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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-07-15 City Council (6)City of Polo Alto C ty Manager’s Report TO: FROM: HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT: PLANNING AND COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENT DATE: SUBJECT: JULY 15, 2002 CMR:343:02 APPROVAL OF RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING NO PARKING ZONES ON ALMA STREET NORTH OF LYTTON AVENUE, AND ON LYTTON AVENUE EAST OF ALMA STREET RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends that the Council adopt the attached resolution prohibiting parking along the: west side of Alma Street, north of Lytton Avenue, resulting in the removal of approximately eight parking spaces; and north side of Lytton Avenue, east of Alma Street, resulting in the removal of approximately four parking spaces. BACKGROUND At its February 5, 2001 meeting, the City Council voted 3-2 in favor of implementing a six- month trial of the "Recommended Preferred Option" traffic calming plan for Downtown North. As part of this plan, improvements at two intersections were identified as being necessary to handle the increased traffic flow .resulting from traffic diverted out of the Downtown North neighborhood. One of these intersections was Alma Street/Lytton Avenue. The specific improvements included providing a dedicated right-turn lane on westbound Lytton at Alma, providing a dedicated left-turn lane on sbuthbound Alma to eastbound Lytton, and performing the necessary traffic signal changes to provide a left-turn green arrow for this movement. It was staff’s recomlnendation that these improvements be implemented prior to installing the trial traffic calming plan in Downtown North. One reason that short-cutting occurs on Downtown North streets is because of delays along Lytton Avenue and its intersections with Alma, Street and Middlefield Road. Any improvement along this route will incrementally lessen the advantage of cutting through the neighborhood. It is also important that the arterial improvements be implemented in time to handle additional through traffic that will be forced out of the neighborhood by the traffic calming plan. CMR:343:02 Page 1 ot~4 DISCUSSION Existing Conditions Alma between Everett and Lytton has a single vehicle and bicycle lane in each direction, and on-street parking is pernaitted along both sides of the street, for most of the block. At the southbound approach to Lytton, the single southbound lane on Alma widens to two lanes. The left lane is used as a shared through and left-turn lane, and the right lane is used as a shared through and right-turn lane. No on-street parking exists along the west side of Alma within approximately 120 feet of the intersection. Lytton between Alma and High has a single vehicle and bicycle lane in each direction, and on-street parking is allowed along both sides of the street. The single westbound lane accommodates left-turn, through and right-turn traffic at Alma; however, the far right-hand section of the roadway acts as a "sneaker" right-turn lane within approximately 30 feet of the intersection due to the existence of a driveway near the intersection which precludes on- street parking. Exhibit 1 of Attachment A shows the existing striping near the intersection. The primary land uses adjacent to the intersection include a Caltrain station and parking lot ¯ along the entire west sideof Alma, and a Shell gas station at the northeast corner of the intersection. Also near the intersection are John F. Dahl Plumbing and Heating and a residential duplex along the east side of Alma north of the Shell station; and a restaurant along the north side of Lytton east of the Shell station. Improvements In order to accommodate an increase in southbound left-turn traffic from Alma to Lytton resulting from the Downtown North Traffic Calming Plan, the Council-approved plan included the recommendation that the southbound left lane on Alma at Lytton be converted to an exclusive left-turn lane, and the lane lengthened to 125 feet. As a result, southbound .through traffic must be shifted to the right lane through a gradual transition that begins 150 upstream of the beginning of the left-turn lane. Because the parking lane will have to narrow over the length of this transition, on-street parking must be removed along the west side of Alma for this 150 feet. This translates into the loss of approximately eight on-street parking spaces. The southbound bicycle lane will not be affected. In order to accommodate an increase in westbound right-turn traffic resulting from the Downtown North Traffic Calming Plan, the Council-approved plan included the recommendation that an exclusive right:turn lane be striped from Lytton onto Alma: By providing a dedicated right-turn lane, a greater number of vehicles can be accommodated than are currently accommodated by the "sneaker" lane. To make room for the exclusive right-turn lane, on-street parking must be removed for 160 feet along the north side of Lytton. Because two driveways currently exist within this section, this translates into the loss of only four on-street parking spaces. The westbound bicycle lane will not be affected. CMR:343:02 Page 2 o~4 Exhibit 2 of Attachment A shows the proposed striping near the inters;ction, including the locations where on-street parking must be removed. The arterial improvements were described in Attachment 6 of the October 11, 2000 report, Downtown North Neighborhood Traffic Calming Studyl to the Planning and Transportation Commission. This description estimated the loss of four parking spaces on Alma and four on Lytton. The loss of parldng was never highlighted in any later staff reports, nor was it discussed by the Commission or Council. On October 4, 2001, an information packet wag mailed to the property owners and managers of each. of the proPerties that would be directly affected by the on-street parking removal. Attachment B lists the properties that were contacted. The .packet included a letter describing the work to be done (Attachment C), and a diagram which showed the work schematically. A phone number was provided with the letter for concerned pr.operty owners/managers to contact the Transportation Division with specific, concerns. To this date, no phone calls or letters have been received bythe Transportation Division related to the-on-street parking removal. RESOURCE IMPACT $190,000 has been allocated for implementing the Downtown North Traffic Calming Plan, including making improvements at the Alma/Lytton and Middle fiel!!Lytton intersections. Following Council approval of the resolution, staff will proceed to finalize plans for improvements at Alma/Lytton. Development of plans and bid documents for the Downtown North Traffic Calming Plan and improvements at Middlefield/Lytton will follow the Alma/Lytton improvements. ATTACHMENTS A. Resolution Approving No Parking Zones B. List of Contacted Properties C. Letter sent to impacted properties 2MR:343:02 Page 3 of-4 PREPARED BY: DEPARTMENT HEAD: DAVID STILLMAN 32~a~portation Engineer Director of Planning and Community Environment CITY MANAGER APPROVAL: Assistant City Manager cc:Downtown North Study Advisory Committee CMR:343:02 Page 4 of 4 ATTACHMENT A RESOLUTION NO. RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALO ALTO APPROVING AND ADOPTING NO PARKING ZONES ON ALMA STREET NORTH OF LYTTON AVENUE AND ON LYTTON AVENUE EAST OF ALMA STREET WHEREAS, there is a need to establish new zones where parking shall be prohibited at any time, in order to maintain the safe, orderly flow of traffic in the City of Palo Alto; and ~WHEREAS, Palo Alto Municipal Code section 10.44.010 (Restrictions established -Signs designating) enables the city Council to establish by resolution such parking restrictions or prohibitions as may be necessary. NOW, THEREFORE, the Council of the City of Palo Alto does RESOLVE as follows: SECTION i. The Council hereby establishes "no parking at any time" zone on the west side of Alma Street, north of Lytton Avenue and the north side of Lytton Avenue, east of Alma Street, as identified in Exhibits 1 and 2 attached hereto and incorporated by reference. // // // // // // // // // 0207 ! 1 syu 0091122 SECTION 2. The Council finds that this project is categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act under Class 1 (minor alterations to existing public facilities)and no further environmental assessment is necessary. INTRODUCED AND PASSED: AYES: NOES: ABSENT:’ ABSTENTIONS: ATTEST: City Clerk APPROVED AS TO FORM: Mayor APPROVED: Senior Asst. City Attorney City Manager Chief Transportation Official Director of Planning and Community Environment, 020709 cl 707/Master/l~.SO’2 EXHIBIT 335 334 ~~1 EXHIBIT 2 334335 I ATTACHMENT B LIST OF NOTIFIED PROPERTIES Hummer Winblad Venture Partners 131 Lytton Avenue Palo Alto, CA 94301 Lichtenstein Properties, Lp 5801 Christie Avenue, #675 Emeryville, CA 94608 Jack Dymond Associates 127 Lytton Avenue Palo Alto, CA 94301 Jack Dymond Associates 450 First Street Los Altos, CA 94022 Manager, Shell Gasoline 355 Alma Street Palo Alto, CA 94301 Donald & Diane E. Ferrando 224 Arden Road Menlo Park, CA 94025 Manager, John F. Dahl Plumbing & Heating 329 Alma Street Palo Alto, CA 94301 Carlyle L. Wilson 3 Victoria Vale Monterey, CA 93940 Resident 325 Alma Street Palo Alto, CA 94301 Darbar Enterprises, Inc. 129 Lytton Avenue Palo Alto, CA 94301 September 20, 2001 ATTACHMENT C ALMA STREET/LYTTON AVENUE INTERSECTION IMPROVEMENTS - ON-STREET PARKING REMOVAL Dear Business Owner/Manager: The Cit, y of Palo Alto Transportation Division has recently completed a traffic study of the Downtown North residential neighborhood, which is the area bounded by Alma Street to the west, Middlefield Road to the east, Lytton Avenue to the ’south and San Francisquito Creek to the north. Thepurpose of the study was to identify ways to reduce vehicle speeds and cu~through .traffic in the area without increasing traffic loads on. nearby residential streets. To achieve tiffs goal, ilnprovements are needed at several intersections, including Ahna Street/Lytton Avenue, In order to accommodate, existing and expected traffic volumes, a dedicated left-turn lane is needed for southbound Alma at Lytton, and a dedicated¯ right- turn lane is needed for westbound Lytton at Alma. Because of constraints created by the existing geometric cogfiguration of the streets, some on-street parking will need to be removed in order to make room for these improvements. Specifically, .approximately four parking spaces will be removed from the north side ofLytton Avenue just east of Ahna, and approximately eight parking spaces will need to be removed from. the west side of Alma just north of Lytton. The specifi~ lm~e configuration modifications, and the location of the on-street parking spaces which need to be removed, are shown on the attached plan. We anticipate that the Alma Street/Lytton Avenue intersection improvements will be made in the summer of 2002. We will make-every attempt to minimize the number of on-street parki.ng spaces, removed so as to minimize the affect to nearby businesses. If you have any questions or concerns about.this matter, feel fi’ee to call me at (650) 329~ 2425. Sincerely, DAVID STILLMAN .Transportation Engineer Attacl~nent