HomeMy WebLinkAboutTSMinutes_2011_02_24BROOKINGS TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMITTEE
City Hall Basement Community Room
Thursday, February 24, 2011
12:10 p.m.
The Brookings Traffic Safety Committee held its monthly meeting on Thursday,
February 24, 2011, at 12:10pm in the City Hall Basement Community Room.
Members Present: Carol Rettkowski, Daryl Englund, Keith Bruinsma, Louis Skubic,
Jackie Lanning, Jeff Miller, Brian Lueders, Pete Kirchheuel, and Tony Sonnenburg.
Members Absent: Tim Heaton, and Mike Fossum, Skip Webster,
Others Present: Jeff Weldon(City Manager) and Eric Haiar (SDSU Student
Association)
Call to Order: Englund called the meeting to order. Rettkowski / Sonnenburg moved
to approve the minutes from the January meeting. All present voted aye.
Addition to Agenda
Old Business:
New Business:
Discussion on City Council request to remove parking from city streets located from 4th
Street to 11th Street and 8th Avenue to 16th Avenue, from November 15 to March 15
from midnight to 5:00 A.M.
Lanning stated the Adhoc Parking Committee recommended the Traffic Safety
committee look at removing the parking from 4th Street to 8th Street and 12th Avenue to
16th Avenue from November 15 to March 15 from midnight to 5:00 A.M. The City
department heads talked about extending the area to be 4th Street to 11th Street and 8th
Avenue to 16th Avenue. The committee discussed holding a public hearing. England
passed out a letter from a concerned citizen that lives at 402 13th Avenue and she is in
favor of restricting the parking. She has found out that students that don’t live in the
neighborhood are parking in front of her house. Eric Haiar stated the SDSU Student
Association are against the removal of parking feel they are being discriminated. He
stated that if the City wants to propose a parking ban it should be city wide. Bruinsma
stated a snow ban should take care of the problem of vehicles parking during snow
removal. Weldon stated the City doesn’t declare a snow ban for each snow fall.
Kirchheuel stated even when a ban is in place the cars don’t get moved in time for the
City to plow. Miller went over the parking ban procedure. When a parking ban is issued ,
the City needs to wait 5 hours before they ticket and tow. Miller stated years ago the
City did have city-wide no parking on city streets from November 1st to April 1st. It did
make the street department’s job easier for snow removal. He agreed with Eric in that
the request may be discriminative and he said a parking ban should be city wide or not
at all. Kirchheuel thinks it all boils down to SDSU not having enough parking. Englund
thinks SDSU has enough parking it is just not strategically located and there is also a
cost to the parking.
Sonnenburg said it’s not the City’s job to eliminate parking city wide for snow removal
and the committee should look at this as a safety concern. Rettkowski stated the
congestion on the streets is a safety issue since emergency personnel cannot make it
down the streets. Eric stated that the streets are designed for two way traffic with
parking on one side. Kirchheuel said it is hard to have parking when you factor in the
snow. Weldon asked if the area of discussion has parking on both sides or just one.
Lanning stated most of them have parking on only the one side but there might be some
with parking on both. England thinks it would be a good idea to hold a public hearing at
next month’s meeting. Sonnenburg/ Lanning made a motion to hold a public
hearing. 8 members agreed and 1 did not (Lueders). Motion passed.
Discussion on City Council request to deny parking of boats, construction trailers, RVs
and large vehicles on City streets.
Lanning stated this recommendation came from the Adhoc Parking Committee, which
was a permanent ban on boats, trailers, & RVs. Lanning described the previously
attempted City Ordinance No. 13-05, which would have prohibited parking for boats,
construction trailers, RVs and large vehicles on city streets between the hours of 11pm
and 5am. This ordinance was not passed by the City Council in 2005 but Lanning
wanted to show the options available for no parking. She mentioned language could
also be added that would allow contractor trailers that were working under a current
valid permit.
Skubic stated large vehicles would need to be defined. Lanning stated if the City were
going to deny parking of boats and RV’s all the time, Ordinance No. 13-05 would be a
starting point as a base ordinance. Kirchheuel was concerned that citizens would not be
able to load their campers in the street. W eldon stated there was some discussion at
the ad-hoc committee about an exception for loading and unloading. Miller asked how
would the police department know if someone is loading or unloading. Weldon stated
the members of the Adhoc committee thought this would be a way to solve the 72-hour
parking issue. The current 72 hour parking ordinance applies to all vehicles parked on
the city streets. Weldon thinks this recommendation would be difficult to enforce. Miller
added that this wasn’t really isn’t a safety issue. Skubic stated this is somewhat of a
safety issue because you can’t see around larger vehicle parked on the streets and you
aren’t able to get a good view. Kirchheuel/ Lanning made a motion to deny parking
of boats, construction trailers, RVs and large vehicles on City streets. All
presented voted no. Motion failed.
Member Reports: none
The next meeting will be March 10, 2010. Meeting adjourned.
Submitted by: Chris Larson