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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-09-2009 - Minutes TC CITY OF ORANGE CITY TRAFFIC COMMISSION Minutes of a Regular Meeting:_ December q, 2004 I. OPENING A. Flag Pledge B. Roll Call Present— Commissioners: J. Beil, L. Dick,W. King,N. Lall, M. Lebeau Absent— Commissioners: None Present—Staff: A. Farahani, D.Allenbach,W.Winthers, Sgt. B. Meissner, P. Then C. Approval of Minutes • October i4, 2009 ACTION: Approved as published by the Recording Secretary. MOTION: L. Dick SECOND: N. Lall AYES: Unanimous ABSTAIN: • November i8, 2009 Meeting canceled due to lack of items. II. ORAL PRESENTATIONS None this meeting. III. CONSENT CALENDAR None this meeting. �`� �;it}'of Tape#CTC-29.o� of this City Traffic Commission meeting is available for your review. �r,, Please contact the Recording Secretary at(�14)744-5536 in this regard�vance notice is appreciated. Public Works Dep,artrtient � December'o9[N:/Traffic/CTC/zoo9 Minutes] ��Printed On Recycled Paper - -- ------- --_ Minutes of a Regular Meeting-City Traffic Commission-December 9,2ou9 Pg. 2 � IV. CONSIDERATION ITEMS 1. Request for the installation of an intersection vision zone on the west side of Batavia St. at Maple Ave. Myrtle Block-Turgasen N. Citrus St. Orange CA 92869 Commissioner Lebeau — The signal is at Palm and Chapman, 9 accidents in 3 years, is that a lot? Dave Allenbach, Trans�ortation Analyst — I don't believe that is an excessive amount of accidents, but what is of concern is that 5 of those are right-angle accidents and 4 of them occurred on the side of the intersection we are studying, so there is bit of a history there. Commissioner Dick— These all seem to be in the morning except for a couple. Commissioner Lebeau — As you mentioned it appears 5 of them are southbound vehicles on Batavia St. Chairman Beil —Were the residents at 190 and 204, 210 notified? Dave Allenbach, Trans�ortation Anal,� — Yes. The area maps here, the areas identified in green are households that actually signed the proponent's letter. As you can see the houses on the corner did not sign the letter, we don't know if they saw the letter or not, but in accordance with our policy we notified the residents within a 30o ft. radius around a subject area, so both houses on the corner were notified prior to the meeting, as well as the households identified in green. Commissioner Dick — As I look at this I wonder about Palm Ave., if we're having these kinds of incidents here, have you looked at Palm Ave.? Dave Allenbach, Transportation Analvst — In this case we have not looked at Palm Ave., this type of request is specific to this particular intersection. There is a traffic signal there. In that instance if there is an accident history it most likely will be a left-turn versus a through vehicle. There are no left-turn lanes and it is a 2-phase signal so it's a permitted left. .^� Citg of Tape#CTC-29.o� of this City Traffic Commission meeting is available for your review. _ Please contact the Recording Secretary at(�i4)744-5536 in this regard(�a�dvance notice is appreciated. Public Works Department � December'o9[N:/Traffic/CTC/2oo9 Minutes] ��Printed On Recycled Paper �inutes of a Regular Meeting—City Traffic Commission—December 9,2c,,,� Pg. 3 The oral presentation is based on the written staff report; please refer to your copy. Chairman Beil opened the public hearing for the following discussion. Mvrtle Block-Turgasen, N. Citrus St. — In favor of the request. I have seen numerous accidents further back than 3 years that have happed at this intersection. My biggest complaint is the vehicles that park on Batavia St. are so wide that you have to move out until you are well past the crosswalk before you can ever get a visual of the cars coming from Palm down Batavia. You are literally breaking the law because of the cars parked there, and then all of a sudden you're too far out there. These are not little vehicles these are extra-wide pick-up trucks. The other complaint is that there is a bougainvillea growing on the other corner and you can't see a pedestrian because of the lack of sidewalk on Batavia St. When they widened Batavia St. they shortened the sidewalk to nothing and now this bougainvillea even blocks our view of pedestrians crossing the street. You can't see oncoming traffic; you can't see bicyclists or pedestrians. I circulated the letter in the neighborhood and not one person that opened their door to me refused to sign the letter; they are all very upset about the poor visibility at this intersection. That last accident was pretty bad, there were 5 people in that car and 2 of them were little babies, they had broken glass in their diapers and in their hair and ears, and i finally said I have had enough,this needs to be addressed. Frank Block, N. Citrus St. — In favor of the request. Your accident reports for the last 3 years don't tell you about the close calls there have been, you are breaking the law every time you go to that intersection because you cannot see anything if you stay behind the crosswalk. Since you've widened the street the sidewalks are so narrow with big power poles so two people couldn't even walk abreast of each other it's so narrow, and with your obstructed view you're just sitting there waiting until the light changes at Palm so it might be safe to pull out. Cindy Baker, Arbor Way — In favor of the request. I've come close a couple of times of getting hit, I've almost hit a bicyclist northbound on the wrong side of the road on the sidewalk, while I was looking north on Batavia to make a turn I came within inches of hurting this man. Part of the problem on Batavia St. is that it's coded at 35 MPH yet we're lucky if they're driving 45 MPH, everyone is in a rush to get to Chapman and then the freeways. I think 8o ft. would be better, but people have to park, but the whole set- up is bad because the sidewalk goes right to the street and the sidewalk is much narrower than a normal sidewalk. I don't use this intersection to make a left-turn anymore I only have 2 options of getting in and out of my property, we live on the cul-de-sac and my son still doesn't use that intersection because of the danger, we go through the neighborhood up to Palm Ave. where there is a traffic signal. They also need a crosswalk there because there are too many people crossing. John Baker, Arbor Wav — In favor of the request. I think the problem is that when the City decided to widen the street the sidewalks were narrowed significantly. The person who lives on the corner of Acacia and Batavia was not required to lower their 6 ft. block wall so that's an obstruction in that area also. 4o ft. is only a car and a half, I'm sure that will improve the vision a little, but at minimum the red curb needs to go halfway down the block to Acacia on the north side. The big bougainvillea is a problem on the other side and it restricts observing pedestrian tra�c but you can see the northbound cars at '�" L�It�'"t Tape#CTG29.o� of this City Traffic Commission meeting is available for your review. _ Please contact the Recording Secretary at(�i4)744-5536 in this regard,�vance notice is appreciated. Public Works Department � December'o9[N:/Traffic/CTC/2oo9 Minutes] �'�Printed On Recycled Paper _ ___ _ — Minutes of a Regular Meeting—City Traffic Commission—December 9�2��a Pg• 4 this intersection. The north side of that intersection at 5:3o am when I go to work, I'm basically relying on headlights. There are not many people out on the street at 5:3o but if somebody is coming through there without headlights on I'm prone to get hit. We've got the transit oriented condos, we've got the walkway now that goes under the railroad tracks so we've got more pedestrian traffic. We've got kids that come out of Portola and Sycamore schools that think you're going to stop for them. A pedestrian light, only coming on when people are trying to cross would be wonderful. At Maple Ave. and Main St. because of the street configuration you could possibly think about a light for the kids going to school as we have had a fatality there also. John Nelson, N. Batavia St. — Is opposed to the request. I live at one of the residences affected by your decision. The reason we park in front of these homes is for safety and prevention of vandalism. We've lived here i6 years and have lost a total of 4 cars at this location. Every single time it's been due to a drunk driver speeding southbound on Batavia St. If the curb is painted red the residents at this intersection will be forced to park on W. Maple Ave. causing another problem. I would like to remind my neighbors that it is not illegal to cross a crosswalk, I believe the code states that once you make a complete stop it's ok to proceed with caution through the crosswalk and into traff'ic. Pat LaRosa, W. Maple Ave. — Is opposed to the request. This has been a situation just getting worse, in fact if I might present a picture taken this morning (gave copy of photo to Commission). I have a daughter learning to drive and right now she's having problems just making a right turn out of this intersection because often the nose of the car has to go out into the traffic lane and the traffic speed is much greater than the 35 MPH it's posted. There have been a lot of close calls here even with pedestrians,you get so focused on that left turn that you don't see a pedestrian coming from the right side. I had somebody knock on the hood of my car one time, and thankfully I had come to a complete stop and wasn't rolling through. It's just that without that visibility it's just creating danger for us. Dustin Schneider, N. Batavia St. — Is opposed to the request. In my opinion putting a red marker out there is like putting a band aid on a situation that is only going to get worse. Years ago I argued for a 4-Way STOP after watching a kid bounce off a hood, so it won't really do anything except just continue as it is. I wrote a 3 page letter and have photos of all the corners(submitted to Commission). Chairman Beil closed the public hearing and returned the item to the Commission for further discussion and a motion. Commissioner Lebeau — Do you have access to the latest traffic study data on Batavia St.? Dave Allenbach, Transportation Analyst — I don't have speed survey data with me, however, earlier this year this segment of Batavia St. was up for its 5-year renewal and we conducted a speed survey at that time. The 85tn percentile or the critical speed on Batavia on off-peak periods is around 37 MPH, that's not to say that is the fastest speed recorded, that is basically what 85 percent of the traffic is traveling at or below. So i5 % of the traffic is going to be traveling faster than 37 MPH. The street is posted adequately � City of Tape#CTG2g.o� of this City Traffic Commission meeting is available for your review. Please contact the Recording Secretary at(�i4)744-5536 in this regard,advance notice is appreciated. Pubiic Werk.s Depar[rr7ent �' � December'o9[N:/Traffic/CTC/2oo9 Minutes] ��Printed On Recycled Paper Minutes of a Regular Meeting -City Traffic Commission—December 9, 2�..,� Pg. � given the width of the street, the traffic volume and the other parameters around there. This is a straight street there are no curves or other design features that would indicate that the street should be posted at a lower speed. Posting the street at a lower speed would not generate greater compliance, in fact it most likely would create more law breakers than anything else, and so we would not consider lowering the speed limit without good justification to do so. Most likely the citations would not hold up in court and therefore we would not get any speed enforcement from the Police Department. Vice Chairman Lall — I want to commend the public input today, it's a very nice turnout and I'm very happy to see that and specifically the resident that went around and obtained all the signatures on her letter. It's a lot of work and I'm very impressed. ACTION: Approved the installation of 4o feet of red curb on both sides of Maple Ave. at Batavia St. MOTION: N. Lall SECOND: W. King AYES: Unanimous NOES: None ABSTAIN: None 2. Request for the installation of additional red curb markings on north side of the Parker Street driveway serving the office building at�25 W.Town&Country Rd. Morteza Ghandehari Town&Country Rd., #300 � Orange CA 92866 The oral presentation is based on the written staff report; please refer to your copy. There was no public discussion of this request. Chairman Beil —I see those motor homes out there all the time. ACTION: Approved the installation of an additional 13 feet of red curb on the north side of the Parker St. driveway serving the office building at �25 W. Town&Country Rd. MOTION: L. Dick SECOND: W. King AYES: Unanimous NOES: None ABSTAIN: None ��������������� End of Consideration Items ���������������� � City of Tape#CTG29.o� of this City Traffic Commission meeting is available for your review. _____ Please contact the Recording Secretary at(�i4)744-5536 in this regard,advance notice is appreciated. Public Works Department � � December'o9[N:/Traffic/CTC/2oo9 Minutes] ��Printed On Recycled Paper Minutes of a Regular Meeting—City Traffic Commission—December 9, 2ou9 Pg. 6 1 V. ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS None this meeting. VI. ADJOURNMENT After discussion of today's Agenda the City Traffic Commission meeting was concluded, and as there were no further requests for action under Oral Presentations, the Chairman adjourned this session of the City Traffic Commission. The ne�meeting of the City Traffic Commission is scheduled: 5�3o P.M. Wednesday - February io, 2oio Respectfully submitted, CITY OF ORANGE Phyllis Then,Recording Secretary Traffic Engineering Division then a cityoforange.org CPI'Y OF ORANGE PUBLIC WORKS DEPAI2TMENT 300 E.CHAPMAN AVENUE o�rrcE Cn 92866 Px: (714)744-5536 F�: (714)744-5573 � City of Tape#CTG29.o� of this City Tra�c Commission meeting is available for your review. Piease contact the Recording Secretary at(�i4)744-5536 in this regard,advance notice is appreciated. Public Werks Department ;� � December'o9[N:/Traffic/CTC/2oo9 Minutes] ��Printed On Recycled Paper