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HomeMy WebLinkAbout37. 13-44 JANUARY 22, 2013 13-44 ORDINANCE FIRST READING (CARRIED LOST LAID OVER WITHDRAWN ) PURPOSE: APPROVAL OF PARKING REGULATION CHANGES ON OTTER AVENUE, AND TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS RELATED TO VARIOUS INTERSECTION TRAFFIC CONTROL AND PARKING REGULATIONS INITIATED BY: TRAFFIC REVIEW ADVISORY BOARD A GENERAL ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF OSHKOSH AMENDING SECTIONS 27A-7, 27A-10 AND 27A-11 OF THE OSHKOSH MUNICIPAL CODE PERTAINING TO DESIGNATED TRAFFIC SIGNAL CONTROLLED INTERSECTIONS, DESIGNATED YIELD RIGHT OF WAY INTERSECTIONS, AND PARKING REGULATIONS ON DESIGNATED STREETS AND ALLEYS. The Common Council of the City of Oshkosh do ordain as follows: SECTION 1. That Section 27A-7 of the Oshkosh Municipal Code pertaining to designated traffic signal control intersections is hereby amended as follows: A-7 TRAFFIC SIGNAL CONTROLLED INTERSECTIONS DESIGNATED Remove Therefrom: Highway 21 and Washburn Street. Omro Road/Highway 21 and Highway 41. SECTION 2. That Section 27A-10 of the Oshkosh Municipal Code pertaining to designated yield right of way intersections is hereby amended as follows: A-10 YIELD RIGHT OF WAY INTERSECTIONS DESIGNATED Remove Therefrom: Oak Street yields to Melvin Avenue, Tennessee Avenue, and Nevada Avenue. Add Thereto: Oak Street yields to Melvin Avenue, Tennessee Avenue, Nevada Avenue, and Mallard Avenue. Add Thereto: Plummer Street yields to Florida Avenue. JANUARY 22, 2013 13-44 ORDINANCE FIRST READING CONT'D SECTION 3. That Section 27A-11 of the Oshkosh Municipal Code pertaining to parking regulations on designated streets and alleys is hereby amended as follows: A-11 PARKING REGULATIONS ON DESIGNATED STREETS AND ALLEYS DIVISION STREET Remove Therefrom: 30-minute parking, east side, from Algoma Boulevard to 87 feet north of Algoma Boulevard from 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Add Thereto: 30-minute parking, east side, from 87 feet north of Algoma Boulevard to 107 feet north of Algoma Boulevard from 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. NEBRASKA STREET Remove Therefrom: 15-minute parking, adjacent to 716 Nebraska Street from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. excluding Sundays. OTTER AVENUE Add Thereto: No parking, north side, from Mill Street to 80 feet west of Mill Street from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. STILLMAN DRIVE Remove Therefrom: No parking, both sides, from Highway 110 to its eastern terminus. Add Thereto: No parking, both sides, from Fernau Avenue to its eastern terminus. MISCELLANEOUS Remove Therefrom: Reliance Warehouse parking only, north lot off of Wisconsin Avenue. SECTION 4. This ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after its passage, publication and placement of the appropriate signage. JANUARY 22, 2013 13-44 ORDINANCE FIRST READING CONT'D SECTION 5. Publication Notice. Please take notice that the City of Oshkosh enacted ordinance #13-XXX (A GENERAL ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF OSHKOSH AMENDING SECTIONS 27A-7, 27A-10 AND 27A-11 OF THE OSHKOSH MUNICIPAL CODE PERTAINING TO DESIGNATED TRAFFIC SIGNAL CONTROLLED INTERSECTIONS, DESIGNATED YIELD RIGHT OF WAY INTERSECTIONS, AND PARKING REGULATIONS ON DESIGNATED STREETS AND ALLEYS) on February 12, 2013. The ordinance changes parking regulations on Otter Avenue and makes technical corrections related to various intersection traffic control and parking regulations. The full text of the ordinance may be obtained at the Office of the City Clerk, 215 Church Avenue and through the City's website at www.ci.oshkosh.wi.us. Clerk's phone: 920/236-5011. OJHKOJH ON THE WATER MEMORANDUM TO: Mark A. Rohloff, City Manager FROM: Christopher Strong, Transportation Director DATE: January 16, 2013 RE: Explanation of Traffic Regulations Ordinance Changes SECTION 1: SECTION 27A-7.1 DESIGNATED ROUNDABOUTS These changes reflect street changes based on US 41 construction. SECTION 2: SECTION 27A-10—YIELD RIGHT OF WAY INTERSECTIONS These changes are to match field conditions. SECTION 3: SECTION 27A-11 DESIGNATED PARKING RESTRICTIONS DIVISION STREET This is a correction to the ordinance approved by Council in December. NEBRASKA STREET This change is to match field conditions. A REQUEST FOR NO PARKING ON THE NORTH SIDE OF OTTER AVENUE FROM MILL STREET TO 80 FEET WEST OF MILL STREET BETWEEN THE HOURS OF 6:00 A.M. AND 7:00 P.M., MONDAYS THROUGH SATURDAYS. (CURRENT CONDITION: UNRESTRICTED PARKING.) This is a Transportation Department request. GO Transit Route 1 has a stop on the north side of Otter Avenue, approximately 70 feet west of Mill Street. This request would prohibit parking during the hours in which bus service is operating, in order to make it easier for the bus to pull into and depart from the stop. Page 2 of 2 Explanation of Traffic Ordinance Changes Otter Avenue is a one-way collector street at this location, with a pavement width of 32 feet. According to the 2005 Comprehensive Plan, a collector street is typically characterized by a 36 foot pavement width, with two lanes of moving traffic and two lanes of parking. Parking is prohibited on the south side of the road at this location. The Comprehensive Plan supports prohibition of parking as needed to accommodate moving traffic. In this case, the parking prohibition will enable the bus to pull adjacent to the curb and out of traffic, which should benefit traffic flow when passengers are boarding or alighting the bus. PASSED BY TRAFFIC REVIEW BOARD (6-0) STILLMAN DRIVE These changes reflect change in the street alignment based on US 41 construction. MISCELLANEOUS This change is to match field conditions. OfHKOfH ON THE WATER MEMORANDUM TO: Mark A. Rohloff, City Manager FROM: Christopher Strong, Transportation Director DATE: January 16, 2013 RE: Items Defeated by the Traffic Review Board at their January 8, 2013 Meeting A REQUEST FOR TWO-HOUR PARKING ON THE NORTH SIDE OF CAMPUS PLACE FROM 45 FEET EAST OF WISCONSIN STREET TO 326 FEET EAST OF WISCONSIN STREET. (CURRENT CONDITION: NO PARKING.) This is a citizen request. A mobile vending operator is interested in positioning his operations on the north side of Campus Place near Wisconsin Street. Campus Place, a local street, is 36 feet wide, which is wide enough under City guidelines to support on-street parking on both sides of the street. The existing parking prohibition was established in 2001 in conjunction with a reconfiguration of streets in this area, and did not seem to be mandated by any particular traffic or safety issues in the area. There are no particular concerns with this request from a vehicular traffic perspective, and this local street is wide enough to safely support on-street parking. However, the Police Department has expressed concern with safety and crowd control related to on-street parking in this area in the past, and may have some concerns with this request. If parking is allowed,staff recommends a two-hour parking zone,to provide some consistency with a similar area on High Avenue, and to discourage potential all-day parking use that may spill over from the University Excerpt from the Traffic Review Advisory Board meeting minutes: Capt. Kurt Schoeni, Oshkosh Police Department, informed the Board about OPD concerns with this request. He said that the night shift officers are in this area nightly. Their first concern is regarding pedestrian movement across the street between Molly's and Nikos Gyros, where there is no marked crosswalk. In addition, he noted that fights frequently break out in this area. If vehicle parking were allowed, there would be pedestrians darting out between the vehicles. Their second concern was with congestion. He said it would be hard to pull a vehicle out safely from a parking space. His third concern was that Police needs to find a place to park their vehicles fast when responding to fights. If parking was allowed, they would have to park in the street, which is not an ideal place. He would like to see the vendor parked in a parking lot. He pointed out that if another vehicle parks there first, the vendor won't be able to park there anyway. He ITEMS DEFEATED 2 JANUARY 2013 noted that at bar closing time, customers push out of the establishments all at once, which increases the congestion-related concerns. Mr. Chris Jones, 842 Bismarck Avenue, has a mobile food cart and was interested in this request. He said he had talked to the bar owners about a possible space in their parking lots, but they all want money for this privilege. He said he needed the space for only a minimal time each night, starting at 10 p.m. He said he understood the safety concerns and currently he is parking east of Molly's, where parking is allowed. Mr. Kline said it is like a pedestrian mall in that area. He added that, even if parking were allowed, there would be no guarantee he would get one of the parking spaces. He was opposed to the request. Mr. Jones questioned if a space could be designated for taxis or businesses. Mr. Strong replied the ordinance has to be enforceable and this type of provision would be unenforceable. DEFEATED BY TRAFFIC REVIEW BOARD(0-6) A REQUEST FOR A PROTECTED LEFT TURN AT THE INTERSECTION OF WESTOWNE AVENUE AND WASHBURN STREET. (CURRENT CONDITION: PERMITTED LEFT TURN.) This is a citizen request. Staff received a couple of citizen questions as to whether a protected left turn(i.e. a green arrow) would be warranted for northbound traffic on Washburn Street at its intersection with Westowne Avenue. Citizens said that the lack of a protected left turn creates safety concerns, as they report it is hard to determine when there is a sufficient gap to make a safe turn onto westbound Westowne Avenue. The presence of a dedicated left turn lane here makes this location more favorable for consideration of a protected left turn than other locations that staff has examined. The intersection's crash history from 2005 through 2011 is summarized in Table 1. Even with a higher number of crashes in 2011,the crash history is pretty favorable for a signalized intersection. However, all six crashes between 2009 and 2011 involved northbound vehicles turning left in front of oncoming traffic. The occurrence of four crashes in a single year(2011) satisfies the Wisconsin Department of Transportation Traffic Signal Design Manual (TSDM) warrant for a protected left turn. It is unclear whether 2011 represented a one-year spike in crashes, or whether it represents the start of a longer-term safety concern. According to TSDM, a left-turn arrow is recommended based on a combination of the amount of left-turning traffic and the amount of oncoming traffic. Specifically, using the notations in Figure 1, the following equation must be true during the peak hourl: 1 Right-turning traffic is not considered for this intersection,since right-turning traffic is diverted away from the intersection with a dedicated turn lane. ITEMS DEFEATED 3 JANUARY 2013 Table 1: Number of Crashes at a x b >_ 100,000 Washburn Street and Westowne Avenue, 2005-2011 Traffic volume data were collected during mid-day and afternoon peak periods in November 2012. According to these Year #of Crashes traffic volumes (shown in Figure 1), the equation listed before 2005 1 is not satisfied: 2006 0 2007 2 2008 1 2009 1 Mid-Day: 198 x 188 = 37,224 < 100,000 2010 1 2011 4 PM Peak: 145 x 202 = 29,202 < 100,000 It is possible that traffic volumes were not at an equilibrium condition since the nearby STH 21 interchange opened only a couple of weeks beforehand. However, it is unlikely that there would be a significant o CV enough change in both the northbound °' CV left and the southbound through 0 movements to satisfy this warrant. If it is accepted that there is a safety issue at this intersection such that a protected left turn is warranted, what would be the 282[276] effect on intersection operations? This '— intersection was analyzed using our 221 [180] traffic analysis software to see what impact this might have on delay at the intersection. The results of this analysis WESTOWN E AVE _ for mid-day and PM peak hour traffic volumes are shown in Table 2. The table u; shows the average delay per vehicle (in - seconds) for each approach to the co co intersection, along with the corresponding LEGEND: —level of service (LOS). LOS is a XXX[ZZZ]= Vehicles during qualitative measure that helps to assess Mid-Day[PM] peak h ou r the relative quality of traffic operations. Figure 1: Peak Hour Traffic Volumes at Washburn The level of service is assigned on an A Street and Westowne Avenue through F scale, with A signifying free flow conditions, and F signifying a breakdown in flow. Typically, the goal is to attain a level of service of C or better. ITEMS DEFEATED 4 JANUARY 2013 Table 2: Estimated Average Delay (in seconds) and Level of Service (LOS) at the Intersection of Washburn Street and Westowne Avenue (PM Peak Period) Eastbound Northbound Southbound Total Delay LOS Delay LOS Delay LOS Delay LOS Existing 15 B 9 A 5 A 9 A Protected NB Left 15 B 8 A 9 A 11 B It can be seen that the level of service threshold is easily met whether or not there is a protected northbound left turn. The protected northbound left turn would result in a marginal increase in delay. Southbound delay would increase slightly; however, the software indicates that the 95th percentile queue length(i.e. the distance which traffic back up for no more than 5 percent of the time) is about 50 feet, which is still well away from blocking the roundabout to the north. In short, the impacts of the protected left do not seem to be too significant. If implemented, this request would require the replacement of south-facing signal heads at this intersection to accommodate a protected left turn indication. A flashing yellow arrow would also be introduced at this intersection, as has been done at some other signals within the City. It should be noted that Kwik Trip has submitted an application to construct a gas station/convenience store operation at this intersection, with a request for a driveway which would terminate at the east side of the intersection. Excerpt from the Traffic Review Advisory Board meeting minutes: Mr. Kline did not think it was warranted at this time. Mr. Schuster noted the area is wide open with no visibility issues. He suggested waiting to see what happens at this intersection when and if the proposed Kwik Trip opens. DEFEATED BY TRAFFIC REVIEW BOARD(1-5) A REQUEST FOR NO PARKING ON THE WEST SIDE OF OREGON STREET FROM 33 FEET SOUTH OF 9TH AVENUE TO 55 FEET SOUTH OF 9TH AVENUE BETWEEN THE HOURS OF 6:00 A.M. AND 7:00 P.M., MONDAYS THROUGH SATURDAYS. (CURRENT CONDITION: UNRESTRICTED PARKING.) This is a Transportation Department request. On April 1, 2013, GO Transit is introducing a new route system which involves relocation of numerous transit stops. Currently, GO Transit Route 11 stops on the west side of Oregon Street, north of 9th Avenue. The route system restructure will assign this stop to Route 8, and will relocate the stop south of 9th Avenue. This request would extend the existing no parking area by one parking stall, which would allow the bus to pull out of traffic to drop off and pick up passengers. This request would prohibit parking only during the hours in which bus service is operating. ITEMS DEFEATED 5 JANUARY 2013 This area of Oregon Street currently has marked on-street parking stalls. If enacted, this request would eliminate one stall. Data collected in fall 2011 show that stalls on this section of Oregon Street have a 35 percent utilization rate, so there should continue to be adequate parking capacity even with the removal of one stall. Excerpt from the Traffic Review Advisory Board meeting minutes: Mr. Cameron Stang, 907 Oregon Street (Expressive Apparel), was opposed to this request. He said they have limited parking this area. This would be an inconvenience for their customers. Mr. Kaprelian asked if there was parking behind his business. Mr. Stang noted that it is very rare to have spots open for their customers. He noted they are sharing spots with other businesses and upstairs tenants. With Garden Gate floral shop next to him, the spaces are being used for their delivery trucks that come and go all day. Mr. Brian Burns, 903 Oregon Street, has been there for 19 years. The small businesses need this parking for their customers. Mr. Kline noted a bus stopped at the proposed stop would have to pull out into two lanes of traffic to clear the parked vehicle in front of the stop. He was opposed to the request. DEFEATED BY TRAFFIC REVIEW BOARD(0-6)