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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPublic Works October 28 20141F?1 WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL 20 Public Works, Health, and Safety Committee 30 40 October 28, 2014 5F?1 60 CALL TO ORDER 7P] 8M Committee Chair Barbara Brenner called the meeting to order at 1:30 p.m. in the 91a Council Chambers, 311 Grand Avenue, Bellingham, Washington. 10F?1 11m P 12M ROLL CALL 13M 14F?] (1:29:56 PM) 15F?] 160 Present: Barbara Brenner, Ken Mann and Pete Kremen. 171N Absent: None. 18M Also Present: Rud Browne, Barry Buchanan. 19F?l 20F?] 21M COMMITTEE DISCUSSION 22F?1 231N 1. DISCUSSION REGARDING LAKEWAY DRIVE CROSSWALK REQUEST (AB2014- 240 203) 25F?1 26M Joe Rutan, Public Works Department, submitted handouts (on file) and stated an 270 issue came up about mailboxes. He contacted the regional Postmaster, who is willing to 28M work with the County on options for some people who live on the south side of Lakeway 29M Drive, if they are close to a side street. It doesn't address the broader issue. He will 300 continue to work with the Postmaster. They also conducted signal warrant and pedestrian 31M count analysis at Oriental Avenue and Euclid Avenue. Those intersections do not meet any 32M warrants for a signal or any sort of actuated crossing. Because the area is in the City of 330 Bellingham urban growth area, he asked the City to analyze it for their standards. The City 34M policy is on Council packet page 216. 35i] 360 Carol Shepherd stated the Public Works Department should plan now for future 37M development in the area and not wait for the area to meet warrants. Property taxes from 381] homes in the area pay for things like this. The County is responsible to those homeowners. 390 To access parks and other nearby services, they must cross Lakeway Road. 40M 411] Cathy Greenberg stated the crosswalk is necessary on Lakeway Road because the 420 area is growing. Neighborhood kids are getting older and are more able to walk to school. 43M The crosswalk must connect with the existing public bus stop. 44F?] 450 Eileen Kadish stated putting mailboxes on Parkstone doesn't make sense. Also, 1.3 461M miles between marked crosswalks is too far. Most people don't know that unmarked 47M crosswalks allow pedestrians the right -of -way. They don't need the most expensive signal 48M option. They can get something for $40,000. 49M 50M Everett Crouse stated he is on the Board of Directors for the Parkstone Community. 51M He encourages the Council to consider their request and come up with a cost - effective 520 program to get people safety from one side of the street to the other. He thanked County Public Works, Health, and Safety Committee, 10/28/2014, Page 1 p 1m 20 30 41M 51N 60 71M 8P] 91a 10M 11F?l 121a 13M 140 15M 16M 170 18M 191N 200 21M 22P] 230 24M 250 260 271N 28[N 290 300 31F?1 320 33M 341N 350 36r?] 37M 380 39M 40M 410 42M 43M 440 45M 461a Public Works Department staff for resolving a drainage issue at Parkstone Lane. The staff have been courteous, professional, and positive. Charles Law stated the situation will get worse. They need some sort of mitigation. Think about the long term. Congestion going in and out of town is a problem. Modulated street sensors would help. A $40,000 crosswalk is not much money compared to a person's life. Widening the streets will make them more inaccessible to pedestrians. Loretta Baumgarten stated it's difficult to get off Parkstone and onto Lakeway Road. A stoplight is necessary. Brenner asked for information from the Whatcom Transportation Authority (WTA). Rutan stated the WTA wrote a letter of support. He then asked the WTA for data and information, and they backed away from giving their support. It would be interesting to know the ridership at that bus stop. Moving mailboxes to a cross street so they don't have to cross Lakeway Road is a valid concept. Mann referenced option B and asked if it will work to make people safer. Rutan stated it will. He's concerned about setting a precedent for other streets. He stands by the data he provided. If the Council decides to put in a crosswalk, he will ask for one that is actuated, so there is advanced warning due to limited sight distance. Mann stated he would like to find a way to make this crossing happen. He asked if the crosswalk will be less safe. Rutan stated he is concerned about installing crosswalks that aren't used much, because they train drivers to ignore crosswalks. It gives a false sense of security to pedestrians. This is nationally -used data. The City of Seattle is actually removing crosswalks not controlled by a stop sign or signal because they've found them to be more dangerous. If the County installs a crosswalk, it must find a way to stop the traffic, address the limited sight distance issue, and address the threshold this decision sets. They will end up with marked crosswalks at many intersections. Brenner stated install the crosswalk like the one on Northwest Road, including road bumps to remind people to slow down. There's so much advanced warning, it wouldn't be possible for someone to not see it. They can't get good pedestrian data when people are too scared to cross the road. Kremen stated he understands Mr. Rutan's cor Council has ignored them before. The Council cai perplexed about the mindset that they are creating a the staff's recommendation is that the safest thing is he's looked for any kind of data that allows him interpreting the data based on his professional However, staff is not trying to squash this effort. Tr they had unlimited funds, they could build bridges balance all the factors. cerns based on the warrants, but the i make a different decision. He is -alse sense of security. It seems that to not cross the street. Rutan stated to recommend a crossing. He is engineering licensing requirements. ey are trying to keep things safe. If A every intersection. They have to 470 Kremen stated he's trying to respond positively to his constituents with common 48M sense. Pedestrians have to get from one side of the road to the other. In 1.3 miles, there 49M must be a place to get from one side of the road to the other side of the road. The cost is 50M not an issue for him. He wants to provide an ability to get from one side to the other as 51M safely as possible. There seems to be less potential for an accident here than the crosswalk 521a at Barkley Boulevard. That crosswalk works, despite limited sight factors. 53F?] Public Works, Health, and Safety Committee, 10/28/2014, Page 2 p 1m Rutan stated that if the Council wants to do this project, they should add it to the 20 annual construction program at the meeting tonight. 30 41M Mann asked where is the best location for an actuated light. Rutan stated that the 5M best sight distance is at Parkstone Lane, but it is a T intersection. Oriental Avenue has the 60 most density and is a four leg intersection. Staff hasn't made a decision on a location, but Ta would work through it. If they decide on Oriental and Euclid due to density, the staff would 8M also look at the intersection itself, including channelization opportunities. 9F?l 10r?] Mann stated he is in favor of option C and giving staff the flexibility to make it as 11M safe as they need to. 12F?] 131M Brenner stated adding more marked and actuated crosswalks on Lakeway Road 140 would help calm the traffic. Most people speed on that road. 15r?] 16M Kremen stated put the crosswalk at Parkstone Lane or Oriental Avenue. Don't go all 170 the way to Euclid, which has too much curve. He supports option C. 18F?] 19M Jack Louws, County Executive, stated there are six spots on Lakeway Road that meet 20M the same qualifications as Parkstone Lane. Siting the first crosswalk is important. The 21M administration would like the Council to make the final decision on the location. Oriental 22M Avenue seems to serve more people. At this point, it's a legislative decision. 230 24M Brenner asked about reimbursement if the City annexes the area. Keep that in 25M mind. 260 27M Browne stated the first consideration is safety. The right approach is to do a 28M comprehensive study of the entire corridor to decide where the crosswalks should be. He 290 would like to know the time and cost for doing a comprehensive study of the corridor, which 30M should be done before anything else. Rutan stated it's something they can accomplish 310 within a year. He needs to know the level of corridor study that the Council wants to have. 32M He is very aware of the development that occurs in the area. Staff looks at those things 33M when determining offsite mitigation. If a developer were ever to develop something that 340 triggers the warrant for a signal, the County would have the developer construct it. 35F?1 36M Browne stated he wants to know the expectation for full development within a 370 reasonable timeframe, and how much that full development would change the pedestrian 38M count. He wants to know where people are going to live and why. 391] 400 Kremen stated the request for a corridor review is valid. Determining if it's safe 41M won't change as additional homes are added in the area. There will be more demand. 42M Move forward with this crosswalk as soon as reasonably possible. Don't delay it for six or 430 eight years. Additional buildout depends on the economy. 44F?1 451] Brenner read from an email from the City of Bellingham to Mr. Rutan about looking 460 at the broader context. Contact the WTA and ask them if Parkstone Lane works for the 47M WTA. Louws stated it would be appropriate to do a corridor study. At that point, they can 481] work with the WTA about their long -term plans. 490 50M Brenner stated a comprehensive study of Lakeway Drive can be a separate issue 511] from the necessary crosswalk. More pedestrians equals fewer cars on the road. 52F71 Public Works, Health, and Safety Committee, 10/28/2014, Page 3 p 1E Greenberg stated kids in the area will be crossing the streets on their own when they 20 become teenagers. 30 4M Browne stated his primary concern is safety. Allow people to walk Lakeway safely. 5M Don't drag this out longer than a year. Strategize with the WTA and the Post Office. Rutan 60 stated the WTA rescinded its approval because they don't have the expertise or background 7M to make a recommendation. That is WTA's decision. 8(] 91] Browne stated they can still coordinate bus stops and the crosswalk with the WTA. 10r?] 11(] Mann stated much of the area on the map has already been developed. He would 12M like a signaled crosswalk somewhere between Birch and Geneva Street. The cost of a 13M signaled crosswalk to support and encourage bicycle and pedestrian traffic is worthwhile. 140 151] Brenner moved to recommend to the full Council that the County administration 16M create a marked, actuated signal crosswalk, and add it to the annual construction program. 170 18M Kremen stated he supports the motion. Also stipulate or make it clear that anything 19M the administration engineers will be safe. That's a given. They aren't going to build 200 anything that's not safe. Underscore that all proposals will be safe proposals. 211] 22M Louws stated they will bring forward proposals that are in the best interest of the 230 community. Anything they do will be as safe as possible. Again, they aren't in a position 24M now to allow County engineers to sign off on something that is against warrants. His 25M signature will allow them to install without proper warrants. He's done it before. They 260 aren't going to recommend putting stripes on the road without actuators, because that 27M would be like putting a crosswalk across I -5 and expecting people to stop going 70 miles per 28M hour. The administration is committed to doing a good job. The staff and the 290 administration will have about six months to review existing and proposed density and 30M determine the prime location to take care of the most people in the area, including a review 310 of traffic patterns and working with the WTA. 32F?1 33M Brenner stated she also wants the review to include sight distance. Louws stated 340 that's a safety issue they will need to do. There are many variables. The goal is to get 35M something taken care of next summer or early fall. That's the message he's hearing now. 36M They might end up doing a little bit of a study to get some data on why they've chosen the 370 location and the reason for installing the crosswalk. They can have that criteria and 38M information as a basis for follow -up conversations. If they just put in a crosswalk without 39M criteria, many other people can ask for crosswalks, too. There is a need here, but it is a 400 challenge for the administration and the Council. Put the data together, as Councilmember 41M Browne recommended, in a short period of time. The administration will come back with a 42M recommendation and they will get it taken care of in the next year. 43(] 44M Brenner stated there may be reasons for other crosswalks that will be legitimate. 45M This may not be it. 460 47M Kremen stated they should take one thing at a time. 481] 490 The motion carried by the following vote: 501] Ayes: Brenner, Mann and Kremen (3) 510 Nays: None (0) 52M 53M Public Works, Health, and Safety Committee, 10/28/2014, Page 4 (] 1m 20 30 4P] 5P] 60 7P] 8M 9F?l 10F?1 11m 12P] 13F?1 140 15r?] 16F?1 170 18F?] 19FIl 200 21F?1 22P] 230 OTHER BUSINESS There was no other business. ADJOURN The meeting adjourned at 2:35 p.m. ATTEST: Dana Brown - Davis, Council Clerk Jill Nixon, Minutes Transcription0 p WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL WHATCOM COUNTY, WASHINGTON Barbara Brenner, Committee Chair Public Works, Health, and Safety Committee, 10/28/2014, Page 5