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HomeMy WebLinkAbouttec_051016TRAFFIC ENGINEERING COMMITTEE AGENDA REGULAR MEETING UKIAH CIVIC CENTER Conference Room No. 3 300 Seminary Avenue Ukiah, California 95482 TUESDAY, May 10, 2016 3:00 P.M. 1. CALL TO ORDER: 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: April 12, 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 Pedestrian Crosswalk Flags on Perkins Street and Hospital Drive. b. Discussion and Possible Action Regarding Proposed MTA Bus Stop at 671 South Orchard Avenue. 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 6th day of May, 2016 Lory Limbird, Recording Secretary TRAFFIC ENGINEERING COMMITTEE MINUTES April 12, 2016 Minutes MEMBERS PRESENT Tim Eriksen, Director of Public Works, City Engineer, TEC Chairman John Lampi, 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 Marty Nelson, representing MTA MEMBERS ABSENT OTHERS PRESENT Maureen Mulheren, Council Member Lory Limbird, Public Works Neil Davis, Walk & Bike Mendocino Brian Kornegay Keith Hewett, All In One Auto Kathryn Hoffar, All In One Auto Wayne Hunt, T&T Towing 7 LP I n LO" WYFW7 R i L J Ruben Herrera, R&B Towing CALL TO ORDER The Traffic Engineering Committee meeting was called to order by Chairperson Eriksen at 3:05 pm in Conference Room No. 3, Ukiah Civic Center, 300 Seminary Avenue, Ukiah, California. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Feb 9, 2016 Motion/Second: Thompson/Lampi to approve Feb 9, 2016 minutes as written. Motion carried by an all AYE voice vote of the members present. 3. AUDIENCE COMMENTS ON NON -AGENDA ITEMS Marty Nelson, MTA has a proposal for new bus stop at the Post Office. 4. OLD BUSINESS none 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. Chairman Tim Eriksen stated that a letter was received from Brian Kornegay which states his reasons why Ukiah City Code 7154 should not be changed to allow tow trucks to park in residential areas with Ukiah City limits. MINUTES of the Traffic Engineering Committee April 12, 2016 Page 1 Keith Hewett, All in One Auto Repair stated he had reprimanded one of his drivers for parking in front of a fire hydrant. This was the only time there was a problem that he is aware of. It is important for tow truck drivers to park in front of their residences to allow for quicker response time to an accident site. Getting there quickly is important for the safety of all public safety officers and the public in order to clean up the accident site as soon as possible. When tow trucks are parked at the business, 15 to 35 minutes is added to the response time. Brian Kornegay stated he has the upmost respect for tow truck operators. Tow trucks parking on the street create unsafe hazards such as blind spots for children, pedestrians, bicyclists, drivers attempting to come out of driveways and other drivers traversing the streets. Parking a tow truck on a residential street goes against Ukiah City Code 7154 and this is not the answer for tow trucks. The City of Norco is the only city in California that he was able to find that has a city ordinance permitting tow trucks to park on their own private property but not on the street. The Norco City Code pertaining to this issue is included with his letter. Ruben Herrera, R&B Towing stated he has noticed personal trailers and RVs parked in residential areas on the street. These vehicles are often times larger than a tow truck. Kathryn Hoffar, All In One Auto stated that the City of Ukiah exempts themselves from this city code for public safety. The public is better served by having tow trucks parked in residential areas to decrease response time. Neil Davis observed that tow trucks come in a wide variety of sizes He asked if the tow truck companies are looking for an exception for any size of tow truck or up to a certain size. Keith Hewett, All in One Auto Repair answered that the basic size for a tow truck is up to 2600 pounds Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW). Gross Vehicle Weight means the total weight of the vehicle when loaded; not just the weight of the vehicle alone. The bigger specialty tow trucks are not taken home by operators. Sean Kaeser, Ukiah PD stated the Police Department expects all tow truck drivers to respond in timely manner 365 days a year. If a company fails to respond quickly, that company will be passed up and another company will be called. Kevin Thompson, Planning Department asked what percentage of business comes from emergency response calls. Wayne Hunt, T&T Towing answered that his company answers about 800 calls per month and about 70% of those are emergency response calls. Keith Hewett, All in One Auto Repair stated a tow truck only goes home with an employee when that operator is on duty. Ben Kageyama, Public Works Department asked Brian Kornegay while he was doing his research, did he find other cities that allowed tow trucks? MINUTES of the Traffic Engineering Committee April 12, 2016 Page 2 Brian Kornegay answered that the only city that allows parking of tow trucks in residential areas that he found is Norco. Norco requires a permit, permission of adjoining property owners and requires the tow truck to be 25 feet away from any residential structure on adjoining property. The Norco City Code can be used as an example for the revision of the Ukiah City Code. Parking of tow trucks needs to be regulated in case there is a complaint. Parking of any commercial vehicle above 11,000 pounds GVW should not be allowed in residential areas. Sean Kaeser, Ukiah PD stated the Norco City Code creates more government. Who is going to issue permits and then enforce those permits? 714V]3+V:IVF HHM NDKVLi values. Ben Kageyama, Public Works Department understands the need for a quick response time, but is not in favor of tow trucks parking in residential areas. The City of Norco exemption is worth looking into. This code states parking of commercial vehicles is permitted on private property but not on the street. He likes the idea of having a permit process before allowing tow trucks to park in residential areas. Motion/Second: Kaesar/Malugani to 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 include no more than one truck will be allowed to park near the same property and the tow truck allowed to park in the residential area will weigh no more than 2600 pounds Gross Vehicle Weight. Motion carried by an all AYE voice vote of the members present except for Ben Kageyama who opposed. Chairman Tim Eriksen asked if the TEC Committee wants the proposed changes to the City Code to be brought back to the TEC Committee for approval or should it be taken straight to City Council? Council Member Maureen Mulheren suggested that the changes discussed here should come back to the TEC Committee for final discussion. Chairman Tim Eriksen restated that the proposed changes to Ukiah City Code section 7154 will be discussed at the next TEC Committee meeting. The edited version of the changes will then be presented to City Council. 6. COMMITTEE MEMBER REPORTS none 7. MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS Chairman Tim Eriksen announced that Public Member Roger Vincent has resigned. Thanks to Roger for his years of dedicated service. The TEC Committee is now looking for a new TEC Public Member who must be a City resident of driving age. MINUTES of the Traffic Engineering Committee April 12, 2016 Page 3 Council Member Maureen Mulheren thanked the Streets Department crew who replaced the sidewalk on North State Street for their good work. They did a good job of providing safe access for pedestrians in the construction area. 8. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 4:00 p.m. Lory Limbird, Recording Secretary MINUTES of the Traffic Engineering Committee April 12, 2016 Page 4 CITY OF UKIAH MEMORANDUM DATE: May 5, 2016 TO: Traffic Engineering Committee FROM: Ben Kageyama, Senior Civil Engineer Y3—,, SUBJECT: Discussion and Possible Action Regarding Pedestrian Crosswalk Flags on Perkins Street and Hospital Drive Agenda Item 5a BACKGROUND: Staff received a letter from Ms. Susan Passalacqua, Planetree Coordinator for Ukiah Valley Medical Center (Attachment "A") regarding two pedestrian crosswalks on Perkins Street and one on Hospital Drive. Please see Attachment "B", a photomap showing the crosswalk locations. DISCUSSION: Due to concerns with crosswalk safety, Ukiah Valley Medical Cener is proposing to provide and maintain pedestrian safety flags at the following three crosswalks: Perkins Street at Warren Drive, Perkins Street at Leslie Street, and Hospital Drive in front of 236 Hospital Drive. All three crosswalks currently have diagonally hatched markings, and two of the crosswalks, Perkins Street at Warren Drive and the Hospital Drive crosswalk, also include an in -street pedestrian crossing sign. Ms Passalacqua's letter further suggests creating an "Adopt -a -Crosswalk" program to allow other businesses to sponsor and support crosswalk flags at other locations. Attachment "C" has been included to provide information from Salt Lake City's crosswalk flag program. Additionally, concerns are raised over near miss accidents at the intersection of Perkins Street and Hospital Drive when left turning vehicles fail to yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk, and Ms. Passalacqua asks if the pedestrian walk and left turn signals can be modified to avoid this conflict. RECOMMENDATION: Discuss and provide direction to staff regarding: the crosswalks at Perkins Street and Warren Drive, Perkins Street at Leslie Street, and Hospital Drive in front of 236 Hospital Drive; possibility of an "Ado pt-a-Crosswal k" program; and signal timing modifications at the intersection of Perkins Street at Hospital Drive. enc. cc: Susan Passalacqua file ArTANMD4T "p.` City of Ukiah 300 Seminary Ave. Ukiah, CA 95482 Attention: Rick Seanor: Traffic Engineering Committee Ukiah Valley Medical Center .Aqent ist Health RECEIVED APR - 7 2016 CITY OF UKIAH April 7, 2016 DEPT. OF PUBLIC WORKS Hello, Ukiah Valley Medical Center is interested in collaborating with the City of Ukiah in improving pedestrian safety on our local streets. UVMC has many off campus work sites and due to the nature of healthcare many of our staff frequently travel between sites. Staff are encouraged to walk as part of our wellness workplace initiative and many cross Hospital Drive and Perkins Street on a daily basis. Unfortunately, there have been several instances of near miss accidents at the crosswalks on Perkins Street at Leslie and Warren Streets and at the crosswalk on Hospital Drive and 236 Hospital Drive. As a result, staff are worried that an accident will in fact happen and have requested a review of possible safety measures. Ukiah Valley Medical Center would like to explore the possibility of using pedestrian safety flags at the afore -mention crosswalks. Many cities have utilized this concept as a low cost alternative to more high tech crosswalks. UVMC would like to partner with the City of Ukiah and hopefully defray the cost by placing our logo on the flags and storing them in our offices at night. There maybe opportunities for other businesses or organizations to "Adopt -a-Crosswalk" by allowing them to sponsor their own crosswalk and monitor the flags as well. Additionally, there are concerns by staff that the traffic light sequence at Perkins and Hospital Drive should be modified. Again, there are instances where staff are attempting to cross the street from Hospital Drive to Perkins street (and back) using the crosswalk lighting system. However, they have had near miss accidents when cars don't yield to pedestrians on the green turn arrow. Perhaps the traffic light sequence could be modified in order that the left green arrow doesn't coincide with the crosswalk "go" light. Thank you so much for your time and attention. Ukiah Valley Medical Center looks forward to working with the City of Ukiah and keeping our community safe. Please feel free in contacting me with any concerns or questions. Sincerely, Susan Passalacqua Ukiah Valley Medical Center Planetree Coordinator (707) 463-7616 Susan.passalacqua@ah.org •sswalk F p - TV �23�Hospital •r .:APF ;. Perkins 'Leslie Crosswalk I Y1 l t Crosswalk 0 1 y. o® n CrI. ` G 40, (20,1.6 Google . J 7 ... EQUIPMENT & INSTALLATION Installation of the flags is quick and simple using readily available materials. The flag holders are black ABS plastic pipes 10" long by 4" in diameter with caps placed on one end. Flag holders are usually banded or bolted to new or existing U -Channel or Telspar poles. Flags are obtained locally at traffic or construction related supply stores. The cost to the city to install two 3 6' flag holders, each with an instructional sign and six flags is approximately $100. As of November 15, 2005, the success of this program has led to installations of crossing flags at 40 city maintained locations, 46 school maintained locations and 88 resident! business maintained locations. If you would like to sponsor a crosswalk in your neighborhood or would simply like additional information about crosswalk flags, contact the Salt Lake City Transportation Division at the number provided below. SALT LAKE CITY CORPORATION CROSSWALK FLAGS leQOW FD L WS n..rr 111M Sale Lake City Tranapwfation Division 349 South 200 East, Suite 450 yak take City. UT 84111 Phone (801) 5358830 www.sicttans.com 11105 CROSSWALK FLAGS Pedestrian safety is important to everyone. As such, safety initiatives are readily supported by the public and elected officials and need not be difficult or expensive to implement: Crosswalk flags are simple and cheap to implement and are proving to be effective and popular at improving pedestrian safety. In mid -2000, Salt Lake City created a Pedestrian Safety Committee to identify and implement pedestrian safety measures. The committee is comptised of city staff from the Transportation, Police, Attorney, ADA, Street Maintenance and Mayor's offices. One of the first and perhaps most dramatic pedestrian safety initiatives implemented by this committee is also one of the < > most basic the installation of orange flags at crosswalks to improve pedestrian visibility. Pedestrians simply pick up a bright orange flag and carry it with them while crossing and leave it on the other side. Admittedly a low-tech initiative, it is highly effective and one that has achieved significant and continuing media coverage and public comment. In January 2001, observations and interviews of pedestrians at the initial six flag locations, installed in August of 2000, revealed that 140 a of pedestrians were using the flags. Since then, the popularity of the flags has dramatically increased and pedestrians can be seen routinely using the flags throughout the city. EFFECTIVENESS Although to date, no formal engineering studies have been undertaken, city staff has noted a �.. dramatic increase in the willingness of F drivers to yield to pedestrians carrying orange flags. Informal observations and discussions with pedestrians also instill confidence that the numbers of near muss accidents between pedestrians and vehicles have been reduced. In addition, just having the flags sitting in their holders raises motorist awareness of pedestrians by making die crosswalk locations more visible. Over time we are confident statistical data will prove the effectiveness of this simple initiative. ADOPT A -CROSSWALK PROGRAM Crosswalk flags were initially installed at all marked midblock crosswalk in the downtown area. As the number of city maintained flag locations downtown increased, so did public interest in having them installed outside of the downtown. Due to the difficulties in maintaining numerous outlying flag crossings, the Adopt -a -Crosswalk program was created in January 2001. The Adopt -a -Crosswalk program allows individuals or businesses residing within approximately 700 feet of a marked crosswalk to install crosswalk flags by "adopting" or "sponsoring" the crosswalk. To adopt a crosswalk, the sponsor agrees to occasionally monitor the flags to insure they are available at both ends of the crosswalk and to provide replacement flags as needed. In return, the City installs the flag holders, and an initial supply of flags at no cost to the sponsor. The Adopt -a -Crosswalk program has also been expanded to include elementary schools where the city agrees to provide all replacement flags at no cost as long as the school agrees to pick them up from the city when needed. For all other sponsors, the city provides replacement flags to sponsors at $.50 each — subsidizing part of the cost. CITY OF UKIAH MEMORANDUM DATE: May 4, 2016 TO: Traffic Engineering Committee FROM: Rick Seanor, Deputy Director of Public Works SUBJECT: Discussion and Possible Action Regarding Proposed MTA Bus Stop at 671 South Orchard Avenue Agenda Item 5b. REQUEST: Staff received a request from MTA to establish a bus stop adjacent to the US Post Office at 671 South Orchard Avenue. Please refer to Attachment "A" which is a copy of MTA's request regarding the bus stop. Please note Attachment "B" for a photomap of the proposed bus stop location. DISCUSSION: A bus stop / no parking zone at the proposed location would occupy approximately 5 on -street parking spaces. However, staff has not observed this location to be a high demand area for on -street parking. RECOMMENDATION: Staff has provided the following options for consideration: 1) TEC recommends the bus stop / no parking zone at 671 South Orchard Avenue for approval by the City Council; 2) Refer to staff for further analysis. enc. cc: Marty Nelson, MTA Postmaster, Ukiah Post Office file Rick Seanor Attachment # From: Marty Nelson <marty@mendocinotransit.org> Sent: Friday, April 15, 2016 12:28 PM To: Rick Seanor Subject: RE: new MTA bus stop at Post Office Attachments: Bus Stop proposal Post Office Orchard ave.pdf Here it is Rick, what we would like to have happen if possible is to have the first 96 feet or so using the existing red curb at the entrance drive way to the post office to the second walk way of the post office, it can't be seen in the pictures because of the shrubbery, this would help if we needed to use the wheelchair lift or ramps with no danger of stopping further away from the curb to extend the lift. The sidewalks are no wider than about 5 feet and we need 8 feet for the vehicle lifts, so basically extending the existing red curb from the entrance drive way to just beyond the second walk way to assure we have room to pull away after stopping if someone were to park in front of the bus stop. Marty Nelson MTA Operations/Training } I Google Maps G gl Maps 1 ti� y Attachment # Page 1 of 1 a T' ' s 1 .S, yip .i Map data 02016 Google 20 ft Google Maps PROP"E17 Mrq Sq5; 377-OPI No - PtI kKIN6 F- https:: www.google.com/maps/@39.1456942,-123.1985577,85m/data—!3ml! le3 4/15/2016