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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTSMinutes_2011_03_10BROOKINGS TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMITTEE City Hall Council Chambers Room Thursday, March 10, 2011 12:10 p.m. The Brookings Traffic Safety Committee held its monthly meeting on Thursday, March 10, 2011, at 12:10pm in the City Council Chambers Room. Members Present: Carol Rettkowski, Daryl Englund, Keith Bruinsma, Louis Skubic, Jackie Lanning, Jeff Miller, Brian Lueders, Skip Webster, Pete Kirchheuel, and Tony Sonnenburg. Members Absent: Tim Heaton, and Mike Fossum Others Present: Jeff Weldon(City Manager), Eric Haiar (SDSU Student Association), Don Auger, Cindy Ostlie, Mike and Sandy McClemans, Barbara Behrend, Chad Stinle, Roger Jenner, Jeff Heinle, Jo Puety Anderson, Ray Johnson, Andy Johnson, Connie McKnight, Kay Becker, Marty Hendricks, Larry and Diana Zwieg, Brian Paideton, Tim K, David Ekern, Bryan Gums, Gary Mork, Anthony Sutton, Lois Darrington, Pennie Malenke, Bob Fite, Lee Ann Pierce Call to Order: Englund called the meeting to order. Bruinsma / Skubic moved to approve the minutes from the February meeting. All present voted aye. Addition to Agenda: none Old Business: none 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. Daryl Englund welcomed the audience members for the discussion of this topic, and asked for public comments. The following people provided verbal comments: David Ekern - 921 5th Street, does not support the proposal as presented. He does not feel like the proposal solves the problem, rather just shuffles cars to other areas. He also feels that the landlords are not providing adequate off-street parking. Jo Puety Anderson – 614 11th Avenue, was not in favor of 5 months of removal of parking. She stated her household has multiple drivers and can accommodate all vehicles during a snow ban but she was concerned with parking for overnight guests. She feels this it is not a safety issue for the cars that are blocking the sidewalks and she appreciates the ticketing that is going on in this area. She proposes having the city zoned in sections and having parking removed in that section for one night a week for snow removal. Anthony Sutton – SDSU Student association vice president, opposes the proposal unless there is a ban in place for the whole city and not just one section of town. The SDSU Student Association passed a resolution against the proposal. Jeff Heinle – 8th Avenue: Does not support the overnight restriction. He has an older home with a single car driveway and there would be no place for overnight vehicles to park. Gary Mork – 809 Harvey Dunn, stated he was initially in favor of the overnight parking restrictions, but after hearing the neighbors comments he stated he was not in favor. He thinks there needs to be some other solutions for parking and that SDSU needs to have a no fee parking lot that would allow the students to park for free so the roads can be cleaned. Mork doesn’t think we need this parking restriction because landlords are supposed to provide off-street parking for their tenants. He said the City should enforce the current parking ordinances. Debra Perkins – 1431 7th Street, stated she thinks something should be done and somewhat in favor and thought it was a start. She owns a business and one requirement was to have adequate parking. She is concerned about safety when the streets get narrower due to the snow. She stated the college needs to address the issue of students wanting to park close to their dorms. She thinks ticketing can be income generating for the city by hiring someone to take on the parking complaints. Roger Jenner - 1318 5th Street, would like to see one sided parking on city streets such as on 5th Street. Laurie Carruthers – 510 9th Avenue, stated their home has two people and is owner occupied. They have a single car driveway where one car always parks in the street. They do remove their car from the street to an alternate location when a snow ban is in place. She is not in favor of this proposal. Lois Darrington – 1303 5th Street, stated they have a short driveway and her family has to park on the street. She asked a question on why the City didn’t issue snow bans. She also stated that the City should enforce the current ordinances like parking more than 12 inches from the curb. She said one solution may be one way streets. Jeff Weldon City Manager stated there has to be a 3 -4 hour notice given when a snow ban is called. The City didn’t want to put a ban in place for every nuisance snow fall because the Street Department wanted to start plowing snow quicker instead of waiting 3-4 hours. Don Auger - 1454 7th Street, stated that he has observed that vehicles stay overnight, even if rentals have enough parking for their tenants. He supports the proposal on a trial basis because it may improve snow removal. Lois Darrington stated she would like to see the ban city-wide if it were to be passed. Kay Becker – 1119 4th Street, is in favor of one sided parking. She said with vehicles parked on both sides of the street it makes it hard for emergency vehicles to get down the street. She was in favor but now not for sure due to having family and visitors that would need to park in the street. Sandy McClemans – 1207 6th Street, would like to see a one-side parking ban and stated if the parking ban is going to be passed that it needs to be city wide. Jo Anderson – 614 11th Avenue, she stated they have parking on one side of her street and there has not been a problem with emergency vehicles getting down the street. Bryan Gums – 911 4th Street, supports the proposal but would like to see one sided parking on the city streets. He stated there are streets near his home that have parking on both sides of the streets and it is very difficult to get down them in the winter due to the snow buildup along the curbs. Artis Johnson - 13th Ave. /4th Street, supports doing something and felt if this ban can fixes the problem then she supports would support it. She said the streets are cluttered with parked cars when there is snow build up you can barely get through the streets. Dale Olson- 7th Street/13th Avenue, opposes the city wide ban. He said the snow ban can be used during emergencies to get vehicles off the street for snow removal. He would support a parking by permit only plan. Ray Johnson – 1319 4th Street, Commented when a snow ban was in place from the last storm, the officer ticketed and towed the vehicles, but he said the plows didn’t come back down to clean their street after the vehicles were moved. Brenda Terra – 4th Street/13th Avenue , was in favor of the parking ban but was concerned that her neighbors have nowhere to else to park. She thinks something needs to be done and doesn’t think the homeowners are the problem. She said that during spring break that 4th Street is clear. She said the City should be diligent on rentals, partying, safety and look at the source of the problem. Lee Kotelman, 917 4th Street, stated they have 2 adults with 4 vehicles and is against the snow ban. He said he would be in favor of one night a week parking ban or ban parking from one side of the street. Sandy McClemans suggested recessed parking could be an option. Jeff Miller stated the City has taken a proactive initiative. Lanning showed the zone map and passed out the ticketing summary to the committee. Miller stated that in mid- February, the police department hired a part-time officer for parking enforcement. The officer ticketed 77vehicles and chalked 64 in zone C in the first two week time frame. Miller described that the clock starts for the 72-hour parking when the PD chalks the tires. He asked if the parking ban was a safety issue or a convenience issue. He agrees with the students and if there is going to be a parking ban it should be city-wide. Daryl Englund commented that he feels a parking ban recommendation only on certain streets is discriminatory. He described that he was on the parking ad-hoc committee and he said he doesn’t think there is a solution that will fit everyone. He also stated that if you have a city-wide parking ban with a light winter, then vehicles are banned from the streets when there is no snow to plow. Lanning mentioned she had received a lot of phone calls, which were summarized on a handout for the committee. She stated in summary, there were 13 calls in favor of the parking ban and 10 were opposed the ban. Louis Skubic said he thought vehicles blocking a street could be a safety hazard. He asked if there was any information on accidents caused by parked vehicles and Miller responded the police department did not have that information separated from other types of accidents. Kirchheuel/Bruinsma made the motion 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 5AM. All presented voted no. Motion failed. Member Reports: none The next meeting will be April 14, 201. Meeting adjourned. Submitted by: Chris Larson