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04-11-2012 - Minutes TCX CITY OF ORANGE X CITY TRAFFIC COMMISSION Minutes of a Regular Meeting: April 11, 2012 I. OPENING A. Flag Pledge B. Roll Call Present — Commissioners: J. Beil, W. King, M. Lebeau, C. Vaughan Absent — Commissioners: None Present — Staff: A. Farahani, W. Winthers, D. Allenbach, Sgt. J. Bird, P. Then NOTE FROM RECORDING SECRETARY It should be noted, for the record, a malfunction occurred during the recording of the meeting. The microphone at the speaker's podium had inadvertently been turned off at the control panel, following the Council meeting of the previous day. Speaker's comments are largely inaudible, in each circumstance every effort has been made to accurately express their concerns. The nature of the problem has been identified and corrected. C. Approval of Minutes • December 14, 2011 ACTION: Approved as published. MOTION: M. Lebeau SECOND: W. King AYES: Unanimous II. ORAL PRESENTATIONS None this month. City of Tape #CCC -32.01 of this City Traffic Commission meeting is available for your review. rang Please contact the Recording Secretary at (714) 744 in this regard, advance notice is appreciated. Public Works Department En7 April 2012 [N:/Traffic /CrC /2011 Minutes] a Printed On Recycled Paper Minutes of a Regular Meeting - City Traffic Commission — April 11, 2012 Pg. 2 II1. CONSENT CALENDAR A. City Traffic Commission Activity Report for 2011. Traffic Engineering Division Public Works Department CITY OF ORANGE There was no discussion of the report. ACTION: Received & Filed the report. MOTION: M. Lebeau SECOND: W. King AYES: Unanimous IV. CONSIDERATION ITEMS 1. Request to remove the existing yellow curb markings (loading zone) on Citrus St. adjacent to the building at 940 W. Chapman Ave. Al Ricci 616 E. Chapman Ave. Orange CA 92866 Oral presentation is based on the written staff report; please refer to your copy. There was no discussion of this item. ACTION: Approved the request. MOTION: C. Vaughan SECOND: W. King AYES: Unanimous `g City of Tape #CTC -32.01 of this City Traffic Commission meeting is available for your review. rang Please contact the Recording Secretary at (714) 744 -5536 in this regard, advance notice is appreciated. Public Works Department B April 2012 [N:/Traffic /CTC /2011 Minutes] Co Printed On Recycled Paper Minutes of a Regular Meeting - City Traffic Commission — April 11, 2012 Pg. 3 2. Request for the installation of an intersection vision zone at Jordan Ave. and Schug St. John Warner 607 S. Schug St. Orange, CA 92867 Oral presentation is based on the written staff report, please refer to your copy. Chairman Beil opened the public hearing for the following discussion. Commissioner Lebeau - Your report mentioned cars are parking around the curb return, does that mean around the curb itself? Dave Allenbach Transportation Analyst - Occasionally they will park up to and around the access ramps on both sides of the street, they leave those clear, but they will park in this area when there is very heavy demand. Commissioner Vaughan - Do you have any real time experience out there with needs from the school in response to the congestion problems, or has anything been a factor out there that you know of? Sgt Leff Bird OPD Traffic Bureau - We've had a few complaints from neighbors in that particular area, Most of the complaints have been either the vehicles parking around the corners themselves in front of the ramps, in front of residents driveways, making it difficult for them to enter or leave their properties. There have been a few occasions where I have seen vehicles parking around the corners. We've educated the people who are doing that and things improved. We also spoke with the school Principal and asked them to send out a letter to the student's parents or guardians advising them to please not park in front of the driveways or corners. We still have to educate these people on an ongoing basis. Tohn Warner, 607 S. Schug St . -My issue in this instance is not only the traffic that is there now but it grows over the years. My son has a significant health problem and I need immediate access to my driveway for trips to the hospital, and for the paramedics to access my residence. This situation creates enough problems for me and if I was unable to take my son to either the hospital or a medical appointment due to this situation I will be irate. By putting in the red curbs it initially tells people that they are not supposed to park here. It gets so bad people will block the driveway completely, and when I confront them about blocking my driveway they get angry and many refuse to leave. `g City of Tape #CTC -32.01 of this City Traffic Commission meeting is available for your review. rang Please contact the Recording Secretary at (714) 744 -5536 in this regard, advance notice is appreciated. Public Works Department B Apri12012 [N:/Traffic /CTC /2011 Minutes] Printed On Recycled Paper Minutes of a Regular Meeting - City Traffic Commission — April 11, 2012 Pg. 4 Commissioner King — Would red curbs do anything to solve this problem or are people going to park at the corner on a red curb anyway? Sgt. Teff Bird, OPD Traffic Bureau — When people want to park they are going to park when they are going to drop somebody off. We can educate them as much as possible, the only thing the red curb can do for us at the Police Dept. is give us the ability to enforce a law. Whereas when somebody parks in front of a driveway all we can do is ask them to remove their vehicle. If they walk away from their vehicle and somebody is trying to enter or leave their home and they can't because there's nobody in the car to move it, then I have the ability to call for a tow truck to remove the vehicle from that spot. But if the subject comes back to the car prior to the tow truck arriving I have to allow them to drive away and there is no enforcement that can be taken other than that. Commissioner King — Is it illegal to park at the curb right on the corner? Sgt. Teff Bird, OPD Traffic Bureau — It's illegal to block the wheelchair access ramp, which is the prolongation of the sidewalk from either direction coming towards the corner. You can park to a certain point on a corner and it's not illegal but once you block the access ramp then it is illegal. Tohn Warner, 607 S. Schug St . — What you say is very true. Police officers in the past have told me that when I brought this issue before them. Mr. Allenbach mentioned that no child has been hurt there for the last 3 years, I don't think we should wait until a child is hurt before we prevent an accident. You cannot see around the corner. Chairman Beil — Do you have an issue with having red curb along Jordan Ave.? Yvette Stucker, 608 S. Schug St . — I am in favor of the red curb. You can't see the children when all those cars are parked around the corners. Chairman Lebeau — We need to make a differentiation between people waiting to pick -up their children, or do you have a constant problem with parked vehicles along the curb? Yvette Stucker, 608 S. Schug St — Not with parked cars. Chairman Lebeau — So we're talking about transitory traffic that is dropping off or picking up children. John Warner, 607 S. Schug St . — Events at the school, whether it be soccer games, or parent- teacher conferences, it happens then also. City °f Tape #CTC -32.01 of this City Traffic Commission meeting is available for your review. rang Please contact the Recording Secretary at (714) 744 -5536 in this regard, advance notice is appreciated. Public Works Department B April 2012 [N:/Traffic /CTC /2011 Minutes] a Printed On Recycled Paper Minutes of a Regular Meeting - City Traffic Commission — April 11, 2012 Pg. 5 Chairman Beil closed the public hearing and returned the item to the Commission for further discussion and a motion. Commissioner Vaughan — I was there last night and there was no illegal parking but I was curious about the northeast corner where the fire hydrant is, I was wondering why it wasn't already red curbed because I had to park between the last driveway and the prolongation of the corner where the access ramp comes down, and any vehicle larger than my own would have to be perfectly parallel parked not to block either the driveway or the access ramp, or it would have to be a very small car. Chairman Beil — I think the pictures the proponent provided are pretty compelling of the situation during the drop -off and pick -up periods, I know exactly what those situations are like. If there are a lot of people crossing there, in the staff report during the afternoon release time the approach volume is 387 vehicles, and I'm assuming the actual time is really shorter than an hour. Dave Allenbach, Transportation Analyst — Arrival time in the morning probably lasts between 20 minutes and a half -hour. The afternoon is slightly longer, maybe 45 minutes to an hour. Parents start arriving earlier and earlier in the afternoon in order to find a parking space, and then they will stay there longer until school gets out. Once schools gets out they are gone and the street is empty again. Chairman Beil — With 387 vehicles in the release time, and 32 pedestrians crossing there, some kids are not attended by adults and the situation depicted in the pictures it would make it awfully tough for kids coming down those access ramps to cross the street to even see approaching traffic. I would be inclined to go ahead and grant the installation of the red curb, particularly if the proponent at 607 and the resident of 608 S. Schug St. are in favor of it, I would be inclined to grant it. Commissioner Vaughan — Would the residents of the house that sits behind the fire hydrant, would extending the red curb around the corner to include up to the driveway, would that be a huge detriment to your personal parking situation? It's such a small space anyway you would be the only one directly affected by it. I think wrapping the red curb around the corner in front of Jordan Ave. (side frontage of 607 S. Schug St.) to include that space in front of the fire hydrant will be a big improvement as well. It's very small, maybe one car length. ` City of Tape #CTC -32.01 of this City Traffic Commission meeting is available for your review. rang Please contact the Recording Secretary at (714) 744 -5536 in this regard, advance notice is appreciated. Public Works Department April 2012 [N:/Traffic /CTC /2011 Minutes] a Printed On Recycled Paper Minutes of a Reeular Meeting - City Traffic Commission — April 11, 2012 Pg. 6 Chairman Beil — If Mr. Warner has no issue with that. John Warner, 607 S. Schug St . — Comments from the audience inaudible. Commissioner King — To make sure I understand, Mr. Warner wants to put red curb on both corners on the right and the left. Dave Allenbach, Transportation Analyst — The reason there is no red curb in front of Mr. Warner's house is simply because there is a fire hydrant there and you can't park within 15 ft. of a fire hydrant. We don't paint red curb in front of fire hydrants because its redundant and if you can imagine all the fire hydrants in the city if we had to paint them all red, that's quite a maintenance issue for us. On the other side of the street, the resident at 608 S. Schug St., their driveway actually comes right to the curb return so there really isn't a legal parking space in this area to begin with. If you want us to paint the curb returns we can certainly do that but there really isn't a need for it. Chairman Beil — So right now we would be talking about a motion to grant the request to paint the curbs on Jordan Ave. red on the east side of Schug St. at Jordan Ave. I really do not agree with painting the whole curb returns red. But I do think we need to wrestle with the issue of the do we want to go ahead and paint a curb red in front of a fire hydrant. Commissioner King —There is a fire hydrant in front of my house, which backs up to LaVeta School, and in the morning and evening people park in front of that fire hydrant. I don't know that red curb will stop it. Sgt. Jeff Bird, OPD Traffic Bureau — There is a difference in the 15 ft. from a fire hydrant if it's not painted red you can park in front of a fire hydrant as long as the driver stays in the driver seat. So anybody can stop in front of a fire hydrant and drop -off or wait there to pick -up. If you put in red curb in front of the fire hydrant they can't park there period. ACTION: Denied staff recommendation and approved the request to install red curb on each side of Jordan Ave. and the east side of Schug St. adjacent to the driveway at 607 S. Schug St. in the area by the fire hydrant. MOTION: J. Beil SECOND: M. Lebeau AYES: Unanimous `g City of Tape #CTC -32.01 of this City Traffic Commission meeting is available for your review. rang Please contact the Recording Secretary at (714) 744 -5536 in this regard, advance notice is appreciated. Public Works Department B April 2012 [N:/rraffic /CTC /2011 Minutes] 1 Printed On Recycled Paper Minutes of a Regular Meeting - City Traffic Commission — April 11, 2012 Pg. 7 3. Request to shorten the length of red curb in front of 203 S. Lincoln St. Gloria Aceves 203 S. Lincoln St. Orange, CA 92869 Oral presentation is based on the written staff report; please refer to your copy. Chairman Beil opened the public hearing for the following discussion. Gloria Aceves, 203 S. Lincoln St . - Due to a malfunction of the PA system Ms. Aceves comments are mostly inaudible. Chairman Beil - Your measurements on the diagram show the distance of the existing red curb 33 ft. with 10 ft. left, it would be 23 ft. left for parking. Dave Allenbach, Transportation Analyst - The standard for an end stall on a public street is 22 ft. which is what this would be. So 23 ft. gives you an extra foot. The reason you might have it a little shorter is because you do have a little red curb so there's nobody parking in front of you so when you leave you don't have to maneuver around a vehicle and you can exit. We put out 10 ft. just to give a little more sight distance for the proponent when backing out, a little better turning radius when she is making a right turn into the driveway. It can certainly be shortened a few feet, we try to go with even numbers. Chairman Beil - I'm just trying to iron out any differences as she is requesting to the pole, which she says is only 7 feet. Chairman Beil closed the public hearing and returned the item to the Commission for further discussion and a motion. Commissioner Vaughan - I'd like to suggest we bring the red curb closer to the pole and give her a few more feet. The traffic at this location is very light and if she is comfortable with that, I don't see any problem with a couple extra feet. ACTION: Approved the request to reduce the red curb markings down to about 7 ft. over the power pole. MOTION: C. Vaughan SECOND: W. King AYES: Unanimous g City of Tape #CTC -32.01 of this City Traffic Commission meeting is available for your review. rang Please contact the Recording Secretary at (714) 744 -5536 in this regard, advance notice is appreciated. Public Works Department B April 2012 [N:/rraffic /CTC /2011 Minutes] a Printed On Recycled Paper Minutes of a Regular Meeting - City Traffic Commission — April 11, 2012 Pg. 8 4. Request to lengthen the existing red curb markings on the north side of the southerly driveway serving the business complex at 1650 N. Glassell St. Don & Susan Leedy 1650 N. Glassell St., Unit R Orange, CA 98267 Oral presentation is based on the written staff report; please refer to your copy. Chairman Beil opened the public hearing for the following discussion. A letter submitted on this item from Cash Computer Services at 1650 N. Glassell St., Suite B — they are opposed to the request. Irving Weiss, 1650 N. Glassell St. Suite B — (Opposed to request.) I have a shop at this complex, and most of the time those are empty spots. I've never had any difficulty observing oncoming traffic when trying to exit the property. The reasons the loss of this parking is undesirable is; 1) the center is not fully leased; 2) there is a New Jerusalem Church located in the complex that uses all the parking on Sunday's and several times a week; 3) St. Norbert's across the street uses our parking for their events. The loss of the parking space would be an inconvenience to several of my customers. Commissioner Lebeau — Is your suite at the north or south end of the building? Irving Weiss, 1650 N. Glassell St. Suite B — I'm at the far northern section. Susan Leedy, 1650 N. Glassell St. Suite R — (Supports the request.) I have a lot of customers that have difficulty turning out of the complex. We would like to have this additional 13 ft. because we can't see around these cars. Greg Tohnson, 1650 N. Glassell St. — (Supports the request.) I represent the property owner, just to clarify we are only talking about the southerly driveway. You will see very high profile vehicles parked along the curb. If you are in a lower vehicle you have difficulty seeing past a pick -up truck or other parked vehicle. 13 ft. would be the absolute minimum and 20 ft. would be better. Tom Schellenberg, 1670 N. Glassell St. — (Opposed to request.) We have the auto shop, Auto Tek. There are a lot of businesses in the area that use this area for parking. I've spoken with a lot of people here and they have told me this would really be a hardship to lose an additional parking spot. Almost every day this area is completely parked all day long. I have found that when exiting this driveway instead of inching out to see the traffic you can actually see almost to the intersection if you hang back instead of inching out. ` City of Tape ACTC -32.01 of this City Traffic Commission meeting is available for your review. rang Please contact the Recording Secretary at (714) 744 -5536 in this regard, advance notice is appreciated. Public Works Department April 2012 [N:/Traffic /CTC /2011 Minutes] S Printed On Recycled Paper Minutes of a Regular Meeting - City Traffic Commission — April 11, 2012 Pg. 9 Bob Hanna, 11250 Holder St., Cypress — (Opposed to request.) I am a customer of this complex and I feel this is a very dangerous condition. There is the world's largest power pole that does some serious blockage; and people coming southbound after crossing over the railroad tracks use the inside lane and they are coming pretty fast, I've almost been hit there several times. I think an additional parking spot is a small price to pay for additional safety. Chairman Beil closed the public hearing and returned the item to the Commission for further discussion and a motion. Chairman Beil — The recommendation on the Agenda says to install an additional 15 ft. of red curb; and on the diagram it shows an additional 13 ft. Dave Allenbach, Transportation Analyst - It would be an additional 13 feet. Chairman Beil —13 ft. in relation to a normal parking stall length, what is that? Dave Allenbach, Transportation Analyst — An install would be about 22 ft. This is obviously shorter than a parking space so you end up losing or moving one parking space back 13 ft. It gives you a total of 40 -45 ft. of red curb. At a street posted at 40 MPH such as Glassell St. that is exactly the amount of red curb we would install. ACTION: Approved the request to install 13 ft. of red curb MOTION: J. Beil SECOND: W. King AYES: Unanimous 5. Request for the removal of the existing green curb on Olive St. & Sycamore Ave. in front of the Korean Baptist Church, located at 145 E. Sycamore Ave. and to add the address to the existing Neighborhood Parking Permit Program Area A. Kris Olsen, Vice President Campus Planning & Operations Chapman University One University Dr. Orange, CA 92866 Oral presentation is based on the written staff report, please refer to your copy. Chairman Beil opened the public hearing for the following discussion. Bill Norman, 191 Tewell Pl . — My concern are the students and faculty that are getting permits and parking here on Olive St. City of Tape #CTC -32.01 of this City Traffic Commission meeting is available for your review. rang Please contact the Recording Secretary at (714) 744 -5536 in this regard, advance notice is appreciated. Public Works Department B April 2012 [N:/Traffic /CTC /2011 Minutes] a Printed On Recycled Paper Minutes of a Regular Meeting - City Traffic Commission — April 11, 2012 Pg. 10 Chairman Beil — This issue has come up before, I really don't know how we would get our hands around that. How many permits are you entitled to? Amir Farahani City Traffic Engineer — 7 permits per household. Chairman Beil — Chapman owns many houses, and there are many houses that are rented or leased to Chapman students, they probably have permits from the house they live in, and are choosing to drive a little bit closer to where their classroom is, and park on Olive St. I appreciate you coming in and expressing your concerns I'm just not sure how we can address that. ACTION: a) Approved the removal of 70 ft. of green curb with the 2 -Hour time limit parking sign on Olive St., and 51 ft. of green curb with 2 -Hour time limit parking sign adjacent to 145 W. Sycamore Ave. b) Approved the modification of the Neighborhood Permit Parking Area A to include both frontages of the building located at 145 W. Sycamore Ave. and forward to the City Council for final action amending the resolution of Permit Parking Area A. MOTION: J. Beil SECOND: C. Vaughan AYES: Unanimous 6. Request for the installation of red curb markings on the north side of Wilson Ave. east of Glassell St., and the west side of Shaffer St. south of Wilson Ave. Elizabeth Gonzalez 332 E. Wilson Ave. Orange, CA 92869 Oral presentation is based on the written staff report; please refer to your copy. Chairman Beil opened the public hearing for the following discussion. Chairman Beil — Acknowledged receipt of a handwritten letter from a resident opposing the requested red curb. David Vigil, 444 E. Wilson Ave. —I've never had any problem seeing oncoming traffic. City of Tape #CTC -32.01 of this City Traffic Commission meeting is available for your review. rang Please contact the Recording Secretary at (714) 744 -5536 in this regard, advance notice is appreciated. Public Works Department 0 April 2012 [N:/Traffic /CTC /2011 Minutes] Printed On Recycled Paper F Minutes of a Re¢ular Meeting - City Traffic Commission — April 11, 2012 Pg. 11 Andrew Hugchka owns house located at 444 E. Wilson Ave. — Due to a malfunction of the PA system the speaker's comments are mostly inaudible. Chairman Beil closed the public hearing and returned the item to the Commission for further discussion and a motion. ACTION: a) Approved the installation of 14 ft. of red curb on the north side of Wilson Ave. at Glassell St. b) Denied the request for red curb markings on the west side of Shaffer St. south of Wilson Ave. MOTION: M. Lebeau SECOND: C. Vaughan AYES: Unanimous 7. Request for the installation of time limit parking (green curb) on the Pepper St. frontage to Mike's Place located at 1138 W. Chapman Ave. Mike Shuster 1138 W. Chapman Ave. Orange, CA 92868 Oral presentation is based on the written staff report; please refer to your copy. There were no comments from the public on this request. ACTION: Approved the installation of 67 ft. of 1 -Hour time limit parking (green curb) on the east side of Pepper St. adjacent to 1138 W. Chapman Ave. MOTION: M. Lebeau SECOND: C. Vaughan AYES: Unanimous End of Consideration Items City of Tape #CTC -32.01 of this City Traffic Commission meeting is available for your review. rang Please contact the Recording Secretary at (714) 744 -5536 in this regard, advance notice is appreciated. Public Works Department B April 2012 [N:/rraffic /CTC /2011 Minutes] Printed On Recycled Paper 0 Q Minutes of a Regular Meeting - City Traffic Commission — April 11, 2012 Pg. 12 V. ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS Oral report from the City Attorney's office that the City is unable to adopt an ordinance prohibiting parking in front of residential driveways. This came from ex- Commissioner Lall before he resigned; he requested information as to whether or not we could institute an ordinance that would prohibit parking in front of driveways. At the time I stated that I believed it would preempted by State law and I have confirmed after research that it would preempted by State law, as the Vehicle Code covers traffic and parking in front of driveways. In fact we couldn't institute something unless the Vehicle Code allowed us to. The part that I could find that speaks to this issue also confirms that it would preempt us, is a section allowing the City to adopt an ordinance allowing a property owner to park their own vehicle in front of their driveway. Technically it is illegal for you to do so although most of the time it's at the discretion of the officers if they cite or not. We can institute an ordinance to do that but we can't do anything else about parking in front of driveways other than what is already in the Vehicle Code. 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 - May 9, 2012 Respectfully submitted, CITY OF ORANGE Phyllis Then, Recording Secretary Traffic Engineering Division pthen@cityoforange.org CITY OF ORANGE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT 300 E. CHAPMAN AVENUE ORANGE CA 92866 PH: (714) 744 -5536 FAX: (714) 744 -5573 `g City of Tape #CTC -32.01 of this City Traffic Commission meeting is available for your review. rang Please contact the Recording Secretary at (714) 744 -5536 in this regard, advance notice is appreciated. Public Works Department April 2012 [N:/Traffic /CTC /2011 Minutes] Printed On Recycled Paper