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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOctober 1, 2018 Minutes OFFICIAL PROCEEDINGS COLUMBIA HEIGHTS TRAFFIC COMMISSION MONDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2018 CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Commissioner Olson at 5:15 p.m. ROLL CALL Members present: Commissioners Clerkin, Doty, Olson, and Schluender Members absent: Chairperson Carlson Staff present: Kathy Young, Assistant City Engineer Erik Johnston, Police Captain Barbara Thomas, Secretary Pro-Tem Council Liaison: Nick Novitsky Motion by Olson, seconded by Schluender, to appoint Barbara Thomas as Secretary Pro-Tem. Motion passed unanimously. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Motion by Doty, seconded by Schluender, to approve the minutes of August 6, 2018 as presented. Motion passed unanimously. OLD BUSINESS None OTHER OLD BUSINESS None NEW BUSINESS th RESIDENTS PRESENT: Frost and Amada Simula, 1700 49 Avenue A.REQUEST FOR “NO PARKING” SIGNS AT THE WESTERLY CORNER OF FAIRWAY DRIVE Ms. Amada Simula and Ms. Crystal Fernandez have requested “No Parking” be designated at the westerly 90° curve on Fairway Drive. The concern is the limited visibility and travel width when vehicles are parked up to the corner. During various school events Fairway Drive is used for overflow parking, which causes further congestion at this corner and makes it difficult for vehicles to get through. The street is 33’ wide and the curve is sharp, almost a 90° corner. This is a local street used primarily by the residents who live along the street. City staff has no opinion on the “No Parking” request. Schluender stated that having looked at the pictures this is a reasonable request, noting that if a driver does not live in the area they may come around the corner quickly and not realize there is only a single lane to travel through. Clerkin agrees. Doty feels the street is a real hassle when cars are parked on both sides. Traffic Commission Minutes – October 1, 2018 Page 2 Olson stated he is familiar with the area and from viewing the photograph this is absolutely a dangerous corner, especially with the way the cars are parked. Motion by Doty, seconded by Clerkin, to call a Public Hearing with residents at the next Traffic Commission meeting in November to designate “No Parking” on the east and north sides of Fairway Drive, next to 1665 Fairway Drive, for approximately 65 feet, and also add “No Parking” or painted th stripe from the corner of Fairway Drive and 49 Avenue from the stop sign 30 feet up according to state law. Motion passed unanimously. th Young advised the next Traffic Commission meeting will be held Monday, November 5, at 5:30 p.m. and residents along Fairway Drive will be notified prior to the meeting. RESIDENTS PRESENT: Jerald Lemire, 3828 Quincy Street Brooke Troche, 3847 Quincy Street Pam Lee, 3829 Quincy Street Samantha Willems-Strobush, 3850 Quincy Street Bill Skraba, 3829 Quincy Street Sarin Strobush, 3850 Quincy Street Deb Peterson, 3842 Quincy Street B. REQUEST TO REVIEW PARKING ON QUINCY STREET SOUTH OF 39TH AVENUE Ms. Debbie Peterson has requested the Traffic Commission review parking on Quincy Street south of 39th Avenue. The concern is ongoing parking issues caused by businesses along 39th Avenue. Ms. Peterson stated an average of 12-18 cars park on both sides of Quincy Street from the corner of th 39 Avenue on down. This leaves no place for anyone visiting the residents who live there to park. It also makes the street dangerous as there’s barely enough room for a car to drive through, especially if there’s a tow truck present. She questioned how the businesses are allowed to park vehicles on the street in front of residents’ homes if they don’t have room to store them in their lots. These vehicles leave oil stains on the street and some have missing license plates. At times, but not recently, broken down vehicles have been parked on the street for months. Sometimes the vehicles don’t start and portable batteries have been brought out or they’ve had to be towed. It’s truly an eyesore. Employees from the businesses have been seen wiping police chalk marks off the cars and moving them. Olson asked how far down the street the cars are parked. Residents replied halfway down the block on both sides. Mr. Lemire showed pictures of cars parked in front of his home at 3828 Quincy Street. Ms. Willems-Strobush at 3850 Quincy Street had pictures of cars being worked on in front of her home. She’s called the police twice because she was unable to get into her driveway due to vehicles being parked in front of it. She also had pictures of an employee using machinery to start a vehicle. The businesses are also parking cars up on the sidewalk. Another resident had pictures of the cars on the street and stated they’re packed in all the way down, she’s counted up to 26 cars. Advised this just started within the last year, year and a half. Olson asked Captain Johnston his assessment of the situation. Captain Johnston stated it’s definitely a problem. Over the past two months there were approximately 22 cases where the parking was enforced. Because the only ordinance we currently have is for a 6 hour parking limit and the Traffic Commission Minutes – October 1, 2018 Page 3 businesses are aware of this, they tend to move the cars before the police can enforce the ordinance. The police have chalked about 100 cars and written five citations. Olson asked about the no parking th zones on the south side of 39 Avenue. Captain Johnston stated it started off a little rough after the roadway was finished but they have been actively enforcing this. Obviously residents are seeing things that they’re not, but when they’ve driven through the area they’ve found pretty good compliance. He feels many of the vehicles are from the few businesses that they’ve tried to make personal contact with to make them aware of the problem and ask for voluntary compliance, but they’re not getting a lot of cooperation. Ms. Willems-Strobush stated residents appreciate the effort the Police Department has put forth in trying to fix this problem. She stated the businesses are so active they are outside all the time and see officers coming with the chalk. They will actually turn the vehicles to the other side of the street and th park them there or move them down the road. They also park right up to the intersection at 39 Avenue and Quincy Street causing dangerous visibility issues for anyone stopped at that corner. If a driver comes around the corner there’s no way they will see you and there’s only one lane at that point. Captain Johnston feels that they’ve made improvements; vehicles are no longer parked on the street for days or weeks, but so far they have not had success with the daily parking issues. Ms. Willems- Strobush believes that this will remain a problem unless the police are willing to come there every couple days or so to mark vehicles. Mr. Lemire stated he does not want a dead car or the filth of a food van or a junky van parked directly in front of his house every day. Quincy Street is a dividing line between the big industrial zone to the west and the nice neighborhoods to the east. He feels the industrial zone is creeping into their neighborhood. They would like Quincy Street to remain as a buffer zone and keep it residential on both sides. Olson asked residents if they would use street parking if the vehicles were not there. Mr. Lemire stated he has off street parking. Ms. Peterson stated she has visitors who park on Quincy Street. Olson advised if the parking became more restrictive, such as one hour parking or no parking, this would affect the residents as well. Ms. Peterson stated the residents would probably be hurt the most by no parking. Doty asked if residents would want one hour parking. A permit system was also brought up; however, the only permit system currently in place is for winter parking. Captain Johnston advised that this problem also extends to Jackson Street as an area they receive complaints from, although not to the degree of Quincy Street. Schluender questioned if a two hour parking limit on Quincy Street would be doable and enforceable. Olson suggested perhaps a one-time blitz to tag the vehicles so they get the message. Captain Johnston stated one of the challenges the businesses face is they don’t have other parking solutions, so they will continue to look for parking wherever they can find it. The challenge with the two hour parking is finding someone to enforce it. Currently the Police Department does not have a fulltime service officer dedicated to parking, which is one of the many functions they perform. They could do it for a short period of time but not for the long-term. Issues have also arisen from the Traffic Commission Minutes – October 1, 2018 Page 4 Heights Event Center parking. During that discussion, resident only parking was suggested but it has not gone further than that. Olson asked Young if she had any suggestions. She advised they’ve talked to the Police Department who has been working with the business owners. Police has also been talking with Community Development to research if there are any other ordinances or regulations involved. Schluender asked if we could approach this from a business licensing perspective. Novitsky assumes this would fall under a special use type permit for future businesses, but not for established businesses. Captain Johnston stated another brainstorming suggestion is to approach the Park Commission to see if part of the Huset Park parking lot could be used for overflow parking. However, he’s hesitant to suggest this due to the same reasons as the residents, a lot of the cars require repair and we do not want to see the park parking lot filled with these types of vehicles any more than we want to see them on the streets. They’ve looked at a wide variety of options but none of them have presented viable solutions. Schluender asked about resident permitting, i.e., how far would we have to go with parking restrictions to make it not worthwhile for the businesses to use Quincy Street. If the top half of Quincy is no parking would they use the bottom half? Clerkin feels they will park on any street that they have access to. Ms. Willems-Strobush stated the businesses have a lot of space for vehicles; the problem is they are taking in way more junk vehicles than they have capacity for and then using the residential space around them for parking. The businesses are packed, bumper to bumper, and can’t fit anything else in so they overflow onto the street. Olson suggested temporary no parking on the entire block for six months to possibly break the cycle. Residents felt comfortable with that, stating in winter they can’t park there at night anyway because of the winter ban. Ms. Peterson stated her only problem is visitors as they only have a single driveway. Ms. Willems-Strobush stated she feels like she lives in a junk yard, so is open to any possibility. Olson asked if no parking would be more effective than a two hour limit. Captain Johnston stated that no parking is easier to enforce than a two hour limit, but he feels that Jackson Street will be the next likely problem. Stated we can try no parking on Quincy Street and then address Jackson Street if there is an issue. Ms. Willems-Strobush questioned the permit parking. Olson stated the only permit parking he is aware of is the winter parking, there’s nothing else in place. He feels signage is the only solution and a ban would be easier for the police to enforce. Mr. Lemire stated he would like to try the no parking ban from November 1 to April 1 as this would be the least invasive. Residents agreed. Shluender asked if City staff can install the temporary signage. Young stated City staff would need to do a regular installation, as if the signs were permanent. Ms. Willems-Strobush asked if we would enforce no parking on Jackson Street also so the problem doesn’t just get pushed onto someone else. There was no one present from Jackson Street at the meeting. Hopefully the temporary ban will force the businesses to go somewhere else or re-evaluate their inventory. Motion by Olson, seconded by Doty to call a public hearing with residents at the next Traffic Commission meeting in November to designate “No Parking” on the east and west sides of Quincy Street from 38th Avenue to 39th Avenue. Motion passed unanimously. Traffic Commission Minutes – October 1, 2018 Page 5 th The next Traffic Commission meeting will be held Monday, November 5, at 5:30 p.m. Residents and th businesses up to 38 Avenue will be notified prior to the meeting. Schluender added that it may be beneficial to continue to make an effort to reach out to the businesses and advise that we don’t want them to just move to Jackson Street. Captain Johnston stated he can take on responsibility for that. Another resident feels the businesses should rent space for overflow and not park on the street. Olson advised that this is a temporary solution, perhaps we’ll force their hand and they’ll have to find someplace else to park. Residents stated the businesses that are problematic with parking do not seem to attend meetings. The residents want to establish a good relationship with the businesses. Clerkin asked about ordinances or fines for too many junk cars parked in the lots. Captain Johnston thinks this may be more of a property maintenance issue, he thinks the vehicles need to be behind fencing, but he can look into it. One of the possibilities they’re looking into is repeat business violators and administrative fines for causing the police to do the extra work. Unfortunately they’re not being very successful in citing the businesses because they get the vehicles off the street in time. Nothing provides businesses or residents a different right for use of the street. Olson asked how we will sign the block with no parking. Young advised we would use the no parking this block signs with a symbol and install them on both sides of Quincy Street. Permitted parking was also discussed amongst the commissioners. Doty asked if this would be a solution we could come back with next month. Captain Johnston advised we currently do not have this system in place; it’s only been in the discussion stage. He would need to check ordinances, etc. REPORTS CITY ENGINEER Concrete barriers will be temporarily installed at the end of 46 ½ Avenue. The south side of the sidewalk will remain the same and the barriers will be installed on the north side of the sidewalk so there won’t be such a large gap between the guardrails. Next year we’ll have a more permanent solution. POLICE CHIEF None COMMISSIONERS None ADJOURNMENT Motion by Doty, seconded by Olson to adjourn the meeting at 5:51 p.m. Motion passed unanimously. Respectfully submitted, Barbara Thomas Secretary Pro-Tem