HomeMy WebLinkAboutTSMinutes_2012_08_09BROOKINGS TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMITTEE
City & County Government Center, Suite 230, Room 241
Thursday, August 9, 2012, 12:10 p.m.
The Brookings Traffic Safety Committee held its monthly meeting on Thursday, August 9, 2012,
at 12:10pm in the City & County Government Center, Suite 230.
Members Present: Daryl Englund, Skip Webster, Carol Rettkowski, Louis Skubic, Jackie
Lanning, Pete Kirchhevel, John Howard, Tim Heaton, Gary Gramm, James Weiss
Members Absent: Brian Lueders, Mike Fossum, Jeff Miller, and Tony Sonnenburg.
Others Present: Del Poppinga
Call to Order: Englund called the meeting to order. Gramm/Webster moved to approve the
minutes from the June meeting with corrections to the structure of a couple sentences. All
present voted aye.
Addition to Agenda: None.
Old Business:
Discussion of stop sign removal at Circle Drive and Harvey Dunn:
Lanning has done some research on this intersection and the Traffic Safety Committee looked
at removing parking in 2004. At that time, stop signs were already in place and Lanning did not
research prior to 2004. She stated when she inspected the intersection, there was poor visibility
for vehicles facing south at the intersection and trying to see to the west. Lanning suggests
leaving the stop signs as they are due to the poor visibility. Heaton questioned why the removal
of the stop signs was brought up. Lanning explained that this issue was brought up to the
Police Department from a resident. Heaton asked if traffic tickets that were issued may have
concerned the resident. Gramm also agreed that the signs need to remain at this intersection.
Lanning/Heaton made the motion to leave stop signs where they are located at the
intersection of Circle Drive. All present voted aye. Motion carried.
Discussion of possible removal of parking on the north side of 3rd Street between 5th Avenue
and 6th Avenue: This item was tabled from the last meeting to allow time to monitor the parking
after the City-County Government Center was opened. Lanning had observed the area and
stated that people seem to be staying in the east bound lane when backing up. She
recommended to leave parking as is. She is not aware of any accidents that have occurred with
the new parking area. The committee agreed to continue to monitor the area and no action
would be taken at this time.
New Business:
Discussion of removal of parking at the 1st Street and 9th Avenue intersection. Lanning said
there have been issues with a trailer and vehicles parking near this intersection. Kirchhevel said
the trailers have been moved and it is hard to regulate this area for parking violations since
there are no crosswalks or ramps on the north side of the street. Rettkowski stated that at 9:00
last evening, she drove through this area and observed trucks parking along the street and it
was very congested. She stated If an emergency vehicle needed to drive through the street, it
would have been very difficult with the trucks/trailers parked there. Lanning suggested painting
yellow on the radii to remove parking back from the intersection. Kirchhevel said that the Street
Department had informed the tenants not to park and block the Street Department property.
Currently the Police Department cannot ticket these vehicles because there is no sidewalk or
ADA ramps, or yellow painting. Pete suggests painting the curb yellow to remove parking.
Howard/Gramm made a motion to remove parking at the appropriate distance necessary
and paint it now. All present voted aye. Motion carried.
Discuss the request for a 4-way stop sign at Daktronics Drive and Prince Drive. Lanning
reported that Daktronics called her about the traffic at Daktronics Drive and Prince Drive.
Lanning stated they described that the inflow of traffic is causing issues since they can enter the
Daktronics property without stopping. Visibility didn’t appear to be an issue. According to
Kirchhevel, the issue is caused by no stop sign on Daktronics Drive which is a private drive.
Lanning will look at the accident data and then ask Daktronics if they could provide someone to
represent this issue at next month’s meeting. Gramm did also suggest the possibility of a 3-way
stop. This issue was tabled to next month.
Discuss the request for a 4-way stop sign at 1st Street and 16th Avenue. Del Poppinga lives on
the SE corner of this intersection. He explained that he is concerned about the children traffic at
this intersection and also the past accidents/near accidents. He said this is a popular route for
children walking to the pool and school. He stated due to this intersection being offset, the
vehicles driving east can’t see to the north at the intersection. In addition, Poppinga stated the
traffic is drives too fast. Webster questioned the fact that there are already stops signs at the
intersection. Poppinga explained that there are stop signs on 1st Street currently, but he felt 4-
way stop signs would be more beneficial. Poppinga said he assisted his neighbor in removing a
tree to help with the visibility, but the visibility issue wasn’t resolved. Howard inquired about
putting an additional cross walk in this area, but asked where would it go. Poppinga suggested
maybe the City should look at putting in a diagonal cross walk or an additional cross walk in the
middle of the block. Heaton commented that he has seen heavy traffic in this area. Lanning will
check site angles and suggested visibility may improve if some parking is removed near the
intersection. Lanning will do some research and see if this intersection warrants a 4-way stop.
The committee will discuss this issue at the next meeting after the research. Englund also
suggested that the Police Department should offer their input.
Member Reports:
Lanning informed all members about the upcoming City Council meeting with the agenda item
for discussion on the parking restrictions on 17th Street South between 7th Avenue S. and 9th
Avenue S. Englund said representation from the Traffic Safety Committee is highly
recommended. Lanning invited the committee to the DOT open house on Wednesday, August
15th regarding the design layout of 6th Street east of 22nd Avenue. Rettkowski explained her
concerns with the parking at the FireDept/Old City Hall. She said the fire fighters leave their
vehicles parked in the street after calls, which blocks visibility at the intersection. Lanning will
discuss it with the City Manager to improve the issue.
The next meeting will be September 13th , 2012. Meeting adjourned.
Submitted by: Lana Schwartz