MINUTES

TRAFFIC COMMISSION MEETING

DECEMBER 5, 2001

Voting Members Present: Sharon Semans, Phil Shuman, Roy Nutter, Mark Downs, Jim Lattanzi,

Ron Bane

Non-Voting Members Present: Terry Hough, City Engineer, Chuck Williamson, Police Dept.

MATTERS OF BUSINESS: Minutes of the November, 2001 meeting were approved as

presented.

January, 2002 Meeting Date: Discussion of date for meeting in January since City Council will move their regular meeting to Wednesday, January 2^nd because of the New Year Holiday.

Meeting date to be announced.

OLD BUSINESS: None

NEW BUSINESS:

Afton and Gibbons/Afton and Ridgeley: Request for STOP signs at these intersections.

R. Nutter stated that he visited the area. He didn=t feel there was enough traffic to warrant

STOP signs.

T. Hough stated that, having had relatives who lived in the area for many years, she did not feel there was a need for STOP signs at these locations.

Jim Lattanzi moved to DENY request. Roy Nutter seconded the motion. Motion carried unanimously.

Hoffman and Overhill: Request to eliminate parking on one side of Hoffman near intersection of Overhill.

T. Hough said the street was measured. The measurement was 20', 6" from curb to curb, which is a typical residential street. If there is parking directly opposite each other, there is always a problem. The problems on Hoffman are usually only when there are football games. She stated that the Traffic Commission seems to be getting more and more of these type of requests and wondered if they should be handled administratively rather than bringing each request before the Commission.

J. Lattanzi stated that in neighborhoods where there has always been on-street parking, it will create a hardship for residents. He feels the Commission should examine very carefully requests to eliminate on-street parking.

R. Nutter stated that the other side of the issue is that when parking is removed, traffic flows more freely and we begin to get speeding complaints. He said that when he drove through one afternoon, there were not many cars on the street and he did not observe a problem. If football Saturdays are the main problem - that is approximately 6 Saturdays a year - he is not inclined to approve the request to have one side painted yellow.

P. Shuman said that there was a time when some sort of policy was passed that the Commission would not eliminate parking if the street were 16' wide or wider. He couldn=t state a time-frame.

T. Hough said that her office is in the process of indexing Traffic Commission meeting minutes/

agenda items for the past six years and that she could do some research to see if and when such a policy was passed.

R. Nutter made a motion to DENY this request, at least until there is further convincing information submitted to support the need for restricted parking. S. Semans seconded motion. Motion carried unanimously.

Hite Street: Request for a 4-way STOP at Hite, Standard, and Astor.

C. Williamson reported that currently there is a STOP sign at Standard and Hite and one at Astor and Hite. His opinion is that STOP signs do not solve speeding problems. No accidents have been reported this year. The Police Dept. has been doing speed enforcement in that area recently and that has seemed to deter the speeding.

M. Downs said that he has talked with some of the people in that area, and the main reason for requesting the STOP signs is to deter speeding. He agrees that STOP signs shouldn=t be used as a way to control speeding.

M. Downs made a motion to DENY this request. J. Lattanzi seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

T. Hough said that there is also a request for installation of speed limit signs on Hite Street, although there wasn=t time to add this request to the agenda. She doesn=t see a problem with doing this since there seems to be some confusion at the entrance to the park. Although the Commission usually is conservative about installing speed limit signs in residential areas, because there is a park located there, she would recommend installing them.

J. Lattanzi made a motion to APPROVE installation of speed limit signs. M. Downs seconded.

Motion carried unanimously.

At this time, P. Shuman introduced new Traffic Commission member, Mark Downs, who will be serving as the First Ward representative.

McCullough Avenue: Request to eliminate parking on both sides of the street.

C. Williamson said he discussed this with the City Engineer as to what part of McCullough is out of City limits. He said that the left side, coming up from Willowdale, is outside the City limits.

The street is in, but the properties are out.

R. Bane asked if the residents would have to present a petition to change the parking situation.

J. Lattanzi said that the Commission would make the decision, but would appreciate input from the residents. He stated again, that restricting parking to this degree will cause a hardship for many residents.

T. Hough agreed that it would be a hardship on the residents there.

R. Nutter asked if the request was for the entire length of McCullough.

P. Shuman said the request wasn=t real clear.

T. Hough said that this request was made by a resident who attended the November meeting.

It was agreed at that time that it would be put on the December agenda for consideration. At the time, she requested the entire street. A good portion of McCullough has already been restricted due to the hill. This was done administratively, and was done for safety reasons. Only one parking space was lost. At the top of the hill is where most of the houses are.

S. Semans made a motion to DENY request. P. Shuman seconded. Motion carried unanimously.

OTHER BUSINESS:

T. Hough said she had an item which should have been discussed under AOld Business@.

A request for a STOP sign on Carlisle and Putnam was tabled until a traffic study was done.

Traffic counters are now available and will be installed, if they haven=t been already. If counts are available by the date of the next meeting, action can be taken on this request.

Discussion of the possibility of widening Hoffman and McCullough. T. Hough stated that this would be very expensive. R. Bane said that we need to make sure that, when constructing streets, we look closely at the right of way easements to make sure the roads are wide enough, as they tend to become smaller over periods of time with repaving, etc.

J. Lattanzi said that Parking Authority and Engineering should be commended for the good job on the parking lot in the Wharf District.

R. Bane expressed appreciation to the Police Department for their extra focus on Hite Street recently.

MEETING ADJOURNED.