HomeMy WebLinkAboutTSMinutes_2013_10_10BROOKINGS TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMITTEE
City & County Government Center
Thursday, October 10, 2013
12:10 p.m.
The Brookings Traffic Safety Committee held its monthly meeting on Thursday, October 10,
2013, at 12:10pm in Conference Room 241 of the City & County Government Center.
Members Present: Daryl Englund, Brian Lueders, Skip Webster, Carol Rettkowski, John
Howard, Gregg Jorgenson, Pete Kirchhevel, James Weiss, Tony Sonnenburg, and Jackie
Lanning.
Members Absent: Jeff Miller, Mike Fossum and Tim Heaton.
Others Present:
Call to Order: Webster called the meeting to order. Howard/ Rettkowski moved to approve
the minutes from the July meeting. All present voted aye.
Additions to Agenda: None
Old Business:
Discussion of 4-way stop sign at the intersection of 17th Avenue South and 15th Street South.
Lanning received from a call from a concerned parent in regards to this intersection. She was
concerned for the safety of the children crossing the street with the volume of traffic before
and after school. Lanning monitored the intersection and noticed between the hours of 7:40
to 8:10 AM there were several people on bikes in the area and some had to wait to cross 17th
Avenue South due to the continuous flow of vehicles. The east bound of 15th Street South
backed up with as many as 13 vehicles trying to turn onto 17th Avenue South. Lanning said
the largest number of vehicles passed through the intersection in about a 15 minute time
period and the traffic cleared rather quickly. The police department noted there hadn’t been
accidents at this intersection and there is no crossing guard at this intersection due to the
lack of applications. There was a crossing guard when Camelot Intermediate School first
opened. Sonnenburg stated he spoke with other officers and they would all like to see a 4-
way stop at this location since the students seem to cross anywhere. Howard stated other
than those peak hours; there is no traffic at the intersection. Webster stated he saw a couple
of vehicles traveling at high rates of speed, but did not see pedestrians. He noted that when
there are long blocks without traffic control, there is a tendency to speed. Lueders would be in
favor of 4-way stop signs at this intersection. Jorgenson asked how much traffic is going to
back up when this is a highly traveled street, and will the homeowners have problems
backing out of their driveways on 17th Avenue South. The committee thought there should be
no driveway issues onto 15th Street South. Howard stated that in the winter time there also
won’t be any students walking to school. Weiss would like to see a crossing guard at this
location. Lueders suggested Larson contact Dave Fiedler, Camelot Intermediate School
principal, to see if he would supply a playground supervisor to be the crossing guard at this
location and perhaps the police department could reimburse the school. Webster said if 13
cars are backed up, they would have to wait even with the continuous motion of 4-way stop
signs. Lanning suggested on monitoring this area investigate having a crossing guard in this
location. No motion was made.
New Business:
Update of boulevard parking at 517 Medary Avenue: Lanning wrote a letter to the owner
about the pickups with hitches and longer vehicles that protrude into the street. It appears
that the pickups have been parking along the alley. The committee members stated they
have seen vans and longer cars in the boulevard parking area, but not the pickups.
Sonnenburg said on one morning at 3:30AM there were 5 cars in the boulevard, but cars can
stick out in the winter time. Weiss asked what the ordinance says about boulevard parking
regulations and Lanning said boulevard parking is not referred to in the ordinance because it
is the City’s right-of-way. This boulevard parking has been permitted, although the City does
not want the vehicles to be a traffic hazard. Lanning suggested having the police department
monitor and ticket this area.
Member Reports:
The next meeting will be November 14th , 2013. Meeting adjourned.
Submitted by: Chris Larson