Traffic Commission Meeting

URBANA TRAFFIC COMMISSION APPROVED October 2, 2018 Tuesday, June 12, 2018 MEMBERS PRESENT: Craig Shonkwiler, Assistant City Engineer Joel Sanders, Police Lieutenant, proxy for Sylvia Morgan, Chief of Police MEMBERS ABSENT: Harold “Dean” Hazen, City Council Member, Ward 6, Chair OTHERS PRESENT: John Collins, Operations Manager, City of Urbana David Jayme, Civil Engineer, City of Urbana Donald Gorbet Gary Crowe Glenda Bates, Sagamore Publishing Martina Dial, 2405 E. Barr Avenue Calvin Johnson, Flex-n-Gate John Peeler, Flex-n-Gate By phone: Rick Tyler, Meridian/Pinnacle Tammy Hall, Canteen The meeting began at 4:05 p.m. Craig Shonkwiler assumed the chair in Chair Dean Hazen’s absence. Approval of Minutes: Joel Sanders moved to approve the minutes of the April 10, 2018 meeting. Craig Shonkwiler seconded the motion. The Commission voted 2-0 to approve the minutes of the April meeting. Additions to the agenda: There were no additions to the agenda. Public Input Those wishing to provide input did so as items were discussed.  Traffic Commission Minutes APPROVED June 2018 Page 2 Unfinished Business Item #1- Discussion of traffic on Guardian Drive and Butzow Drive. Craig Shonkwiler stated that this item had been brought before the Traffic Commission before. Don Gorbet discussed his concerns about southbound vehicles on Guardian Drive exiting Flex-N- Gate at Butzow Drive. Mr. Gorbet explained that there were stop signs for eastbound and westbound traffic, but with empty trailers parked along the north leg of the intersection, motorists could not see southbound traffic. He requested a stop sign for southbound traffic on Guardian Drive at Butzow Drive. Mr. Gorbet added that since he submitted his request, he had talked with the Police Department and there had not been any problems with illegal parking. He stated that semi- trailers had parked at all four corners of the intersection at one time or another, even though there are parking restrictions at the end of the legs of the intersection. He added that the situation had improved as of late. Martina Dial said that she had contacted the City in 2014, 2016 and 2017. She noted that Flex-N- Gate had worked with the drivers to reduce the occurrence of the problem. She said the Police Department was not responsive to her knowledge, but the Fire Department was helpful when illegally parked vehicles blocked a fire hydrant on Butzow Drive. Mr. Gorbet said that he contacted the Police Department and they said that the vehicles were not obstructing the view. He said that an officer’s advice to call Parking Enforcement was very helpful. He mentioned that Parking Enforcement had responded to the problem to issue tickets. Joel Sanders explained that the Police Department would respond if a vehicle needed to be towed; otherwise, Parking Enforcement would be the better unit to contact with concerns about illegally parked vehicles. Mr. Gorbet asked if the section of Guardian Drive north of Butzow Drive could be closed. Mr. Shonkwiler explained that the area was a public street that provided access. He asked Mr. Gorbet the time when the problem occurred. Mr. Gorbet said that for the most part parking was not an issue until someone physically blocked the view of southbound vehicles. Ms. Dial said that the problem had occurred around 7:00 a.m. Mr. Shonkwiler said that he had monitored the area at varying times on varying days and had not seen the problem. He said that there was an ordinance that restricted parking and Flex-N-Gate had worked with the City to resolve problems. John Peeler, Flex-N-Gate Plant Manager, said that they had tried to resolve issues with the neighborhood. He mentioned that he tried to talk to drivers and relocate them to the gravel lot on the Flex-N-Gate property. Mr. Peeler said that Flex-N-Gate had altered its receiving hours to avoid  Traffic Commission Minutes APPROVED June 2018 Page 3 conflicts with school bus stops. In addition, he said that although semi-trailers did park along the north leg of Guardian Drive, they did so to reduce their exposure to traffic by having the trucks drive through their facility to access the road instead of backing up to access Guardian Drive. He said the forklift unloaded the trucks on Guardian Drive instead of Butzow Drive to reduce the amount of time that the forklift was on the roadway. He stated that he would not object to a stop sign for southbound traffic. He did not favor the closure of the street since it provided access to the facility for employees and emergency response. Mr. Shonkwiler asked what the designated delivery times were. Mr. Peeler said deliveries were scheduled between 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Mr. Shonkwiler asked what happened when trucks arrived before the designated times. Mr. Peeler stated that the security guards would move them to the gravel lot to wait until the delivery period began. He said that most of the drivers had been delivering to the facility and knew the expectations. He said that those who did not comply had been eliminated as drivers. Regarding blocking of fire hydrants, Mr. Peeler said that it was in their best interest to make sure that the fire hydrant was not blocked so their security guards would ask trucks to move if they were blocking the hydrant. He emphasized that it was to their advantage to be pro-active when handling parking concerns. He provided the phone number for security and recommended that the public call if there were concerns in the future. John Collins explained that the No Parking Here to Corner signs at each leg of the intersection were installed not too long ago and that the installation was compliant with recognized standards. He stated that before signs could be installed, the conditions would have to meet the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) standards. Mr. Shonkwiler explained that the signs were installed to restrict parking within the visibility zone. He stated that the restrictions allowed motorists to see approaching vehicles. He discussed the parking restrictions around the Butzow Drive/Guardian Drive area. He explained that parking was allowed north of the parking restrictions on the east side of the north leg of Guardian Drive. He reviewed staff’s study of the intersection. He stated that there had been two reported crashes at the intersection between 2013 and 2018. Both crashes were unrelated to visibility at the intersection— one resulted from loss of control of the vehicle on an icy surface; the other resulted in loss of control of the vehicle due to the driver’s medical condition. He said that enforcement from Parking Enforcement and Flex-N-Gate security would be the best approach. Regarding the installation of a stop sign for southbound traffic, Mr. Shonkwiler explained that requiring three of the four legs of traffic to stop would be confusing for motorists. He added he did not favor installing a four-way controlled stop that might result in traffic backups on University Avenue. He noted that he did not see any violations when visiting the area. He explained that to meet the MUTCD standards, the intersection would require a history of five or more crashes per year for a period of five years and the City would have to show that the crashes could have been prevented by installing the signs. In the case of the two reported crashes, neither crash would have been preventable with the addition of a stop sign. He reported that parking restrictions were in place at the intersection and No Parking Here to Corner signage was in place so there was no visibility concern at the intersection. Given the  Traffic Commission Minutes APPROVED June 2018 Page 4 findings of the study, the installation of a stop sign would not be recommended. Mr. Shonkwiler suggested that residents contact Parking Enforcement or Flex-N-Gate security if trucks were illegally parked on Butzow Drive and Guardian Drive. He asked the residents to work with Flex-N- Gate staff since they were willing to self-enforce illegally parked trucks near their facility. Ms. Dial felt that compliance had improved. She felt that the Police and Flex-N-Gate had helped. Craig Shonkwiler moved to take no action. Lt. Sanders asked the residents to contact a supervisor if an officer did not resolve an issue to their satisfaction. Rick Tyler and Tammy Hall joined the meeting via conference call. Item #2- Discussion of parking restrictions on Federal Drive south of Cardinal Court. Mr. Shonkwiler reviewed concerns about truck deliveries and on-street parking near the loading dock at 1812 Federal Drive. Rick Tyler said that the over-the-road drivers did not have enough room to back into the Meridian/Pinnacle driveway without driving in the parkway near Sagamore Publishing. He said that it was causing damage to the trucks. Mr. Shonkwiler explained that currently there were parking restrictions on Federal Drive that extended to the south end of Cardinal Court near the loading dock. He mentioned that Canteen employees parked along the street from the north end of the restriction to the south end of Federal Drive. He said that he had spoken with staff at Canteen and Green Street Realty and charged his one of his staff, David Jayme with the assignment to study the configuration of Federal Drive near the loading docks to evaluate the turning of vehicles at Meridian. He reported that Mr. Jayme found that the trucks did drive into the parkway to avoid vehicles. Glenda Bates said that Sagamore Publishing employees did not park on Federal Drive, but they did park on Cardinal Court. Tammy Hall said that she did not have an issue with the semi-trailers needing more space to turn into the driveway at 1812 Federal Drive. She said that she talked to the owner of the building used by Canteen and the owner agreed to allow two more vehicles to park behind the building and to pull the remaining vehicles on the street forward to the south to create more room. She felt that if the remaining vehicles moved south, there would be enough spaces available and enough room for the semi-trailer trucks to turn into the driveway. Mr. Tyler said that it was difficult to maneuver when box trucks from Canteen parked on the street. Mr. Shonkwiler said the area was very tight when backing into the driveway loading dock. Resulting from their observations, parking on the east side would need to be prohibited. He felt that at least two cars could fit in the remaining area on the west side, possibly three. He said that Green  Traffic Commission Minutes APPROVED June 2018 Page 5 Street Realty would allow parking in the back of their facility as long as vehicles did not block access to their storage facility. He asked what the typical number of vehicles would be. Ms. Hall said that they had a need for parking spaces once a month for a meeting. Mr. Shonkwiler asked Mr. Tyler if the trucks would be able to access the driveway with three vehicles were parked on the west side of the street. Mr. Tyler said that three cars parked on the west side near the south end of Federal Drive should work. Mr. Shonkwiler said that to compromise, three cars would be allowed to park on the west side of Federal Drive and parking would be eliminated on the east side of Federal Drive south of Cardinal Court. He said that some of the employees from Canteen would have to park near the Canteen facility or behind near the storage facility. He asked if that was acceptable to Ms. Hall. Ms. Hall indicated that Canteen staff would make that solution work. She would ask her staff to begin parking on the west side beginning the next day. Craig Shonkwiler moved to restrict parking on the east side of Federal Drive south of Cardinal Court to the end of Federal Drive for a distance to be determined by staff. Joel Sanders seconded the motion. The motion was approved 2-0. The recommendation for parking restrictions will go the Committee of the Whole for consideration. Public Works staff will recommend distances for the parking restrictions. New Business There was no new business With no other business at hand, the meeting adjourned at 5:03 p.m. The next regularly scheduled Traffic Commission meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, July 10, 2018, at 4:00 p.m. at the Urbana Public Works Department, 706 Glover Avenue, second floor conference room. Respectfully submitted, Barbara Stiehl, Recording Secretary