Traffic Commission Meeting

URBANA TRAFFIC COMMISSION Approved June 5, 2019 1 2 3 DATE: Wednesday, May 1, 2019 4 TIME: 4:00 P.M. 5 PLACE: Urbana Public Works Department, 706 South Glover Avenue 6 7 UNAPPROVED MINUTES 8 9 MEMBERS PRESENT: 10 11 Eric Jakobsson, City Council Member, Ward 2, Chair (arrived at 4:10 p.m.) 12 Craig Shonkwiler, Interim Co-City Engineer 13 Bob Fitzgerald, Interim Deputy Chief 14 15 MEMBERS ABSENT: 16 17 None 18 19 OTHERS PRESENT: 20 21 Robert McCartney, 3209 Baronry Drive 22 Deborah McCartney, 3209 Baronry Drive 23 Steve Davenport, 3210 Baronry Drive 24 Vince Gustafson, Interim Operations Manager, Public Works Department 25 26 The meeting began at 4:05 p.m. Craig Shonkwiler assumed the chair in the absence of Mr. Jakobsson. 27 28 Approval of Minutes: 29 30 Bob Fitzgerald moved to approve the minutes of the April 3, 2019 meeting. Craig Shonkwiler 31 seconded the motion. The Commission voted 2-0 to approve the minutes of the April meeting. 32 33 Additions to the agenda: 34 35 There were no additions to the agenda. 36 37 Public Input 38 39 Those wishing to provide input did so as items were discussed. 40 41 Unfinished Business 42 43 There was no unfinished business.  Traffic Commission Minutes May 2019 Approved June 5, 2019 Page 2 1 New Business 2 3 Item #1- Discussion of changing the bylaws for the Urbana Traffic Commission. 4 5 The Recording Secretary stated that the bylaws had been revised to reflect the change in the meeting 6 date approved at last month’s meeting. She said that the revised date would be the first Wednesday of 7 the month instead of the first Tuesday of the month as shown on page 3 of the bylaws. 8 9 Deputy Chief Fitzgerald moved to approve the bylaws as revised. 10 11 Mr. Shonkwiler seconded the motion. 12 13 The motion passed 2-0. 14 15 Item #2- Discussion of parking restrictions on Baronry Drive south of Trails Drive. 16 17 Mr. Shonkwiler explained that a request from a Public Works employee for parking restrictions at the 18 south end of Baronry Drive. The employee said that during winter operations it was difficult to turn 19 the plow trucks around because vehicles were parked on the street near the turnaround, particularly on 20 the east side of Baronry Drive. Mr. Shonkwiler said that the Engineering Division investigated the 21 situation. He explained that there were similar situations in other parts of the city that were designated 22 as tow-away zone with no parking allowed. He discussed options for consideration. One option would 23 be to install no parking, tow-away restrictions at the south end of the street. He noted that it would 24 reduce the number of on-street parking spaces available for those living in that area and allow the City 25 to tow a vehicle if it was parked in that area. Another option would be to install parking restrictions 26 without the tow-away zone. A third consideration was to restrict parking from November to March so 27 winter operations would not be restricted by parked vehicles. Lastly, Mr. Shonkwiler discussed parking 28 restrictions that would go into effect after two or more inches of snow had fallen. He added that 29 vehicles could be towed if not moved. He said that Mr. Davenport has asked for two parking spaces 30 on the east side of Baronry Drive. 31 32 Eric Jakobsson assumed the chair at 4:10 p.m. 33 34 Steve Davenport said that he had difficulty parking two vehicles in the area outside of the proposed 35 restrictions. He preferred the parking restriction that would go into effect after two inches of snow 36 since it would be the least restrictive of the options. 37 38 Robert McCartney asked if the street could be painted to show the area with the restrictions instead of 39 installing a sign in the right-of-way. 40 41 Mr. Shonkwiler said that the City installed signage to show areas where parking was restricted. He said 42 they did not use yellow paint on the curbs to designate parking restrictions since the curb might be 43 covered by snow or other materials making it difficult for motorists to know where the restrictions 44 were. He said that signage would be installed on both sides of the street. He explained that the City 45 preferred to use a progressive approach as a solution. He was in favor of starting with parking 46 restrictions that are effective after two inches of snow to see if that solution would solve the problem 47 for snowplows.  Traffic Commission Minutes May 2019 Approved June 5, 2019 Page 3 1 Deborah McCartney asked if the problem occurred for the dump trucks or for the dump trucks with 2 snowplows. 3 4 Vince Gustafson said that when the trucks have snowplows attached, turning was difficult. He 5 explained that the drivers had to back up the vehicles, which was a difficult maneuver. 6 7 Mr. Davenport asked if there could be markings on the street. He asked if the driver encountered 8 similar problems plowing on Chatham Drive. 9 10 Mr. Gustafson said that the concern on Baronry Drive was brought to him by one of his employees. 11 He recommended that the topic be addressed by the Traffic Commission so a consistent solution could 12 be formulated. 13 14 Mr. Shonkwiler explained that when a complaint is received by the City, staff investigates the individual 15 concern. He said the City does not examine related areas since resources to perform citywide 16 investigations of all concerns are not available. He added that there were no complaints about 17 Chatham Drive so that location was not part of the investigation. 18 19 Mr. McCartney said he had no problem with the proposed parking restrictions; he would have 20 preferred no signpost in his yard to mow around. 21 22 Mr. Jakobsson agreed with Mr. Shonkwiler’s earlier statement that painting the curbs with yellow paint 23 was not effective since the markings were not always visible. 24 25 Mr. Gustafson said that if vehicles were parked close to the southern end of Baronry Drive and there 26 was less than two inches of snow, the drivers would be instructed to salt as much of the street as 27 possible, but after two inches, the parked vehicles would have to be moved so the snowplow could 28 clear the street. 29 30 Mr. Shonkwiler moved to install parking restrictions that would be effective after two inches of snow at 31 a location determined by the Engineering Division. 32 33 Mr. Jakobsson seconded the motion. 34 35 The motion passed 3-0. 36 37 Mr. Shonkwiler said that he would work with the Legal Division to write the ordinance. 38 39 Those in attendance will be notified when this item goes to the Committee of the Whole for 40 consideration. 41 42 With no other business at hand, the meeting adjourned at 4:35 p.m.  Traffic Commission Minutes May 2019 Approved June 5, 2019 Page 4 1 The next regularly scheduled Traffic Commission meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 4, 2019, at 2 4:00 p.m. at the Urbana Public Works Department, 706 Glover Avenue, second floor conference room. 3 4 Respectfully submitted, 5 Barbara Stiehl, Recording Secretary