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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTSMinutes_2017_02_09BROOKINGS TRAFFIC SAFETY COMMITTEE City & County Government Center, Room 241 Thursday, February 9, 2017 12:10 p.m. The Brookings Traffic Safety Committee held its monthly meeting on Thursday, February 9, 2017 at 12:10pm in the City & County Government Center, Room 241. Members Present: Skip Webster, Jackie Lanning, Carol Rettkowski, John Howard, Kacie Richard, Shayn Damm, Gary Gramm, James Weiss, Jeff Miller and Tony Sonnenburg, Members Absent: Tim Heaton, Gregg Jorgenson, Matt Bartley and Brian Leuders Others Present: Brenda Turenne Call to Order: Howard called the meeting to order. Webster/Sonnenburg made a motion to approve the minutes from the January 12, 2017 meeting. All present voted aye. Motion passed. Additions to Agenda: None. Old Business: Discussion on request to allow overnight parking on the west side of Faculty Drive between 6 th Street and 7th Street (west segment of Faculty Drive) Lanning updated the committee on this request, which was from Robert Foley who lives at 620 Faculty Drive, to allow overnight parking on Faculty Drive between 6th Street and 7th Street. He submitted an email to Lanning stating that their pickup trucks do not fit in their driveway and they have received tickets when they overhang the sidewalk. Lanning said she sent a notice to the property owners on Faculty Drive between 6 th Street and 7th Street. Miller stated he previously lived on that block and there are several rentals on that street. He stated that it was not up to the City to create street parking for rentals and it should be a landlord responsibility. He said overnight parking on the west side of the street was not safe due to the curve at the north end of the street, and it was also a dark area at night. He recommended the parking should not change. Weiss agreed. Lanning said the owner of the Ritz contacted her and was concerned that cars would park there all the time and snow removal would not be done very well if overnight cars did not move. She said now the street is cleaned very well and recommended the parking to stay as is. Howard said parking these issues had a tendancy to creep to other streets and thought the street was too narrow to allow parking overnight. Weiss stated he didn’t want to sacrifice safety. Damm asked how safety was different on this block compared to other streets that allowed overnight parking. Richard asked why the time limit of 11 pm to 6 am was used and Lanning described that time limit seemed to be a standard that was used on other streets that did not allow overnight parking. Weiss noted the curve area has an odd configuration which may be why parking was removed. Lanning stated each of the rentals had the correct number of tenants and met the parking standards at the time they were established according to code enforcement staff. Damm/Richard made a motion to allow overnight parking on the west side of Faculty Drive between 6th Street and 7th Street. 2 members voted in favor and 7 voted against, motion failed. Discussion on request for yield signs or stop signs at the intersection of 4th Street and 13th Avenue Lanning updated the committee on this discussion item which was a continuation from the January Traffic Safety Committee meeting and she sent a notice to the neighboring property owners for the meeting. Brenda Turrene, 402 13th Avenue, stated she lives on the northeast corner of the intersection. She stated she has seen traffic increase, especially with the new campus housing on 13th Avenue which has caused 13th Avenue to become a major fairway. She said there are also more rentals in the area, which have increased traffic and parking. She said people use 13th Avenue to get to Toppers and Jimmy Johns, and there is a lot of school traffic. The committee discussed there are some rentals on 3rd Street and they likely park on 13th Avenue since there is no parking on 3rd Street. Howard asked other than the speed issue, was there a concern about the alignment of the street, and Turrene was concerned about the jog in the street. Miller said they ran an accident report and there was only one accident in the last 5 years, which was in 2013. He stated it was a bad intersection with the misalignment of the streets and agreed there was a lot more traffic. He said SDSU made changes that affected 13th Avenue, where 12th Avenue was previously the collector street into campus and the traffic signal is at 6th Street and 12th Avenue. He agreed that some form of traffic control was needed at that intersection. Lanning read from the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), Section 2B.04, Right of Way at Intersections. “Guidance: Engineering judgement should be used to establish intersection control. The following factors should be considered: B. Number and angle of approaches;”, and “D. Sight distance available on each approach”. “In addition, the use of Yield or Stop signs should be considered at the intersection of two minor streets or local roads where the intersection has more than three approaches and where one or more of the following conditions exist: B. The ability to see conflicting traffic on an approach is not sufficient to allow a road user to stop or yield in compliance with the normal right-of-way rule if such stopping or yielding is necessary.” Lanning stated the City had used that warrant in the past when there are obstructions at an intersection. She stated there are trees on both sides of 13 th Avenue making visibility hard to see for south-bound vehicles. She stated going north-bound, that the intersection is open for visibility, but there is a valley gutter that causes people to slow down. Turrene said vehicles parked on the street also block visibility. Lanning stated in the MUTCD, if the stop signs are warranted, they would be on the 13 th Avenue side according to the manual. Richard stated she had lived in that area and agreed with the concerns. Turrene asked about the narrow boulevard on 13th Avenue and Lanning described the right-of-way was platted too narrow which caused the jog and curb-side sidewalk. Due to these reasons, the 13th Avenue sides of the intersection would fit the warrants for 2 -way stop signs. Lanning stated she visited with a traffic engineer at HDR and they also agreed that 13th Avenue would be the appropriate sides of the intersection for the stop signs due to the misalignment, trees and the valley gutter. Weiss made a motion to recommend stop signs on the north and south sides of the 4 th Street and 13th Avenue. Webster seconded the motion. All present voted aye. Motion passed. New Business: None Member Reports: None The next meeting will be March 9, 2017. Meeting adjourned. Submitted by: Jackie Lanning