Claim by Patricia Civitello Votes Required 4 ORIGINAL CONSIDERATION 09 Council Member A RESOLUTION Authorizing the City of Schenectady to Settle a Navigation Law Case with New York State Votes Required 4 Please visit our website: http://cityofschenectady.com/158/City-Council to add a comment for Privilege of the Floor. Thursday, February 04, 2021 Page 2 of 3  Monday, February 08, 2021 ORIGINAL CONSIDERATION 10 Council Member A RESOLUTION Recognizing February as Black History Month Votes Required 4 Public comments may also be submitted by mail to: Samanta R. Mykoo, City Clerk City Hall, 105 Jay Street, Room 107 Schenectady, New York 12305 Please visit our website: http://cityofschenectady.com/158/City-Council to add a comment for Privilege of the Floor. Thursday, February 04, 2021 Page 3 of 3  CAPITAL DISTRICT OFFICE 547 River Street Troy, NY 12180 P: 518.273.0055 or 888.539.9073 www.chazencompanies.com January 14, 2021 Jayme B. Lahut, Executive Director Schenectady County Metroplex Development Authority 433 State Street Schenectady, NY 12305 Re: South Church Street at State Street Traffic Analysis City of Schenectady, Schenectady County, NY Chazen Project No. 319AH.00 Dear Mr. Lahut: The Chazen Companies (Chazen) has completed a traffic analysis of South Church Street in the City of Schenectady. The analysis considered 1) removing the left-turn restriction at State Street, and 2) converting South Church Street to one-way traffic flow in the southbound direction from State Street to Fuller Street. South Church Street is shown on Figure 1. A. Background South Church Street is a two-lane, two-way road extending from Erie Boulevard to Union Street. South Church Street continues as North Church Street from Union Street to Front Street. Right-turn only traffic is allowed at Erie Boulevard and westbound left-turns are prohibited at State Street. The Mill Lane mixed-use development project is currently under construction in the southeast corner of the South Church Street/State Street intersection. Weekday morning and afternoon turning movement traffic counts were collected on Wednesday, November 20, 2019 to document the amount of traffic on South Church Street. The counts were collected from 7:00 – 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 – 6:00 p.m. at three intersections: 1. South Church Street at State Street 2. South Church Street at Fuller Street 3. South Church Street at Erie Boulevard The following is brief description of the study intersections: • State Street at South Church Street This is a signalized four-way intersection. The eastbound approach of State Street is a three-lane approach with separate lanes for left-turn, through, and right-turn movements. The westbound approach of State Street is a two-lane approach with separate lanes for through and right-turn movements; left-turns are prohibited. The northbound approach of South Church Street is a single- lane approach while the southbound approach is used as a two-lane approach for left-turn/through movements and a right-turn lane. CDTA’s major transit hub is located on State Street immediately west of the intersection. New York: Hudson Valley • Capital District • North Country • Westchester Tennessee: Nashville • Chattanooga Oregon: Portland Chazen Engineering, Land Surveying & Landscape Architecture Co. DPC (NY) • Chazen Engineering Consultants, LLC (TN/OR) Jayme Lahut, Executive Director January 14, 2021 Page 2 of 4 • South Church Street and Fuller Street This four-way intersection operates under Stop sign control for the eastbound and westbound Fuller Street approaches. All approaches are single-lane approaches. • South Church Street and Erie Boulevard Erie Boulevard is a divided roadway at South Church Street such that only right-turns are possible to/from South Church Street. South Church Street is under Stop sign control. Figure 2 shows the weekday AM and PM peak hour traffic volumes. B. Analysis of State Street Westbound Left-turn Prohibition 1. Existing Conditions Weekday AM and PM peak hour intersection capacity analysis were conducted for current geometric and traffic control conditions based upon the latest edition of Highway Capacity Manual and the SYNCHRO modeling software. The analysis results are expressed in terms of Level of Service (A thru F) and vehicle delay. Level of service A is the best operating condition with little delay and level of service F is worst operating condition with very long delays. In general, analyses’ results are a measure of the ability of an intersection to process vehicles. According to generally accepted practice, LOS “A”, “B” and “C” reflect clearly acceptable conditions, LOS “D” reflects the existence of delays within a generally tolerable range, LOS “E” is generally only tolerated on minor movements and LOS “F” indicates typically undesirable delays often associated with breakdown conditions. Existing condition results are listed in Table 1 and indicate level of service A through C conditions for all movements. Table 1: Level of Service, Existing Conditions Intersection Approach1 AM Peak PM Peak EB l C2/28.03 C/28.9 EB t B/12.1 B/11.1 EB r A/8.0 A/7.6 WB l Prohibited Prohibited State St at South WB t C/22.1 C/24.8 Church St WB r A/0.0 A/0.1 NB l/t/r B/16.3 B/15.7 SB l/t B/15.4 C/20.7 SB r A/6.2 A/6.2 Overall4 B/15.2 B/16.5 Notes: 1. EB = Eastbound, WB = Westbound, NB = Northbound, SB = Southbound, l = left, t = thru, r = right. 2. LOS = Level of Service. 3. Delays are the average for each lane group in seconds per vehicle. 4. Overall = the weighted average delay of all movements and the corresponding LOS. 2. Removal of Westbound Left-turn Prohibition Westbound left-turns from State Street are allowed at South Ferry Street and Erie Boulevard, the two streets immediately to the east of South Church Street. Because of this it is expected that only a minimum number of vehicles would divert to South Church Street should westbound left-turns be allowed. Jayme Lahut, Executive Director January 14, 2021 Page 3 of 4 It is also expected that traffic destined to the Mill Lane project will benefit from allowing westbound left-turns. The Mill Lane project includes 74 apartments with associated office and restaurant space. Access to the site will be provided from South Church Street and South Ferry Street. It is anticipated that the project will generate a minimum amount of traffic (on the order of about 30 – 60 trips in the AM and PM peak hours) because of the project’s relative small-scale size, complimentary uses that will draw visits from each use internally, the walkability of the downtown area, and the major transit hub adjacent to the site that will reduce reliance on the automobile. For analysis purposes, 20 vehicles per hour (vph) and 25 vph were assigned to the westbound left-turn movement for the AM and PM peak hours, respectively. It was assumed that westbound left-turns would operate as a protected-only movement from its own lane similar to eastbound left-turns, and that the westbound right-turn lane would be eliminated to now be a shared through/right-turn lane. Traffic volumes for this condition are shown on Figure 3. The results of the analysis for allowing westbound left-turns are listed in Table 2 and indicate level of service A through C conditions for all movements, including the westbound left-turn movement. Overall delays are increased by about 2 -3 seconds as compared to existing conditions. Table 2: Level of Service with WB Left-turns Intersection Approach AM Peak PM Peak EB l C/28.3 C/29.5 EB t B/14.9 B/17.3 EB r B/10.6 B/13.0 WB l C/28.9 C/30.4 State St at South WB t/r C/22.0 C/25.8 Church St WB r --- --- NB l/t/r B/18.3 B/16.6 SB l/t B/16.7 C/21.0 SB r A/6.7 A/6.2 Overall B/17.1 B/19.4 C. South Church Street One-way Southbound An analysis was also conducted to determine the traffic feasibility of converting South Church Street to one- way southbound from State Street to Fuller Street, essentially a one block section of South Church Street. South Church Street between Fuller Street and Erie Boulevard would remain as two-way. Maintaining this short section as two-way would continue to allow access to the Sunoco gas station, the college apartments on Railroad Street, and the routing of CDTA buses to get to the transit hub on State Street. Peak hour northbound traffic north of Fuller Street is not high at about 10 vph and 35 vph in the AM and PM peak hours, and the elimination of this traffic on South Church Street can easily be accommodated by the adjacent streets of South Ferry Street and Fuller Street. The results of the analysis for converting South Church Street to one-way southbound are listed in Table 3 and indicate level of service A through C conditions for all movements, including the westbound left-turn movement. It is noted that State Street westbound left-turns were allowed in this analysis condition. Jayme Lahut, Executive Director January 14, 2021 Page 4 of 4 Table 3: Level of Service with One-Way Southbound Intersection Approach AM Peak PM Peak EB l C/28.3 C/29.3 EB t B/14.9 B/17.2 EB r B/10.6 B/12.9 WB l C/28.9 C/30.0 State St at South WB t/r C/22.0 C/25.6 Church St WB r --- --- NB l/t/r Prohibited Prohibited SB l/t B/16.6 C/20.6 SB r A/6.7 A/6.3 Overall B/17.0 B/19.3 D. Conclusions Allowing westbound left-turns from State Street to South Church Street will have minimal impacts to traffic operations. Converting South Church Street to one-way flow southbound between State Street and Fuller Street will also have minimal impacts to traffic operations. Existing and projected volumes for each condition are low and can be easily accommodated under the traffic scenarios analyzed. Thank you for the opportunity to work on this project. Please feel free to contact me at (518) 266-7369 or tjohnson@chazencompanies.com if you have any questions. Sincerely, Thomas R. Johnson, P.E., PTOE Director, Transportation Services Attachments  North South Church Street Source: Google Earth South Church Street Analysis Site Location Schenectady, NY Map Project #: 319AH.00 Date: December 2019 Figure: #1  N. Church Street 6 Not to Scale 9 142 (244) 53 (80) 11 (23) 5 (14) 180 (276) State Street 90 (90) 371 (347) 6 (12) 42 (43) 4 (14) 1 (9) S. Church Street 10 (24) 71 (92) 4 (7) 5 (5) 3 (5) 0 (5) Fuller Street 3 (11) 1 (1) 21 (42) 13 (12) 6 (12) 2 (4) Sunoco 88 (88) 52 (83) Erie Blvd Southbound 885 (1065) Legend AM (PM) Peak Hour Volume 11 2019 Existing South Church Street Analysis Peak Hour Traffic Schenectady, NY Volumes Project # 319AH.00 Date: December 2019 Figure: 2  N. Church Street 6 Not to Scale 9 142 (244) 53 (80) 5 (14) 11 (23) 180 (276) 20 (25) State Street 90 (90) 371 (347) 11 (17) 47 (53) 4 (14) 1 (9) S. Church Street 10 (24) 76 (102) 4 (7) 5 (5) 3 (5) 0 (5) Fuller Street 3 (11) 1 (1) 21 (42) 13 (12) 6 (12) 2 (4) Sunoco 93 (98) 52 (83) Erie Blvd Southbound 885 (1065) Legend AM (PM) Peak Hour Volume 11 2019 Peak Hour South Church Street Analysis Traffic Volumes with Schenectady, NY Left-Turns Project # 319AH.00 Date: December 2019 Figure: 3