CITY OF CORONADO TRAFFIC OPERATIONS COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES. February 27, 2014

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1 CITY OF CORONADO TRAFFIC OPERATIONS COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES February 27, 2014 A meeting of the Traffic Operations Committee (TOC) was held on Thursday, February 27, 2014, at 2:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers. Rachel Hurst and Matt Little were present. Mike Blood was absent and represented by Bill Modeen, Jon Froomin was absent and represented by Matt Mitchell and Ed Walton was absent and represented by Jim Newton. Assistant Engineer Dave Johnson was also present. 1. Minutes of the December 16, 2013 Special Meeting Deferred until the next meeting as a quorum of the members present at the December meeting was not present. 2. Oral Communications Catherine Squitieri, 752 C Avenue, commented on the Orange Avenue traffic lights, mainly at Tenth, Dana Place, and Eighth they don t stay on very long. You get about six seconds to cross the street before the light starts flashing for about 30 seconds. She was advised to speak with Mr. Johnson after the meeting. 3. Recommendation Regarding the Request to Install a Blue Curb in front of The Landing Condominium Complex at 1099 First Street Mr. Johnson said a request was received from Dr. John Sexton to install a blue curb zone. Dr. Sexton states that the reason for a blue curb zone is that there currently no place on site at The Landing to host disabled parking. Also, in front of the entrance to The Landing is white passenger-loading zone that is frequently occupied by commercial vehicles such as delivery trucks or buses and they tend to stand in the white zone with their motors running. Mr. Johnson said that when The Landing was built in the 1980s, the City installed a yellow commercial loading zone in front along First Street. The Landing came to the City in 2002 with a formal request to change that zone from yellow to white because of similar problems they were having with the yellow zone. The request was reviewed and it was changed to a white passenger-loading zone which is more restrictive than a yellow zone. Yellow curb zones in Coronado are for passenger or commercial loading and unloading for a period not to exceed 20 minutes, whereas a white passenger-loading zone is for passenger loading and unloading only for a duration of three minutes. He stated that the City has a warrant for installation of a blue curb zone in front of a residential property. Four criteria must be met for a positive recommendation to come from staff. The first is that the applicant can demonstrate that their primary residence is the address where the blue curb is being requested; this condition is met. The second criterion is that the applicant is in possession of a vehicle with valid disabled plates, placard or sticker. The City was provided information about a resident at The Landing who has a handicap placard; this condition is met. The third criterion is that the resident is not capable of unassisted travel of more than 50' and a doctor s note to that effect was received. 1

2 The last criterion is that the residential property does not have space that could be reasonably converted to disabled parking. The intent of this condition is to determine whether or not a property has a location to load and unload disabled passengers on site without impacting access along a public street. In this case, there s a large underground garage and although the spaces within the garage are individually deeded to the residents, staff feels that with the cooperation of the homeowners association (HOA), they could consolidate some of the parking spaces near one of the entrances in the underground parking garage to provide disabled parking on site. For this reason, it is felt that this criterion is not met. The warrant states that all of the criteria must be met and since the last condition is not met the recommendation is to not install a blue curb zone at this location. Mr. Little asked if the HOA had been contacted to do a study of the entire underground parking complex and Mr. Johnson said he has not been in direct contact with the HOA; his contact has been Dr. Sexton. Dr. Sexton had been asked to get a letter from the HOA, but did not provide one. Mr. Little asked if a metered zone were to be placed where the blue curb is being requested, would the handicapped be allowed to park there? Mr. Johnson responded that the handicapped can park in metered spaces free of charge. Mr. Newton said most of the requests for residential blue curbs are for single-family homes, so the applicant is typically the one that holds the placard. In this case, it seems as though the request is for a blue curb zone that would serve the whole complex. The warrant says that if a blue curb zone is approved, every year it gets reviewed and renewed. He asked if this were approved, how would that process work? Mr. Johnson said the original requestor, Dr. Sexton, would be contacted to determine how to renew the blue curb zone if the information presented in this report is no longer valid. Ms. Hurst observed that there are three blue marked spaces in the parking lot that is adjacent to the complex. Mr. Johnson said that s a public parking lot and the reason he didn t include it in the report is because those handicap spaces, while they are available for The Landing, are fairly well removed from local access. John Sexton said the staff report noted that parking stalls located near the entrances could be designated as disabled parking provided there is cooperation among the residents to provide this amenity. He said there are problems with this suggestion. Every stall is deeded so deeds would have to be changed on those stalls and the initial buyers paid a high premium for the stalls near the entryways and they would have to give them up. If there was a blue curb on First Street, the person in question would only have to travel 42 meters to get to his unit, but if one was located near the elevator downstairs he would have to travel 130 meters. Two side-by-side places would be needed in the garage for wheelchair entry into a vehicle because the stalls are narrow. The Landing typically has six residents who are in wheelchairs or use walkers, so he wonders who would get the disabled parking spot since it s likely to be used overnight or for days on end, and how could overall stall assignment be made if there are several residents in need of a spot? The Landing gets many aged visitors and there is no blue curb nearby. There are three spots in the public parking lot, but you cannot take a wheelchair through the gate because the wheels get caught in the grates. He said that only one of 49 condos he and his wife approached chose not to sign the petition it is likely that more than 170 people in the building favor a blue curb. He asked for a show of hands of people in the audience as to whether they were in favor of a blue curb in front of the building and the majority of attendees raised their hands. 2

3 Miles Harvey, a Landing resident, said the three-minute limit on the white zone is almost impossible to enforce. If you call an officer the officer says I would have to be here for three minutes; I can t just issue a ticket on your say-so that the bus has been here for 20 minutes. No ticket is issued and the bus drivers know this. It is not unusual for a 45' bus to pull up, discharge all its passengers, and be there for minutes. He noted that each homeowner owns their individual parking space; to rearrange that in any way would require an amendment to their condominium plan and that would require the consent of 100% of the owners. He can assure that will not happen. He highly recommends a blue curb on First Street. Janice McElroy, 999 Adella, owns a unit at The Landing. Their unit was rented to an elderly couple and the gentleman had a very bad back. They liked to stop and pick up their mail, which is off the entrance to the office. Numerous times he couldn t do that because the white area was blocked. If there were a handicap space there it would be very convenient for people who are disabled to pull up, stop for a few minutes, get their mail, and then park in the garage. Ms. McElroy and her husband are both advocates of a blue zone for handicap parking and think it would improve the quality of life for residents at The Landing. Gary Smith is a Landing resident. He s in favor of having a blue curb. Enforcement of the white area is not done; at best, if an officer does come by, he gives a warning and sends them on their way. He submitted a picture of a limousine directly in front of a red zone next to The Landing. An officer drove by and did not enforce making these people move; they sat there for over 20 minutes taking pictures. He s not sure enforcement can be recognized with no sign that there s a three-minute limit. A sign might be useful. A blue curb would be helpful because there are over 10 people living at The Landing who have 24-hour caretakers. Marilyn Rees, a Landing resident, absolutely supports what Mr. Smith said. There are probably 10 handicapped people, many of who would have been here to raise their hands, but because of the rain they were unable to attend and show their strong interest in this. She wants to speak for those people. You could probably double the number of people who raised their hands. Mr. Newton said the original yellow zone was changed to a white zone at the request of the HOA, so he s a little hesitant to change the loading zone without hearing from the HOA. He also is trying to figure out the primary reason for the request is it to facilitate the parking of people with handicap placards or is it to deal with the bus issue? If it s to deal with the bus issue, there might be better ways of dealing with it. The blue curb seems to be the most restrictive choice that could be made in terms of a curb marking. He feels a metered zone might facilitate a little more turnover than a blue curb zone would and could still get rid of the bus problem. Mr. Little said he felt like the easy way to deal with this is a metered zone. It will provide access to the building entrance and, if the goal is to limit buses parking there that shouldn t be, it will provide that turnover. He has concern with putting a handicap stall on a collector street. There isn t a great path to get to the sidewalk and nearest ramp is about 30' away. Mr. Mitchell agreed with Mr. Little and said a metered zone will give access to any properly handicap-placarded vehicle to park there. His concern is that if there were a blue space there, it wouldn t be specifically for The Landing residents. It could be used by anyone with a handicap placard. He likes to see parking turn over and not support parking for long periods of time. He doesn t feel that a blue curb is the right way to address the misuse of buses using that area as a loading zone. Mr. Modeen would like to see a blue zone in the parking lot to the west or in the garage because he thinks it s safer to unload there than on First Street. 3

4 Mr. Little moved to support the staff recommendation to not install a blue curb at this time, but have the HOA, if they are interested in trying to meet the warrant, provide the City with written documentation of why and how the underground parking facility cannot host a disabled parking space. Mr. Mitchell seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. 4. Recommendation Regarding a Policy for Installation of Red Curb Zones Mr. Johnson said requests are regularly received for installation of red curbs. In the past, red curb zones were looked at on a case-by-case basis and staff applied engineering judgment along with collision history and sight distance in order to make a recommendation for red curb installation. Because there hasn t been a written policy, the public may have thought the process for installation is a little ambiguous. It was felt that a formal written policy would be a good way to educate the public on how red curb zones are installed, under what conditions, and what standards are used for applying red curb zones in the City. He said the hierarchy of streets was considered. Third, Fourth and Orange are Primary Arterials and handle the vast majority of traffic in the City. The next level of street classification is the Minor Arterials Pomona, Ocean and Alameda Boulevard. Below that are Collector and Local Streets. The streets with higher traffic volumes generally have a greater number of collisions. Staff wanted to tailor a policy that balanced that aspect rather than a policy that would install a blanket length of red curb at every intersection. It was decided to apply current engineering standards for the installation of red curbs from the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), Highway Design Manual, and Coronado s Triangle Sight Distance standard to the classification system of the streets in Coronado. It was decided that, at a minimum, on all primary arterials at least the MUTCD minimum guidance for red curb would be provided, or at least one car space upon the approach to each intersection. The City already meets this standard along the primary arterials, so adopting this criterion would not necessarily create more red curb zones in the City. For streets below the primary arterial level we aren t requiring red curb zone at each intersection; rather, we look at accidents to determine if additional red curb is necessary. For minor arterials and below, there would be no blanket installation of red curb unless there is an accident history at that location. A four-tier system was created, starting with the minimum MUTCD guidance on a primary arterial. If there s a location with the MUTCD recommended red curb and there continue to be collisions at that location, then a Tier 2 installation of red curb would be recommended. That would entail installing a red curb zone that would meet the requirement for a 50' sight triangle. If a red curb zone was installed that met the requirement for a 50' sight triangle and there continues to be a collision history there, the next tier would be a stopping sight distance. This is the distance necessary for a vehicle to come to a complete stop based on the design speed of the roadway. The most restrictive tier would be Tier 4, which is a corner sight distance criteria. This is the sight distance necessary for a vehicle parked on a side street to be able to see oncoming traffic with enough time to make the decision whether not to maneuver into or out of traffic. Driveway red tipping and pedestrian ramp curb zones were also looked at. The City has had a policy to provide driveway red tipping and it s not planned to change that policy. Red curb tipping does not occur on standard sized driveways, typically 16'. If a driveway is less than 12' wide then red tipping will be considered. Another request that is received is why we don t red curb pedestrian ramps. The reason we don t is because the Vehicle Code already makes it a violation to park in front a pedestrian curb cut. Therefore, the City doesn t typically mark red curb zones, but there have been a few instances where there have been repeat offenders of cars parking in front of pedestrian ramps, so 4

5 at times, red curbs have been installed at pedestrian ramps, but it s generally handled by the Vehicle Code. Red curbs in front of public utilities and fire hydrants were also considered. The Vehicle Code states that you can t park within 15' of a fire hydrant; Coronado has generally painted 15' on either side of fire hydrants to keep that proper setback. A defined practice for public utilities wasn t made, so red curb to preclude parking in front of public utilities will continue to be looked at on a case-by-case basis. Jeanie Peterson was concerned about putting out a policy with criteria because she s noticed from meeting minutes that criteria are very structured; this may be restrictive and not give you flexibility in each situation. Mr. Johnson said there could be situations that may not fall into the matrix that was developed, so it was decided that the only other way to alert us to a safety hazard would be through the existence of an accident history. The policy won t say that red curbs on minor arterials and below won t be installed there just has to be evidence that there is a safety issue before an installation will be considered typically, this would be manifested in an accident history. Mr. Little moved to accept the staff recommendation, Mr. Newton seconded it and it passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 3:52 p.m. 5