Traffic Commission Meeting

URBANA TRAFFIC COMMISSION Tuesday, April 11, 2017 Approved June 13, 2017 MEMBERS PRESENT: Michael Madigan, City Council Member, Ward 6, Chair Craig Shonkwiler, Assistant City Engineer Sylvia Morgan, Interim Chief of Police MEMBERS ABSENT: None OTHERS PRESENT: David Jayme, Civil Engineer, City of Urbana John Collins, Operations Manager, City of Urbana Dee Miles, 909 North Busey Avenue Scott Woods, Urbana Middle School Kevin Iacovelli, 810 North Busey Avenue Bill Gray, Public Works Director, City of Urbana The meeting began at 4:00 p.m. Approval of Minutes: Craig Shonkwiler moved to approve the minutes of the March 14, 2017 meeting. Sylvia Morgan seconded the motion. The Commission voted 3-0 to approve the minutes of the March meeting. Additions to the agenda: Discussion of installation of parking restrictions on Green Street from Race Street to Lincoln Square Village. Public Input Those wishing to provide input did so as items were discussed. Unfinished Business Addendum Item - Discussion of installation of parking restrictions on Green Street from Race Street to Lincoln Square Village. Michael Madigan said that at the Committee of the Whole meeting, the City Council had asked if business owners could use the west entrance into Lincoln Square Village to load and unload items into vehicles. Sylvia Morgan asked if the Traffic Commission could review the recommendation to see if a loading zone was feasible near the west entrance to Lincoln Square Village.  Traffic Commission Minutes April 2017 Page 2 John Collins stated the lane width of Green Street east of Race Street was not enough to accommodate parked vehicles and through traffic. He added that when vehicles parked near the circle at the east end of Green Street, through traffic was unable to move past the vehicles. Michael Madigan mentioned that the staff from Piato Catering used the area to load and unload food. John Collins said that the area where Piato parked their vehicle did not interfere with through traffic, but that there was not enough room to designate the area as a loading zone. Mr. Collins said that Parking Enforcement would have to use their judgment when ticketing vehicles. He said that if the vehicle blocked through traffic, Parking Enforcement would be able to ticket the vehicle owner. Michael Madigan asked if a memo could be prepared to distribute at the April 17th City Council meeting. Mr. Madigan asked staff to discuss the restrictions with Piato Catering so their staff would be aware of the changes. Sylvia Morgan said that the Police Department would be amenable to the restrictions. John Collins informed the Commission that the City was working with Tang Dynasty and Jim Webster, owner of Lincoln Square Village, to relocate a vehicle that was parking along the north side of High Street between Broadway Avenue and Walnut Street. New Business Item #1- Discussion of pedestrian traffic on Vine Street at Fairlawn Drive. Craig Shonkwiler reviewed a request from the Urbana School District #116 regarding concerns about the pedestrian crossing on Vine Street at Fairlawn Drive. He said that he performed a cursory observation in 2015 and assigned staff to complete twelve-hour traffic counts and perform an analysis to see if any additional treatments were warranted at that intersection. David Jayme reported on the findings of the study. He noted that between January 2012 and January 2017 there were five crashes—none of which involved pedestrians. He pointed out the existing features at the intersection (marked crosswalk, updated signage, removable in street “Stop for Pedestrian” sign, curb bump-out, pedestrian crossing signage, crossing guard, driver speed feedback signs) had been added to the intersection to improve safety at the intersection. Mr. Jayme mentioned that those elements were studied to determine if there were any other safety measures that would be warranted at that intersection. He stated that the volume at this uncontrolled crosswalk (uncontrolled crosswalk is a crosswalk that does not have a traffic control device to stop traffic) did meet the warrant to justify the installation of a crosswalk at the intersection. He reported that on Vine Street the traffic volume--above 10,000 average daily traffic (ADT) and 196 pedestrians crossing Vine Street-- also met the criteria for a marked crosswalk at the uncontrolled intersection, but the volume did not meet the pedestrian crossing amount of ten percent of the ADT, which meant that students would have adequate gaps between vehicles to cross safely. Mr. Jayme indicated that there was a transit stop on Fairlawn Drive at Vine Street and that the nearest  Traffic Commission Minutes April 2017 Page 3 intersection controlled by stop signs was 653 feet north at the intersection of Vine Street and Washington Street. He noted that the transit stop accommodated the Urbana Middle School, Urbana High School and other transit riders. Based upon a standard established by the City of Boulder, Colorado, and currently used by the City of Urbana, Mr. Jayme indicated that no additional treatments were warranted at the intersection of Vine Street and Fairlawn Drive. Scott Woods thanked the City for further review of the intersection. He discussed some options being reviewed the School District to alleviate congestion in the parking lot on the north side of the Urbana Middle School building. Mr. Woods asked what criterion was not met that would have warranted additional treatments at the intersection of Vine Street and Fairlawn Drive. He asked what process was used to install left-turn restrictions for those exiting the Urbana Middle School parking lot on Vine Street. Mr. Shonkwiler stated that the School District would be responsible for traffic control within their parking lot. David Jayme said that there were actually more treatments installed at that intersection than were warranted. He mentioned that the crossing guard and driver speed feedback signs were features above what would be typically warranted at this type of intersection. Craig Shonkwiler explained that the Boulder guidelines were less car-centric, more pedestrian- centric, and provided graduated enhancements for crosswalk treatments. He said that the warrants at the intersection of Vine Street and Fairlawn Drive were not met for a rectangular rapid flashing beacon as an example. Mr. Shonkwiler mentioned that more pedestrians in the area made motorists more aware of the hazards. In addition, he stated that the driver speed feedback signs reminded motorists of the school zone speed limit. He said that staff would continue to watch and monitor conditions at that intersection. No additional action was recommended. Item #2- Discussion of pedestrian traffic on Washington Street between Race Street and Vine Street. Craig Shonkwiler explained that Michael Braun submitted a Traffic Issues/Concerns Request form to City staff asking them to look at the possibility of reducing traffic speeds and installing school zone signage on Washington Street between Race Street and Vine Street. Mr. Shonkwiler explained that the City set up a camera system and tubes to capture vehicle and pedestrian counts as well as vehicle speed information. He said that Mr. Braun also expressed concern about the conflict between vehicles entering and exiting the high school parking lot and pedestrians crossing Washington Street from Broadway Avenue to the parking lot. David Jayme reported that the speed limit was posted at 30 miles per hour on Washington Street. He stated that the average speed was a little over 30 miles per hour, but the average was within an acceptable range. He added that between January 2012 and January 2017 there had been four crashes—one involved a pedestrian within the crosswalk. Mr. Jayme said that the ADT for the area  Traffic Commission Minutes April 2017 Page 4 was 3,000, which met the criteria for the installation of a school crossing crosswalk. He stated that the pedestrian volume was high with 152 students crossing at the peak time (7:15 a.m. to 8:15 a.m.). He indicated that there was no transit stop in that segment of Washington Street and that the nearest controlled intersections were located at Washington Street and Race Street and at Washington Street and Vine Street. Using the measures for that segment of Washington Street, Mr. Jayme stated that the current crosswalk and roadway configurations were appropriate. (There was a marked crosswalk with school zone crossing signage correctly installed at the uncontrolled intersection; there was no bicycle crossing at this location.) He recommended that no further action be taken at Washington Street and Broadway Avenue. He did express concern about the location of the school zone crossing signage stating that signage for eastbound traffic was located to the west of Walnut Street while a large number of students crossed at Broadway Avenue to the west of the sign. He said that the location of the sign for westbound traffic was appropriately placed just west of Vine Street. Craig Shonkwiler said that the 20 mile per hour school zone sign for eastbound traffic should be moved closer to Race Street to aid the Police Department with enforcement of the school zone speed limit and agreed that the speed sign for westbound traffic was acceptable at its current location. He stated that moving the signage could be done through a Public Works work order and did not require any action from the Traffic Commission. Mike Madigan asked if an additional sign could be added instead of moving the current signage for eastbound traffic. Mr. Shonkwiler said that a sign could be added on Washington Street just off of Race Street. He stated that the signage on the other streets around the school district campus was correctly placed. Scott Woods stated that the block bounded by Vine Street, Washington Street, Race Street and Michigan Avenue had been identified as a school district campus. A work order will be prepared to add school zone signage on Washington Street east of Race Street for eastbound traffic. Item #3- Discussion of parking on Hill Street, Busey Avenue, Fairview Avenue, Central Avenue near the Carle campus. Craig Shonkwiler stated that a Traffic Issues/Concerns Request form had been submitted by Ms. Dee Miles regarding Carle employees parking on the residential streets near the Carle facilities. He added that Mr. Kevin Iacovelli also contacted the Public Works Department with concerns about Carle employee parking on the streets near the Carle facilities. He said that there was on-street parking available to the public. Mr. Shonkwiler asked Ms. Miles and Mr. Kevin Iacovelli to discuss their concerns. Ms. Miles stated that when she first discussed her concern in 2015 she performed a random count of vehicles parked in the area at 9 a.m. and then at 6 p.m. for a week and averaged the daily number of vehicles parked on the street. She found that there was an average of 88 vehicles parked on-street in the morning and an average of 27 vehicles parked on-street in the evening. In 2016, she  Traffic Commission Minutes April 2017 Page 5 performed a similar count and noted that there was an average of 79 vehicles parked in the morning and an average of 17 parked in the evening. She added that on Hill Street every space was filled every day so it was difficult for residents to have visitors since there was no place for them to park. Just before the meeting, Ms. Miles indicated that she canvassed the parking lot used by Carle employees at the fairgrounds and noted over 100 empty parking spaces in that lot. She said that she had spoken to some of the employees who had parked on the street and asked them why they chose parking on the street over the parking lot. She said that the employees did not like to go to the remote parking lots and wait for the shuttle buses. Craig Shonkwiler asked what streets were included in the count. Dee Miles said that she counted cars on Busey Avenue, Fairview Avenue, Coler Street and Hill Street from Church Street to about the 900 block north. Craig Shonkwiler noted that employees were permitted to park in the parking lot at the Vineyard Church and that there was a shuttle bus that went to that lot. He asked if adding that option for Carle employees had made a difference in the number of vehicles parked on the street. Dee Miles said that the number of cars parked on the street did not seem to decrease. Kevin Iacovelli mentioned that Carle told their employees not to park in the residential areas, but the request went unheeded, and he added that Carle could not take any action towards employees who disregarded the request. Dee Miles said that driveways were sometimes blocked and Parking Enforcement would have to be contacted. Mr. Iacovelli said that the cars filled the streets early and left late. Dee Miles said that at one time, employees were filling the parking areas in Crystal Lake Park near the boat house and the playground, but she said that problem had been resolved with additional signage added to the streets within the park. Sylvia Morgan said that Carle and the Urbana Park District worked together to alleviate that problem. Kevin Iacovelli said that visitors to residences had no place to park. Sylvia Morgan said that West Urbana had a parking permit system to handle parking around the University of Illinois campus. Kevin Iacovelli asked if two-hour parking could be established in the area. Mr. Shonkwiler noted that when he drove through the area, the fairgrounds parking lot was packed as were the streets between Church Street and Lincoln Avenue south of Fairview Avenue. He noted that the new parking facility at the Champaign County fairgrounds was at half capacity. He asked if  Traffic Commission Minutes April 2017 Page 6 a two-hour restriction would create a problem for those living in the neighborhood. He added that enforcement could be on a complaint-basis, which could result in a resident receiving a ticket for parking beyond the two-hour limit. He said that a permit system might handle the parking situation. Bill Gray stated that the cost of the West Urbana parking permit was $150. Sylvia Morgan asked if a hybrid solution might work where residents were allowed to purchase a permit for long-term parking and two-hour parking was allowed for others. Chief Morgan stated that a hybrid solution would prohibit employees parking all day since the permits would be available to residents only. Craig Shonkwiler stated that any proposed plan would require buy-in from the neighborhood. He said that the Traffic Commission had used a petition process when non-safety requests for parking restrictions were made. He indicated that the petition required 60% of the property owners to agree to the restrictions. He preferred involving Carle in the process of finding a solution to employees’ parking. Dee Miles said the hybrid solution would work except many of those living on Hill Street and Central Street had no driveways so they would have to purchase permits to park on the street. Michael Madigan asked staff to talk to Carle and research the possibility of a hybrid parking solution for residents. Kevin Iacovelli asked if there would be a fee. Bill Gray said that the fee would offset the cost of enforcement and signage. John Collins expressed concern about signage for the hybrid solution. He said that the signage would need to be clear and succinct. Sylvia Morgan suggested a zone with the option of two-hour parking or permit parking with no time restriction to simplify the language on the signage. Craig Shonkwiler asked Ms. Miles if the residents had contacted Carle and if they had any response from Carle. Dee Miles said that Carle tried to help but the results were short-term. Bill Gray asked what action Carle had taken. Dee Miles said that Carle sent out a memo asking its employees not to park on residential streets. She said it worked for a while, and then the employees started parking on the street again. Michael Madigan asked staff to communicate with Carle to look for solutions and to let Carle know that employee parking had impacted the neighborhood.  Traffic Commission Minutes April 2017 Page 7 Mr. Iacovelli asked if he could be informed about the process. Mr. Madigan stated that the Commission would notify him when any discussion was on the agenda. Staff expressed their thanks to Mr. Michael Madigan and Chief Pat Connolly for their contribution to the Urbana Traffic Commission. With no other business at hand, the meeting was adjourned at 5:04 p.m. The next regularly scheduled Traffic Commission meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 9, 2017, at 4:00 p.m. at the Urbana Public Works Department, 706 Glover Avenue, second floor conference room. Respectfully submitted, Barbara Stiehl Recording Secretary