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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-09-2005 - Minutes TCCITY OF ORANGE CITY TRAFFIC COMMISSION Minutes of a Regular Meeting: February 9, 2005 Tape #CTC-25.01 of this City Traffic Commission meeting is available for your review. Please contact the Recording Secretary at (714) 744-5536 in this regard, advance notice is appreciated. I. OPENING A. Flag Pledge B. Roll Call Present – Commissioners: J. Fortier, F. Sciarra, F. Petronella, J. Beil, N. Lall Present – Staff: T. Mahood, D. Allenbach, P. Then, W. Winthers, Sgt. R. Walker C. Approval of Minutes Š December 8, 2004 ACTION: Approved as published by the Recording Secretary. MOTION: F. Sciarra SECOND: F. Petronella AYES: Unanimous II. ORAL PRESENTATIONS None III. CONSENT CALENDAR A. Review City Traffic Commission’s Annual Activity Report for 2004. Traffic Engineering Division CITY OF ORANGE The oral presentation is based on the written staff report; please refer to your copy. There was no discussion of this item. ACTION: Receive and file the report. MOTION: J. Beil SECOND: F. Petronella AYES: Unanimous February ‘05 [N:/Traffic/CTC/2005 Minutes] Printed on Recycled Paper Minutes of a Regular Meeting – City Traffic Commission – February 9, 2005 Pg. 2 B. Request to extend an existing “NO STOPPING” zone from 146 to 156 N. Batavia Street. Brad Johnson 148 N. Batavia Street Orange CA 92868 The oral presentation is based on the written staff report; please refer to your copy. There was no discussion of this request. ACTION: Approved the request. MOTION: J. Beil SECOND: F. Petronella AYES: Unanimous C. Request for the installation of red curb markings on both sides of the driveway serving 625 W. Palm Ave. Facilities Management & Campus Planning Chapman University One University Dr. Orange CA 92866 The oral presentation is based on the written staff report; please refer to your copy. Chairman Fortier opened the public hearing for the following discussion. Ed Blatchford, Facilities Manager Chapman University - One University Dr. – I wasn’t going to say anything because it looks like you are moving in the direction I’m proposing. ACTION: Approve and install 30 ft. of red curb on both sides of the subject driveway. MOTION: F. Sciarra SECOND: F. Petronella AYES: Unanimous 777777777777777 End of Consent Calendar 77777777777777777 Tape #CTC-25.01 of this City Traffic Commission meeting is available for your review. Please contact the Recording Secretary at (714) 744-5536 in this regard, advance notice is appreciated.  February ‘05 [N:/Traffic/CTC/2005 Minutes] Printed on Recycled Paper Minutes of a Regular Meeting – City Traffic Commission – February 9, 2005 Pg. 3 IV. CONSIDERATION ITEMS 1. Request to implement “2-HOUR” time limit parking on Collins Ave. in front of the business complex at 1048 W. Collins Ave. Gary Dagel 1048 W. Collins Ave. Orange CA 92867 The oral presentation is based on the written staff report; please refer to your copy. Chairman Fortier opened the public hearing for the following discussion: Gary Dagel, 1048 W. Collins Ave. – I contacted all the business owners within our complex and we’re all in consensus with this problem. Cars parking on the street are from businesses behind the alley behind our shop and across the street. Because of this parking it’s real dangerous to get out of our driveway. This has been on-going for the last 18 months and the problem has been escalating and it’s not getting any better. There was a case where a motor home was parked on the street and people were living in it. Chairman Fortier – If you have motor home that is parked and doesn’t move, we have an ordinance against that. Just call the Police about that. Vice Chairman Sciarra – If this parking is removed will you still have ample parking on site for your employees and customers? Gary Dagel – Yes, there is ample parking on-site available. Chairman Fortier – The people in that complex, in your opinion, if all the parking was removed from the street it wouldn’t be a problem? Gary Dagel – It wouldn’t be a problem for us. There is a dance school that has auditions occasionally and that generates a lot of vehicles. Street parking would be convenient for them. Rick Rice, Royce Systems – I can support pretty much everything Gary said with the exception that when we see the motor homes come. We’ve had occasion when we have called the Police and they explained the ordinance to us that they are allowed to move it up another block and then an hour later they come back again. Tape #CTC-25.01 of this City Traffic Commission meeting is available for your review. Please contact the Recording Secretary at (714) 744-5536 in this regard, advance notice is appreciated.  February ‘05 [N:/Traffic/CTC/2005 Minutes] Printed on Recycled Paper Minutes of a Regular Meeting – City Traffic Commission – February 9, 2005 Pg. 4 Matt Shaw, 1002 W. Collins Ave. – We agree with everything that has been said this evening. Chairman Fortier closed the public hearing and returned the item to the Commission for further discussion and a motion. Vice Chairman Sciarra – It’s good to know they have plenty of parking in the center so removing parking from this segment of Collins Ave. would be fine. However we would like to make a motion that we go ahead with the red curbs on either side of the driveway to alleviate the sight distance problem. I would also like to recommend that we go ahead and remove the parking off Collins at that point. Chairman Petronella – Would we need the red curb if we took the parking off? Chairman Fortier – No, we wouldn’t need red curbs if we took all the parking off the street. Dave Allenbach – Transportation Analyst – If we sign it for “NO STOPPING” then we don’t need to install any red curb. If, on the other hand, you would rather consider either leaving some parking on the street, or putting in some time limit parking, then we would strongly recommend that we put in some red curb on both sides of that driveway. Chairman Fortier – It seems like the people most affected don’t want parking anyway, and I think down stream a little bit we’re going to have to take that parking anyway cause that is an arterial highway. Dave Allenbach, Transportation Analyst – Collins Ave. is classified as a Secondary arterial. On Collins Ave. east of Batavia St. about 15 years ago we did remove parking on both sides of the street so we could stripe in a 10 ft. center median. We did this to provide a refuge area when cars are trying to turn into and out of the commercial driveways along that section of Collins Ave. That has helped in two ways, it has allowed traffic to flow easier and it has also reduced the number of accidents in that area. As traffic increases in this area it may become feasible to do the same thing here, which would provide consistency in the striping and also would provide the same benefits. Tape #CTC-25.01 of this City Traffic Commission meeting is available for your review. Please contact the Recording Secretary at (714) 744-5536 in this regard, advance notice is appreciated.  February ‘05 [N:/Traffic/CTC/2005 Minutes] Printed on Recycled Paper Minutes of a Regular Meeting – City Traffic Commission – February 9, 2005 Pg. 5 ACTION: Deny the request for the installation of time limit parking. Approve the installation of “NO STOPPING ANYTIME” restrictions along the frontage of 1048 W. Collins Ave. MOTION: F. Sciarra SECOND: F. Petronella Commissioner Beil – I would have to support this because of the speeds and sight distances. Red curb is an option but when you start looking at 45 ft. on each side of the driveways and the driveway at the east end and at the middle and potentially at the alley on the west end, you really haven’t left that much parking, so it would probably be best to eliminate all the parking. AYES: Unanimous 2. Request for the installation of an “All-Way” STOP control at the intersection of LaVeta Ave. and Chipwood St. Daniel Evens 579 S. Nutwood St. Orange CA 92869 The oral presentation is based on the written staff report; please refer to your copy. Chairman Fortier opened the public hearing for the following discussion: Chairman Fortier – When I went out to the location I saw what you’re talking about. Pulling out of Chipwood, there’s a wall there and a bush, you have to almost pull your car out into the intersection before you can actually see oncoming motorists. I agree that we should have the STOP sign because it is rather dangerous. Vice Chairman Sciarra – I concur with your comment. I had the same problem when I visited there, you just couldn’t see oncoming traffic from either direction. Jeff Schweppe, 520 S. Chipwood St. – People speed up and down that road so when you do pull out into the intersection it’s almost too late. Also there is a neighborhood park right there where little kids play. T. J. Cox, 591 S. Nutwood St. – I’m a 6th grader at McPherson Magnet School. We have a major problem on our hands, not only is driving 7 mph over the speed Tape #CTC-25.01 of this City Traffic Commission meeting is available for your review. Please contact the Recording Secretary at (714) 744-5536 in this regard, advance notice is appreciated.  February ‘05 [N:/Traffic/CTC/2005 Minutes] Printed on Recycled Paper Minutes of a Regular Meeting – City Traffic Commission – February 9, 2005 Pg. 6 limit a violation of law it is also very dangerous not only to my family, but my friends and myself as well. When riding our bicycles to the hot dog stand people are always speeding and are completely oblivious to any pedestrian, my friends and I must wait until all cars are at least 3/8 to ¼ mile away. If you install a STOP sign my mom wouldn’t have to floor the gas pedal in order to get through the intersection. Tim Cox, 591 S. Nutwood St. – I concur with everything he said. Daniel Evens, 579 S. Nutwood St. – I concur with earlier statements. It does seem that there is a confluence of some very dangerous things going on with the park, high speeds, lack of any kind of traffic control and the blind turns. James St. is a major east-west thoroughfare linking Chapman and LaVeta that many of us in the neighborhood take to avoid traffic on Prospect or Esplanade. I think a STOP sign here would go a long way to alleviate the problem. Barbara Anderson, 3834 E. LaVeta Ave. – The right turn lane installed on LaVeta, people go straight through that lane all the time. That is one of the problems on that corner and it’s going to cause an accident one of these days. Greg Cashner, 557 S. Nutwood St. – I concur with what has been said this evening and that you have all gone out there to see for yourself what is going on. Chairman Fortier closed the public hearing and returned the item to the Commission for further discussion and a motion. Vice Chairman Sciarra – I have to agree, I had to get my car out into the middle of the intersection before I could see anything. I believe staff has done an excellent job in making these recommendations. Chairman Fortier – I agree with Frank, I saw that vividly when I was out there. Commissioner Beil – The geometrics of those intersections are fairly bizarre and we don’t normally entertain too many STOP sign requests but I think this one is pretty unique and it’s come up with a sight distance and a potential safety issue, so I think it’s a very good proposal to put this in. Also for the sunlight issues for westbound traffic and there is kind of a crest vertical curve as you are going into that intersection that we should be sure to provide good advance warning of STOP AHEAD signs. STOP signs are not used to control speed, they are used to assign right-of-way and this is a case where this needs to be assigned. Tape #CTC-25.01 of this City Traffic Commission meeting is available for your review. Please contact the Recording Secretary at (714) 744-5536 in this regard, advance notice is appreciated.  February ‘05 [N:/Traffic/CTC/2005 Minutes] Printed on Recycled Paper Minutes of a Regular Meeting – City Traffic Commission – February 9, 2005 Pg. 7 Commissioner Lall – I agree, we generally don’t like STOP signs for many reasons. This location doesn’t meet the warrants for a STOP sign but the geometry of the intersection clearly needs to be addressed and I think a STOP sign is best way to deal with that. We don’t want the public to get a false sense of security with a STOP sign. I want everyone to be aware that STOP signs are not always obeyed and please don’t develop a false sense of security and get hurt. STOP signs generally only slow vehicles as they approach and drive away from the sign and they generally get up to a high speed. ACTION: Approve the request for the installation of an “All-Way” STOP control at the intersection of LaVeta Ave. and Chipwood St., and install advance warning signs as may be appropriate. MOTION: F. Petronella SECOND: J. Beil AYES: Unanimous 3. Request for the installation of speed humps on Hoover Ave. between Shaffer St. and Cambridge St. for a 3-month trial period. Gloria Ferrier 603 E. Hoover Ave. Orange CA 92867 Commissioner Beil – The proposal package has the aerial photo with the proposed location of 3 speed humps for this stretch, please explain the criteria you used when determining this. Dave Allenbach, Transportation Analyst – Typically we try to keep the humps about 200 ft. away from control points which is a STOP sign here at Cambridge and another STOP sign at Shaffer St. We try to locate the humps as near as we can to property lines and as far away from driveways as we can. We were pretty much able to achieve that in this area. Speed humps work best in multiple of three we have planned to install another one as near mid-block as we could. We try to keep their spacing at equal distances as possible so we have an even flow of traffic on the street. Tape #CTC-25.01 of this City Traffic Commission meeting is available for your review. Please contact the Recording Secretary at (714) 744-5536 in this regard, advance notice is appreciated.  February ‘05 [N:/Traffic/CTC/2005 Minutes] Printed on Recycled Paper Minutes of a Regular Meeting – City Traffic Commission – February 9, 2005 Pg. 8 The oral presentation is based on the written staff report; please refer to your copy. Chairman Fortier opened the public hearing for the following discussion. Gloria Ferrier, 603 E. Hoover Ave. – In favor of the speed humps. It didn’t take much convincing to get people to sign the petition because everyone is familiar with the situation. Layton Howell, 504 E. Hoover Ave. – In favor of the speed humps. We have lots of small children who play outside and it’s very dangerous because of the speeds. Some of the businesses having employees using this street as a short cut, we hope the humps will help the situation. Chairman Fortier – I was over there and I ran into one of your neighbors that you missed when circulating the petition. He said he was in favor of the speed humps because of the traffic volumes. Chairman Fortier closed the public hearing and returned the item to the Commission for further discussion and a motion. Commissioner Lall – Has the Fire Dept. approved this? It doesn’t affect anything they are concerned with such as their direction of travel? Dave Allenbach, Transportation Analyst – We haven’t shown this to the Fire Dept. directly. We haven’t shown any of the previous petitions other than the first set of speed humps we installed on Shaffer St. between Taft Ave. and Meats Ave. Prior to the City Council lifting the moratorium that was placed on the Neighborhood Transportation Management Program we did two things. First we tried 4 different profiles of speed humps and ran all of our fire fighting apparatus, police vehicles and public works vehicles over these to find out what would be the best height to slow down the general public but would not be such a nuisance for our own vehicles. We came up with a 2 ½ in. high profile. Additionally we looked at which streets would be best without speed humps and we found there was no particular street in the City that had more Fire Dept. call-outs than any other, there was no set pattern. We determined certain streets parallel to arterials that go through, like Palm Ave. that run between Main & Tustin, or Almond Ave. that runs between Flower St. and Lincoln St. are several miles long, and they are adjacent to an arterial such as Chapman. We found that these are bypass routes the Fire Dept. is most likely to use should they get a call Tape #CTC-25.01 of this City Traffic Commission meeting is available for your review. Please contact the Recording Secretary at (714) 744-5536 in this regard, advance notice is appreciated.  February ‘05 [N:/Traffic/CTC/2005 Minutes] Printed on Recycled Paper Minutes of a Regular Meeting – City Traffic Commission – February 9, 2005 Pg. 9 out during the peak hour and the arterial is jammed with cars. We determined those streets would not be allowed to have speed humps. This section of Hoover Ave. is NOT one of these streets and therefore it can be considered for speed humps. Part of the 3-month trial is to see if the Fire Dept. has an issue they can also come back to us during that time and let us know. Gloria Ferrier, 603 E. Hoover Ave. – I agree about the height of the speed humps. Commissioner Beil – The volumes are not substantial but as residents have noted the street is very long and you build up speed rather quickly and I think staff’s speed survey bears that out. It seems to meet the criteria as far as the neighborhood wanting this in overwhelmingly. ACTION: Approve the installation of speed humps for the three-month trial phase outlined in the Residential Neighborhood Traffic Management Program (RNTMP). MOTION: J. Beil SECOND: F. Petronella AYES: Unanimous 777777777777777 End of Consideration Calendar 77777777777777 V. ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS None this month. Tape #CTC-25.01 of this City Traffic Commission meeting is available for your review. Please contact the Recording Secretary at (714) 744-5536 in this regard, advance notice is appreciated.  February ‘05 [N:/Traffic/CTC/2005 Minutes] Printed on Recycled Paper Minutes of a Regular Meeting – City Traffic Commission – February 9, 2005 Pg. 10 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 next meeting of the City Traffic Commission is scheduled: 5:30 P.M. Wednesday – March 9, 2005 Respectfully submitted, CITY OF ORANGE Phyllis Then, Recording Secretary Traffic Engineering Division pthen@cityoforange.org CITY OF ORANGE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT TRAFFIC ENGINEERING DIVISION 300 E. CHAPMAN AVENUE ORANGE CA 92866 PH: (714) 744-5536 FAX: (714) 744-5573 Tape #CTC-25.01 of this City Traffic Commission meeting is available for your review. Please contact the Recording Secretary at (714) 744-5536 in this regard, advance notice is appreciated.  February ‘05 [N:/Traffic/CTC/2005 Minutes] Printed on Recycled Paper