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HomeMy WebLinkAbouttec_041216TRAFFIC ENGINEERING COMMITTEE AGENDA REGULAR MEETING UKIAH CIVIC CENTER Conference Room No. 3 300 Seminary Avenue Ukiah, California 95482 TUESDAY, April 12, 2016 3:00 P.M. 1. CALL TO ORDER: 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: February 9, 2016 3. AUDIENCE COMMENTS ON NON -AGENDA ITEMS: The Traffic Engineering Committee welcomes input from the audience. In order for everyone to be heard, please limit your comments to three (3) minutes per person and not more than 10 minutes per subject. The Brown Act regulations do not allow action to be taken on non -agenda items. 4. OLD BUSINESS: 5. NEW BUSINESS: a. Discussion and Possible Action Regarding a Request for Exemption of City Code Section 7154 to Allow Tow Trucks and Commercial Recovery Vehicles to Park in Residential Neighborhoods. 6. COMMITTEE MEMBER REPORTS: 7. MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS: 8. ADJOURNMENT: Please be advised that the City needs to be notified 72 hours in advance of a meeting if any specific accommodations or interpreter services are needed in order for you to attend. The City complies with ADA requirements and will attempt to reasonably accommodate individuals with disabilities upon request. I hereby certify under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the foregoing agenda was posted on the bulletin board at the main entrance of the City of Ukiah City Hall, located at 300 Seminary Avenue, Ukiah, California, not less than 72 hours prior to the meeting set forth on this agenda. Dated this 8th day of April, 2016 Lory Limbird, Recording Secretary TRAFFIC ENGINEERING COMMITTEE MINUTES February 9, 2016 Minutes MEMBERS PRESENT Tim Eriksen, TEC Chairman, Director of Public Works, City Engineer Roger Vincent, Public Representative Ben Kageyama, representing the City Manager Sean Kaeser, representing the Chief of Police Darin Malugani, representing the Supervisor of Public Works Kevin Thompson, representing the Planning Director MEMBERS ABSENT John Lampi, Public Representative Marty Nelson, Mendocino Transit Authority OTHERS PRESENT Maureen Mulheren, Council Member Lory Limbird, Public Works Meredyth Reinhard, Public Health Pinky Kushner Susan Knopf, Parks, Recreation & Golf Commissioner Neil Davis CALL TO ORDER The Traffic Engineering Committee meeting was called to order by Chairperson Eriksen at 3:03 pm in Conference Room No. 3, Ukiah Civic Center, 300 Seminary Avenue, Ukiah, California. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES ❑ January 12, 2016 Motion/Second: Kaeser/Vincent to approve January 12, 2016 minutes as written. Motion carried by an all AYE voice vote of the members present. 3. AUDIENCE COMMENTS ON NON -AGENDA ITEMS none 4. OLD BUSINESS none 5. NEW BUSINESS a. Discussion and Possible Recommendation Regarding Ukiah Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan. Chairman Eriksen began this discussion by announcing that the Ukiah Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan ([the plan) has been presented to the Planning Commission and tonight it will be presented to the Paths, Open Space and Creeks Commission. Public Representative Roger Vincent stated he put his comments in an email which he presented to keep with the minutes. Susan Knopf, Parks, Recreation & Golf Commissioner added that this plan has not been presented to Parks, Recreation and Golf Commission. MINUTES of the Traffic Engineering Committee February 9, 2016 Page 1 Pinky Kushner remarked this plan has not been given to the Senior Center or churches for review. Seniors and schools deserve more exposure to the plan because they are the part of the population who are most affected by it. Chairman Eriksen would like to present the plan to City Council as soon as possible with a formal presentation so any concerns could be brought forward. The council can then give direction as to how they want the plan to proceed. Neil Davis suggested that an understandable summary of the plan should be presented to the public. Pinky Kushner stated a City Council presentation is not going to work for seniors and children. This group would most likely not be able to attend a City Council meeting. Susan Knopf stated better public announcement of a meeting to review the plan would be desirable. She suggested a change in the Prioritization Criteria as found on page 82 of the plan. This criteria needs to include churches, meeting houses, stadiums and community halls. The price of each project needs to be included on the final list of priorities to help compare the projects. Member Kevin Thompson entered the meeting at 3:23 pm. Pinky Kushner offered to tabulate the accidents which have occurred on the streets affected by the plan over the last 10 years in an Excel spreadsheet. She stated that the missing word in the plan is Measure. FF6 KH walks for pleasure and thinks there are many Ukiah residents who do the same. Walking for pleasure is a custom in Central and South America. Chairman Eriksen C\ff-G1i1 ImRRAWL D\fflt❑1F-11MES®❑EFR❑G1EHA/L-ER❑p RAL for pleasure. Pinky Kushner added that too much emphasis is put on automobiles in the plan. She assumes the City has to accommodate cars first, and then find a way to protect pedestrians and bicyclists from cars. At this time she presented a letter with her comments for the record. She would like to see future projects such as the new courthouse more focused on pedestrian and bicycle traffic. Pinky Kushner stated the plan was given to the public as a draft. It was stated at the last Planning Commission meeting that all comments could be put into an appendix. She requested the suggested changes be incorporated into the body of the plan, not just added in an appendix. Neil Davis would like a paragraph or two to be added to the plan about social and transportation equity. Susan Knopf asked to have the City Code amended to state the minimum width of city sidewalks should be 5 feet with no obstructions ❑ no trees, no fire hydrants, no poles. MINUTES of the Traffic Engineering Committee February 9, 2016 Page 2 Chairman Eriksen suggested she could submit letter to the City Council for this concern. He asked if it sounds reasonable to take this plan to the City Council to open up a discussion so the council can give us their directions. Susan Knopf would like to see the plan rewritten. Neil Davis asked if the City has a communications person who could inform the public with social media that this plan is ready for public opinion in a way the average person could understand. Council Member Mulheren asked if the committee thinks that the issues talked about here today are included in this plan? Member Kageyama responded that street trees are included in the plan but the social issue is not. There are issues that could be discussed further. Neil Davis stated that traffic speed is not addressed in this plan. The one thing that could make conditions safer for bicyclists and pedestrians is to reduce traffic speed. Member Vincent stated there is wording about reducing traffic speed in the areas around schools in the plan. Chairman Eriksen asked everyone who has comments and suggestions pertaining to the plan to put their ideas into a letter and present the letter to City Council. 6. COMMITTEE MEMBER REPORTS none 7. MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS none 8. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 3:55 p.m. Lory Limbird, Recording Secretary MINUTES of the Traffic Engineering Committee February 9, 2016 Page 3 CITY OF UKIAH MEMORANDUM DATE: April 7, 2016 TO: Traffic Engineering Committee FROM: Rick Seanor, Deputy Director of Public Works Xf�-- SUBJECT: Discussion and Possible Action Regarding a Request for Exemption of City Code Section 7154 to allow Tow Trucks and Commercial Recovery Vehicles to park in Residential Neighborhoods Agenda Item 5a. REQUEST: The City of Ukiah, Department of Public Works received a request from five local tow companies (Attachment "A"). The request seeks an exemption to City Code section 7154 (Attachment "B") to allow tow trucks and commercial recovery vehicles the opportunity to park in residential zoned districts. DISCUSSION: Tow trucks and other commercial vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating of 11,000 pounds or greater have been prohibited from parking in Ukiah's residential neighborhoods for several years. Some of the reasons these vehicles are prohibited are noise, visibility, and parking. Large vehicles with diesel motors such as tow trucks can be noisy when operated at any time required for emergency response. Large vehicles parked in residential neighborhoods can also restrict the sight distance for drivers when backing out of driveways. Lastly vehicles such as tow trucks and commercial recovery vehicles quite often take up more than one parking space thereby reducing the parking availability for residents and visitors. For these reasons staff recommends no changes to the City Code section 7154. POSSIBLE ACTION: The following options are provided for consideration: 1) deny the request to modify City Code section 7154; 2) concur with the request for an exemption of City Code Section 7154 to allow tow trucks and commercial recovery vehicles to park in residential neighborhoods and recommend revision of the City Code to the Ukiah City Council; 3) refer to staff for further information. cc: All in One Towing Ukiah Tow TNT /UAD R&B Towing Stevo's Towing file Attachment # 4j rV4R#" ceived 2 201 Date: February 29, 2016 To: The Traffic Engineering Committee of the City of Ukiah The Ukiah City Clerk The Ukiah City Council Ukiah City Manager Sage Sangiacomo From: The Tow Company Operators serving the Ukiah Community - All in One Towing - Ukiah Tow - TNT/UAD - R&B Towing Stevos Towing Subject: Formal Request for modification to City of Ukiah Ordinance section 7154 to exempt tow trucks and commercial recovery vehicles from the provisions of this ordinance. We are making this formal request to the City of Ukiah to modify Ordinance Section 7154 to allow Tow Trucks and Commercial Recovery Vehicles operated by properly licensed and permitted tow companies to park tow trucks and commercial recovery vehicles in gLny Zoning District in the City of Ukiah and be exempt from the penalties prescribend by this section. Recently a legitimate tow operator in the City of Ukiah has been contacted by the Ukiah Police Department several times in response to public complaints to the Police Department related to tow trucks over 11,000 pounds gross vehicle weight being parked on the street in the Oak Manor subdivision. The Operator was advised by the Police Department that if the trucks continued to park in R-1, R-2 and R-3 Zoning Districts they could be cited for violating section 7154 of the Ukiah City Code. While we understand the necessity of this ordinance to minimize large and noisy vehicles generally parking in residential area taking up coveted parking and potentially disturbing the neighborhood, we feel that tow operators should be exempt from the ordinance and allowed to park in these area as our drivers live there, are on-call and are required to respond to emergency calls as requested by the general public and the Public Safety agencies at all hours of the day and night. It would be impractical to have our trained tow and recovery truck drivers leave their truck at another location and would delay their required timely response to Public Safety. It would also jeopardize our agreements with the area's Public Safety Agencies some of which mandate a response time from our drivers at all hours of the day and night, 365 days a year. Tow companies are often called by Public Safety agencies and asked to expedite response for the safety of the general public. This occurs in cases where the roadway is blocked or a hazard to other vehicles is created. If a tow operator has to drive a personal vehicle to another location where the tow truck is parked, it delays response time. These situations increase the risk to the general public. While minimizing traffic on residential streets is important, it is also important to have timely response to emergency calls. For the reasons mentioned above, we request that this matter be considered in a timely manner and that the ordinance be modified. We respectfully request that this matter be placed on the public agenda for both the City of Ukiah Traffic Engineering Committee and the Ukiah City Council and that proper notifications be made to us so that we may be able to be heard on this matter as it is being considered. Signed: 500 Pinoleville Rd. Ukiah, CA 95482 Wayne Hunt ner 463-1891 410 Stev 's Towing, 1125 S. State St. Ukiah, CA 95482 Tim Wiles, Owner 462-1239 ,' t I I Ukiah Tow, 7,5 S. State kiah, CA 95482` Kathryn Hoffar, Gene eager 4 2-3845 Affln One Auto, 96 N. State SrUkiah, CA 95482 Keith Hewett, OvAer 468-0991 I&B Towing, f340 S. State St. Ukiah, CA 95482 Ruben Herrera, Owner 972-3830 Attachment # g §7154 NO PARKING OF VEHICLES WITH GROSS WEIGHT OF ELEVEN THOUSAND POUNDS IN RESIDENTIAL DISTRICTS A. It shall be unlawful and constitute a violation of this Code to park or allow to stand a commercial vehicle having a manufacturer's gross vehicle weight rating of eleven thousand (11,000) pounds or more on any street in any R-1, R-2 or R-3 Zoning District in the City. This prohibition shall not apply to any commercial vehicle: 1. Making pickups or deliveries of goods, wares, and merchandise from or to any building or structure located on the restricted streets; 2. Delivering materials to be used in the actual and bona fide repair, alteration, remodeling, or construction of any building or structure located on or within the restricted street for which a building permit has been previously obtained, if a building permit is legally required for such repair, alteration, remodeling or construction; or 3. Delivering equipment to be used in grading or construction activity within the street or on property abutting such restricted street for which a building permit has been previously obtained, if a building permit is legally required for such grading or construction activity. B. It shall be unlawful and constitute a violation of this code to park or allow to stand a commercial vehicle having a manufacturer's gross vehicle weight rating of eleven thousand (11,000) pounds or more on any lot, plot or parcel of land in any R-1, R-2, or R-3 zoning district within the city, where parking is prohibited on a public street under subsection A of this section unless the parcel is one acre or more in size or the commercial vehicle is not visible from any public street, and it is not operated between the hours of ten o'clock (10:00) P.M. and seven o'clock (7:00) A.M. (Ord. 638, §1, adopted 1973; Ord. 749, §1, adopted 1980; Ord. 939, §1, adopted 1993) §7154.5 NO PARKING OF VEHICLES SIX FEET OR MORE IN HEIGHT IN LOCATIONS DESIGNATED BY CITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION It shall be unlawful and constitute a violation of this article to park or allow to stand any vehicle that is six feet (6) or more in height (including any load thereon) on certain streets or portions thereof, during all or certain hours of the day as designated by resolution of the city council. The city traffic engineer shall erect signs providing notice of any such prohibition in accordance with the provisions of section 7160 of this chapter. (Ord. 1044, §1, adopted 2003)