08-10-2011 - Minutes TCCITY OF ORANGE
CITY TRAFFIC COMMISSION
Minutes of a Regular Meeting: August 10, 2011
I. OPENING
A. Flag Pledge
B. Roll Call
Present - Commissioners: J. Beil, N. Lall, M. Lebeau, C. Vaughan
Absent - Commissioners: W. King
Present - Staff: A. Farahani, W. Winthers, D. Allenbach, Sgt. J. Bird, P. Then
C. Introduction of New Traffic Commissioner, Christian Vaughan.
D. Approval of Minutes
• May 10, 2011
ACTION: Approved as published.
MOTION:
M. Lebeau
SECOND:
N. Lall
AYES:
J. Beil, M. Lall, M.Lebeau
ABSTAIN:
C. Vaughan
NOES:
None
II. ORAL PRESENTATIONS
None this month.
III. CONSENT CALENDAR
None this month.
City of
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IV. CONSIDERATION ITEMS
1. Request for the installation of 2 -Hour time limit parking on the north side of
LaVeta Ave. easterly of Tustin St., in proximity to the Santiago Creek Bike Trail
access point.
Richard Hess
308 S. Craig Dr.
Orange CA 92869
Chairman Beil - I was informed by staff that there was an issue relating to the
notification of the item being heard today, specifically the notification for the
apartment complex at 1801 E. LaVeta Ave. There was an issue with the
numbering and all of the notices were returned by the Post Office. One option
given the lack of notification to the apartment complex tenants we could
continue this to our next meeting to assure that there is proper notification given.
Staff's memo to me does say the information was faxed over to the apartment
manager so the management has a copy of the notification, but I don't believe
many of the tenants have received them at this time. So one option is to continue
the item, or we could hear it if we wanted to and make a decision.
Vice Chairman Lall - Since those notices did not go to everybody who could be
concerned with this I believe that we should postpone this until next month's
meeting and allow for a full and complete notification effort.
Chairman Beil - It looks like about 62 notices that were returned by the Post
Office. It was a different numbering system of the units from the information
staff has. So I will take that as a motion to continue Consideration Item #1. If
anyone is here to speak on this I apologize that we won't be addressing this
request today, but we take it very seriously on the notification of residents in the
proximity of the area where any actions are being taken, it's very important that
people get involved in their community and be able to provide us with input, so
I apologize if anybody came here to speak to this item.
ACTION: Continue request to our next meeting.
MOTION: N. Lall
SECOND: J. Beil
AYES: Unanimous
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2. Request for the installation of "All -Way" STOP controls at the intersection of
Spinnaker St. at Tiller Ave.; and Spinnaker St. at Sirius Ave.
Christopher Le
4300 W. Tiller Ave.
Orange CA 92868
Oral presentation is based on the written staff report; please refer to your copy.
Vice Chairman Lall — As far as the shrubbery in the way, what type of authority
does the city have as far as forcing the homeowner to take corrective action?
Dave Allenbach, Transportation Analyst — We have an arborist who can go out
and evaluate it and he can give them a "Notice To Abate A Nuisance" since it is in
the sight distance triangle.
Commissioner Vaughan — I drove out there and I was also concerned with the
sight picture on that corner, and I wondered if our traffic officer had an opinion.
Sgt. Jeff Bird, OPD Traffic Bureau — We don't have that many traffic related
issues in that neighborhood. Staff is correct there is one accident that has been
reported in the intersection of Spinnaker St. and Sirius Ave. since 2008 and that
particular one the driver stopped for the STOP sign was of the opinion when she
failed to yield from the STOP sign that the southbound traffic was going to stop
also. It wasn't a sight distance problem, she saw the vehicle coming south, and
she just thought that they were going to stop.
Commissioner Vaughan — Do you have a personal opinion based on your day -to-
day practical experience?
Sgt. Jeff Bird — There is not a lot of volume in that neighborhood we could put it
on our special enforcement list and go out and watch it and see if there is
anything we can do to help. But quite honestly without the volume of traffic
there is not a lot. Because the volume is so low it's just the area residents
themselves that are violating it, for the most part. In the case of this accident, the
people were from outside that area, they lived close to the area so they probably
used it as their route to get to and from, but neither them lived in that immediate
area.
Chairman Beil opened the public hearing for the following discussion:
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Darlene Ramirez, 4527 W. Tiller Ave — There has been a significant increase of
traffic and cars parked along the street. The traffic along Spinnaker needs to
slow. Because there's no STOP sign on Spinnaker people assume that they have
the right -of -way. Rarely does a car travelling north or southbound on Spinnaker
St. slow down at this intersection; they don't practice the yielding or slowing
down at an intersection. The visibility on Tiller is not good, as you travel
eastbound at the intersection Spinnaker curves in so trying to see cars coming
south on Spinnaker is troublesome, and it's worse when there is a second car
parked here, not only the trees hanging over the edge.
Stan Partin, 4418 W. Tiller Ave — I agree with everything Ms. Ramirez said. The
problem is that going east on Tiller you have to inch out, and the people on
Spinnaker think they have the right -of -way so they never pause or slow down so
I've seen some close calls, there have not been any accidents but it's a difficult
intersection and I agree the traffic probably isn't what you're used to but
something could happen there. The speed on Tiller Ave. has increased over the
last few years as it's not the same family - oriented neighborhood as we used to
have, there are a few more teen -age drivers that get going a little faster than they
need to.
Vice Chairman Lall — The purpose of STOP signs is not to control speed, it's to
assign right -of -way so looking to a STOP sign as a speed control is a
misapplication of a STOP sign. STOP signs cause a tremendous amount of noise
with braking and acceleration so there are some other issues to STOP signs as
well. I just want that to be understood by the public. The Police are the best way
to control speed; it's amazing what a motorcycle officer on a corner does for
brake checks.
Commissioner Vaughan — Has anyone spoke with the property owner on the
corner about voluntary compliance with his trees?
Dave Allenbach, Transportation Analyst — At this point we have not made
contact with the homeowner.
Amir Farahani, City Traffic Engineer — We intend to have our Code Enforcement
staff contact him because there is a height requirement for any bushes or
plantings for sight distance and they should obey that as well.
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Chairman Beil — We haven't had any requests at this intersection for a vision
zone or red curb anything for a vision perspective?
Dave Allenbach — We have received no request for any vision zone or red curb or
anything of that nature in the past at this location.
Chairman Beil — Can you go back to the other picture that shows the juniper? To
me that is out in the street and it is definitely something the Code Enforcement
should look at. As you say there may be other sight distance issues that are
impeding vision of the street. Regardless of our action I think that still needs to
happen as a separate item.
Commissioner Vaughan — Has any combination of other means such as
combination of sight alignment fixtures we've been talking about with the
trimming of the trees as well as some kind of a CAUTION or YIELD sign? Just for
the awareness because of the traffic volume so they could proceed with caution.
Amir Farahani, City Traffic Engineer — We might be able to put up INTERSECTION
AHEAD warning signs to show the intersection is coming up. Also with the
accident we had if it's significant to the Commission we can always install CROSS
TRAFFIC DOES NOT STOP for the intersection having a 2 -Way STOP.
Chairman Beil — We've done that many times in the past.
Vice Chairman Lall — Seems like that would be an appropriate thing, it seems like
that was the cause of the accident that someone assumed it was a 4-Way STOP.
Chairman Beil closed the public hearing and returned the item to the Commission for
final discussion and a motion.
ACTION: Denied the request. Commission directed staff to report back on
the effectiveness of the improved sight distance in October.
MOTION: N. Lall
SECOND:
C. Vaughan
AYES:
J. Beil, J. Lall, C. Vaughan
NOES:
M. Lebeau
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3. Request to remove the overnight parking restrictions from both sides of the 500
block of N. Wayfield St.
Daniel Markham
520 N. Wayfield 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:
Dave Frizzle, 525 N. Wayfield St . — These signs that are up pertain to 8 houses
505, 515, 520, 525, 530, 535, 545 & 555 N. Wayfield, not the whole street. 87.5% of
the people who reside there want those signs to remain in place. There have
been no changes in what was going on there on Oak St., in fact, one Sunday
morning I drove over there and I counted 268 cars parked on Oak St. Regularly I
had two commercial refrigeration trucks parked in front of my house from
Friday night until Monday morning. Weekend parking was impossible, there
was a lot of oil and transmission fluid that had leaked on the street and it
regularly looked like a pig pen. I don't know if Mr. Markham has the right
address on this, 520.N. Wayfield St., this house belongs to a man named Michael
and he has 3 college students living in it for the last 3 years. I understand he has
a problem with parking because he has an extra -large truck that he tows a very
large motor home with. I'm sorry he has a problem but I don't think we should
sacrifice what we have gained after going through this 8 years ago and it has
worked out very well for the people living on this street. I talked to these people
and I have a letter from Herman Schmitz (we did not receive a copy of this letter).
Lew Elliott, 1825 E. Walnut Ave — I feel the overnight restrictions are
burdensome and I feel that the solution to all the neighbors would be permit
parking for anyone whose property faces Wayfield St. As you know the parking
on Walnut Ave. is restricted during the school year, you can't park there in the
morning or the afternoon, and trying to fight with the people from Oak St. to get
a parking space on Walnut Ave. at night requires that you move your vehicle
twice a day. I feel the City of Orange is getting a reputation of being overly
restrictive and pretty soon we're going to be known similarly as the People's
Republic of Santa Monica. We need to allow neighbors to have the quiet
enjoyment of their property and if I can't park my truck anywhere in the front or
to the side of my house I think that's overly burdensome and it's not why I
bought my home in Orange.
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Bill Telkamp, 535 N. Wayfield St . — We've had these signs up for several years
and since that time we've had a nice clean neighborhood where we have very
little graffiti. With the cars parked there they used to hide behind the cars on
trash days and go through the barrels, we don't see that anymore because they
don t have anything to hide behind, same thing with the graffiti. We have had
problems with parking from Oak St., it's now moved onto Walnut Ave. Walnut
is where the parking is heavy and sometimes it's so heavy when you come out of
Wayfield to turn onto Walnut you cannot see oncoming traffic because the trucks
parked on the corner. There should be red curb painted to keep people away
from the intersection.
Dan Markham, 520 N. Wayfield St . — I am a Chapman University student and
the reason I filed the request is mostly because my roommates and I, we have
4 people living in the house and we don't have enough room to park in our
driveway, we use our garage for storage. So it just makes the parking situation
difficult. There is parking in the neighborhood around so we are forced to park a
block or two away from our house, which isn't terribly inconvenient. There's
really no legitimate safety or traffic concern that would merit having the parking
restrictions in that area other than the people in the neighborhood don't like the
people parking in the neighborhood. I don't that is really a legitimate reason to
limit street parking on Wayfield. Since it hasn't really solved the problem of
having enough parking in the area it simply moved it to Walnut or other areas in
the neighborhood. I know some people like having the streets clear but it's more
of an inconvenience in my opinion than beneficial for the people living in the
neighborhood. A lot of people get tickets on Wayfield who aren't familiar with
Wayfield and don't see the signs, we have people come over often who have
never been there before and we remind them to move their cars if they will be
there later in the evening.
Gail Telkamp, 535 N. Wayfield St . — When we bought our home we signed a
contract that it was a single - family dwelling in an R -1 zone and it was illegal to
rent out rooms. If they are renting out rooms they should make room for them
to park and they have a place for 3 cars to park in the driveway and they have a
2 -car garage. If it's filled with stuff this is not our problem. We used to have a
lot of graffiti on stucco walls.
Chairman Beil closed the public hearing and returned the item to the Commission for
final discussion and a motion.
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Chairman Beil - I remember the history of numerous actions on Wayfield. This
actually started with a permit parking program throughout the whole
neighborhood and some of the residents further back on Madison or Orange
Grove felt they didn't need the parking permit program that far back into the
neighborhood, however, the residents on Wayfield made a very good case for an
alternative of the NO OVERNIGHT PARKING so the Commission agreed to that and it
was implemented with recognition that there is a severe problem on Oak St. and
the overcrowding in apartments probably higher than codes allow but the City
gets handcuffed on many of these things. I believe what is out there is working
appropriately at this time for the residents and I can empathize with the resident
on the corner of Wayfield and Walnut, that must be quite a traffic and parking
burdened area especially in the evening. Mr. Markham you've moved in just
recently you may not be aware of the whole history of what's been going on in
the neighborhood; it's more than just a traffic and safety issue. We address other
than traffic and safety, we address parking availability and overcrowding in the
public right -of -way also and parking restrictions. It is within our purview to act
on that.
Commissioner Lebeau - I find it interesting that he stated he is using his garage
for storage, which is a parking area. If you have 4 people in the house and room
for 5 vehicles and you elect to use 2 of those spaces for storage as opposed to
parking I don't think that paints a sympathetic picture.
Chairman Beil - When we've had items like this when neighborhoods have
impacted parking due to these very overcrowded high - density neighborhoods
adjacent to single- family neighborhoods, we have had a number of these and
we've been implementing a lot of permit parking zones in these areas. Those
have not always been effective either it takes a lot of enforcement, so when we
did this NO OVERNIGHT PARKING it was a method where it was very clearly
enforceable during a certain time of day made it very easy for officers to sweep
through and check for vehicles. I think it's been very effective to date.
ACTION: Denied the request.
MOTION: N. Lall
SECOND: M. Lebeau
AYES: Unanimous
End of Consideration Items
l City of Tape #CTC -31.01 of this City Traffic Commission meeting is available for your review.
V rang Please contact the Recording Secretary at (714) 744 -5536 in this regard, advance notice is appreciated.
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V. ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS
None this month.
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 - September 14, 2011
Respectfully submitted,
CITY OF ORANGE
Phyllis Then, Recording Secretary
Traffic Engineering Division
pthen @cityoforang_e.org
CITY OF ORANGE
PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT
300 E. CHAPMAN AVENUE
ORANGE CA 92866
PH: (714) 744 -5536
FAY: (714) 7445573
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rang Please contact the Recording Secretary at (714) 7445536 in this regard, advance notice is appreciated.
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