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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Transportation Advisory Commission - 02/22/2010 • RECEIVED Transportation Advisory Committee APR 0 1 2010 Meeting Minutes Monday, February 22, 2010 CIIYSECRE?ARy, IFFICE Call Meeting to Order - Bill Green, Vice Chair, called the meeting to order at 2:32 p.m. II. Approval of Minutes -Minutes of January 25, 2010 were approved. III. Presentations and Discussions- a. Monthly Traffic Fatality Report: Sgt. Pena reports two (2) fatalities to date for the year 2010. b. Monthly Bicycle and Pedestrian Subcommittee Report: Mrs. Karen Beard informs the TAC that the Bicycle and Pedestrian Sub-committee is tabling their previous recommendation to ban parking on Ocean Drive, until more issues or alternatives are looked into. c. South Oso Parkway street closure: Mr. Mark Simon, from Development Services, informs the committee that the city originally vacated and abandoned South Oso Parkway in 2008. However, due to an error in the legal description of the property, the appraisal district recommended that the city go back and abandon and vacate the original closure and resubmit the new closure with the correct legal descriptions. The street closure is necessary to use the land gained from the adjustment for the expansion of the parking lot of the Botanical.Gardens. d. Ocean Drive parking update: Mr. Charlie Cardenas reports that staff is about 75% complete with answering all the questions from last month's meeting. However, he still needs to formulate a report. The traffic counts still lack, which is a big part of the report and are scheduled to do within the next week. Mr. Bill Green suggests that with the report, Mr. Charlie Cardenas will also provide an assessment of what he and the city consider as a recommended solution for the safety of the traveling public. Mr. Cardenas responds that he will add a recommendation. Mrs. Beard comments that this issue will not have a solution that the sub- committee can find right away, but possibly something that the city can look into for a bond issue in the future. She articulates that the ultimate goal is to make as many people safe as possible. Mr. Green recommends that this issue be used as an opportunity to revisit where this overlay should be, as well as the type of cross section should be provided so the city enables safe travel. He informs the committee that there are other communities who have solved this problem, by using railroad right-of-way or placing sufficient width in the right of way for both pedestrian and bicycle traffic. Mr. Green states that by the way ordinance is written, until the bikeway is designated by statute, the bikeway exists on paper only. He is hopeful that city staff and the sub-committee can find the tools to make this vision a reality. Pagel of SCANNED e. Burney and Everhart traffic light: Mr. Cardenas states that this location warrants for a signal, because Burney actually gets a lot of traffic. Ms. Sheila Cudd informs the committee that she wanted this item on the agenda because of signal timing. She has noticed that the Everhart traffic gets disrupted with a red light when Burney traffic is not present or only one vehicle is at the light. f. Ranger and Saratoga traffic light coordination: Mr. Charlie Cardenas states that a signal warrant analysis needs to be conducted on this signal. Ms. Cudd states that the signal timing needs to be looked at. The timing on the light causes traffic back up on eastbound Saratoga, at times all the way to Ayers Street. Ms. Cudd's concern is that the purpose of the Crosstown extension and Saratoga widening was to divert traffic off of S.P.I.D., however the back up on Saratoga because of signal timing is doing otherwise. She doesn't understand why one car pulling up to the signal from Ranger, triggers the light to immediately turn red for Saratoga. Ms. Cudd adds that the red light on Saratoga stays red long after all cars are clear on Ranger and perhaps it's a timing or motion sensor issue. Mr. Bill Green states that the efficiency of the signals on Saratoga need to be revisited. It seems that one must stop and wait several cycles at every intersection. Mr. Cardenas reminds the committee that the MPO is doing a signal coordination plan and he can ask the MPO if they can look at Saratoga, as well. g. MMA update: Mr. Charlie Cardenas states that the city is still working with TXDoT to update the old MMA. Ms. Veronica Ocanas informs the committee that even though it has not been updated, there is one that currently exists and the city is maintaining those state right of ways. The update that is being worked on includes different boundaries and the duties are more specific. Basically the new duties are a cost advantage to TXDoT and not the city. The city departments that are affected by the MMA are asking to hold off from updating the MMA until those departments can figure out the effect it would have on their budget. Mr. Green requests that Mr. Cardenas come back to the TAC with an update in three (3) to four (4) months. h. Whataburger Way.update: Mr. Cardenas informs the committee that the city will be sending Whataburger a notification to do the safety improvements to Whataburger Way or to maintain the street as a safe roadway. Ms. Ocanas states that the letter will include the process Whataburger can take to dedicate the street back to the city, at no cost, and avoid maintenance costs. i. Clarification of speed zone on Doddridge: Mr. Cardenas reports that a posted speed limit sign missing on Doddridge, from Staples to Ocean Drive. He is currently working on getting the contractor of that job to put this sign up and if need be, city forces will place that sign up within a week. IV. Staff Recommendations requiring Committee Review for Recommendations/ Actions - a. Appointments to the Bicycle and Pedestrian Sub-committee: The sub-committee recommends Linda Fallwell-Stover as the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee representative, to replace Gloria Smith. Motion passes. Page2of3 111 b. Motion to abandon and vacate a 61,071-square foot portion (1.402 Ac. Tract) of the undeveloped and unsurfaced South Oso Parkway dedicated public right-of- way, out of the Botanical Gardens Park Unit 4 Subdivision, and a 5.17 Acre Tract described in Volume 2358, Page 343, of the Deed Records of Nueces County, Texas, being a portion of Section 31, of the Laureles Farm Tracts, recorded in volume 3, page 15, of the Map Records of Nueces County, Texas, said public right-of-way, being located adjacent to the South Staples Street (Farm to Market Highway 2444) public right-of-way; subject to compliance with the specified conditions: Mrs. Beard motions to approve, with the amendment from only `Motion to abandon and vacate...' to `Motion to recommend that the planning commission recommend to the city council passage of an ordinance to abandon and vacate...' the verbiage stated in item IIIb. Mr. Eloy Soza seconds. Motion passes. V. Identify items to be placed on a future agenda - • Cell phone sign update • TXDoT center median at Montana Mike's timeline • Speed study on Cimarron Boulevard VI. Public Comment - • Robin Stallings, 2208 Santa Rosa: He discusses the safe passing ordinance passed by San Antonio and Austin. He has,a strong interest in having a safe passing ordinance with the same language as those already passed in other cities, so the ordinance can be enforceable and educational. • Freddy Ramirez, 3402 Ocean Drive: Stated to the committee that the city send out under three-hundred (300) public comment requests, but there are over one-thousand (1,000) residents on Ocean Drive. He also commented that he fully supports the safe passing ordinance already passed in other cities; however, a safe passing ordinance is not a substitute for the parking issue on Ocean Drive. He also states that the Bay Trail is existent along Ocean Drive. • Tom Neagli, 6020 S.P.I.D.: He states that he is the owner of Bay Area Bicycles and offers the committee and public to take advantage of his resources and take a ride down Ocean Drive. VII. Adjournment- Meeting adjourned at 3:38 p.m. Page3of3