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18041 Saratoga – Los Gatos Road, Monte Sereno, CA 95030 Tel: 408.354.7635 Fax: 408.395.7635 E-mail: [email protected]
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
October 10, 2019
JESSICA KAHN, CITY ENGINEER
[email protected]
Daves Avenue Elementary School
RECOMMENDATION
Discuss next steps for improvements for the Dave Avenue neighborhood post
September 19, 2019 Community Meeting. Identify a date for a joint City Council -Better
Streets Commission Meeting.
BACKGROUND
On September 19, 2019 approximately 20 people (including representatives from the
Los Gatos – Monte Sereno Police Department and the Los Gatos Union School District)
gathered to learn about the City of Monte Sereno’s proposals to ease congestion during
school drop off and pick up times on Daves Avenue and Poppy Lane and to provide
input on circulation in the Daves Avenue neighborhood.
The broad consensus obtained from the Community Meeting and survey was as
follows:
• There is not strong support for the proposed striping changes on Poppy Lane
• There is strong support for lighted signage
• Residents on Daves Avenue and Bruce Avenue desire traffic calming and speed
reinforcement
A detailed meeting summary is attached to this Staff Report. The Commission will
identify next steps during this meeting.
DAVES AVENUE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BETTER STREETS COMMISSION
PAGE 2 OF 2 OCTOBER 10, 2019
18041 Saratoga – Los Gatos Road, Monte Sereno, CA 95030 Tel: 408.354.7635 Fax: 408.395.7635 E-mail: [email protected]
A joint City Council -Better Streets Commission Meeting to discuss the
recommendations for the Daves Avenue Neighborhood is to be scheduled
in the near
future. Staff has identified Thursday, November 14 and Thursday December 12 as
potential dates for this meeting. Both dates are during weeks where there is not a
regular City Council meeting, are not City holidays, and the Council Chambers are
available. December 12 would be during the regular Commission meeting timeslot.
Other dates may be considered during this meeting.
PUBLIC NOTICING
The Better Street Commission’s agenda was posted at City Hall and the agenda and
this report appear on the City’s website.
Attachments:
M
COMMUNITY MEETING SUMMARY
OVERVIEW:
On September 19, 2019 approximately 20 people (including
representatives from the Los Gatos – Monte Sereno Police Department and the Los Gatos Union School District) gathered to learn about the City of Monte Sereno’s proposals to ease congestion during school drop off and pick up times on Daves Avenue and Poppy Lane and to provide input on circulation in the Daves Avenue neighborhood.
Specifically, the City proposed: • Striping improvements
o “Time‐of‐day” dedicated right turn lane and parking restriction on northbound Poppy Lane
o “Time‐of‐day” dedicated right turn lane and parking restriction on eastbound Daves Avenue
o Extended left turn pocket on westbound Daves Avenue • Red LED Flashing STOP Signs at the crosswalk intersection directly
adjacent to First Baptist Community Church. This location has been identified as a location of concern for pedestrian safety.
At the community meeting, City staff presented background information and alternative circulation options. The 2016 Los Gatos Safe Routes to School Phase 1 Project, prepared by the Town of Los Gatos and the Los Gatos Union School District, was referenced and is the basis of the proposed options. Conceptual ideas for circulation design were shown to stimulate public discussion and community input was requested in order to assist with the street improvement process.
The City also designed a 12-question online survey to educate and collect input from residents about options for addressing traffic and pedestrian
MEETING LOCATION:
Daves Ave Elementary
Multi-Purpose Room
17770 Daves Avenue
Monte Sereno, CA 95030
MEETING DATE/TIME:
September 19, 2019
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
COMMUNITY MEETING SUMMARY
Daves Avenue Neighborhood Traffic Circulation, Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety
Page | 2 and bicycle safety in the neighborhood. The survey
was accompanied with mockups of proposed changes and allowed for open questions and commentary. This survey was available both before and after the meeting and received several dozen individual responses.
Outreach Conducted for the
September 19, 2019 Meeting
Prior to the September 19, 2019 Community Meeting, City Staff prepared a flyer advertising the meeting to the community. This flyer was:• Mailed directly to residents in the Daves Avenue neighborhood
• Distributed in the School District’s and Daves Avenue Elementary weekly newsletter • Posted on the Safe Routes to School website
and Facebook page
• Posted on the City’s website • Displayed in City Hall
• Posted on Nextdoor (by City residents)
Public Comments
After the presentation, Staff facilitated dialogue about the proposed improvements. Below is a summary comments captured during the discussion, submitted on comment cards, by email, and the online survey.GENERAL COMMENTS
75% of survey respondents agreed that pedestrian and bicycle safety is an issue during drop-offs and pick-ups at Daves Elementary School. High traffic speed (80%) and poor driver behavior (70%) were identified as the main challenges of walking or biking in the Daves Avenue neighborhood.
During the meeting there was a robust discussion regarding speed hump/bumps and video
monitoring.
City staff advised that many cities are moving away from speed bumps and their use is often
discouraged/restricted by emergency responders. Other type of traffic calming such as street
narrowing and increased enforcement are potential options for the neighborhood.
Sergeant Greg Borromeo advised that the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department does not utilize camera/video monitoring as an enforcement tool due to legal challenges in California.
REACTIONS TO proposed
striping/parking changes
Survey responses were mixed in regards to the proposed striping improvements. Many meeting attendees were strongly against the “time of day” parking on Poppy Lane citing reduced parking for residents, school drop off parking moving further down the street disturbing other residents, and potential increased unsafe crossing behavior. • “If on street parking is eliminated, where will
the people who live on Poppy directly across from the school park their cars?”
• “No parking on Poppy will cause more cross street drop off”
• “I’m concerned about reduced parking during specific hours as it will throw parking further down Poppy Lane and Bruce on the housing side, which is already problematic (i.e. blocking driveways, mailboxes) Children possibly hit crossing to get to school.”
• “As a resident of the street for the past 9 years, we would like to express our concern about the proposal to remove the existing parking places
COMMUNITY MEETING SUMMARY
Daves Avenue Neighborhood Traffic Circulation, Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety
Page | 3 as there is already such a shortage of parking on
this street and even nearby. We already experience people blocking our driveways and mailboxes and taking up spaces in front of our homes that as residents, we would like to use ourselves. I know several people had other very good suggestions, and we hope those will also be considered. “
Meeting attendees were in favor of other striping/parking changes including:
• Make a no parking zone in the spot closest to the Poppy lot exit, visibility issue
• “… what was built as a right turning lane on Daves into Poppy almost always has a car parked in there during school times. That blocks traffic tremendously and should not be allowed in a turning lane.”
REACTIONS TO lighted signage
90% of survey respondents agreed that drivers are more likely to adhere to lighted and/or flashing traffic signs and 78% were in favor of the installation of a lighted stop sign at the Baptist Church crosswalk.
There was also strong support for lighted signage from meeting attendees
• “Speed bumps and lighted - flashing traffic signs together would force autos to slow down!” • “Better would be flashing lights on the street as
well.”
• “Drivers might not always wait till light is off again when pedestrians are done crossing - the next batch of pedestrians might think, they can run across as the lights are still on.“
• “I think lights in the locations right around Daves are not the solution, but for crossings on Daves further up the road are a right solution. “
COMMENTS – Daves Avenue
90% of survey respondents agreed that traffic congestion on Daves Avenue is an issue during morning drop-offs and afternoon pick-ups at Daves Avenue Elementary School.
The intersections with the most survey and meeting attendee comments were Daves Avenue at First Baptist Church (school crosswalk) and Daves Avenue at Poppy Lane
Meeting attendees who live on Daves Avenue desired speed reinforcement.
• “The entire stretch of Daves Ave. is unsafe due to high speeds and driver failure to
acknowledge stop signs.”
• “Traffic is very fast and heavy at times.”
• “Excessive traffic volume and use by large trucks and construction vehicles”
• “We have been coming down Daves Ave for many years now. (1) Traffic speed continues to increase. Daves is becoming a short cut between Hwy 9 and Winchester. (2) We see many drivers going through stop signs, mostly at intersection with Via Caballero. (3) In the two 90 degree curves, cars go to fast and cut the corners. Coming up the hill in those curves is dangerous if there is a car parked right after the first curve. It forces us on the street when visibility for coming cars is short. No parking!”
• “Daves Ave. has become very unsafe for pedestrians, bicyclist, and law abiding drivers mostly due to speeding and the failure to acknowledge stop signs and other posted traffic signage. Combined with the increase in traffic volume using the street as a shortcut for access to Winchester Blvd., Saratoga-Sunnyvale, and Quito Roads. The safety issue is further compounded by heavy construction vehicles
COMMUNITY MEETING SUMMARY
Daves Avenue Neighborhood Traffic Circulation, Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety
Page | 4 that commonly use Daves as a by-pass for sites
outside of the area.”
• "We need a safe way for the kids to cross the street at Equestrian to go onto the sidewalk.
• “My concern is from Equestrian to Via
Caballero. There is no sidewalk and the S-curve is dangerous. We cross the street at Equestrian to get to the sidewalk. Can a crosswalk be put in? Or extend the sidewalk to Hwy 9?”
• “A cross-walk where the side-walk ends at Equestrian Way would be really helpful, as we cross the street there (coming down from Via Caballero) to go onto the sidewalk. This is the best spot to cross the road, because the visibility is poor at the next several intersections.”
• “Having the crossing guards is key. When they are not there the crossings become even more dangerous."”
COMMENTS – Poppy Lane
Fewer survey respondents (56%) agreed that traffic congestion on Poppy Lane is an issue during morning drop-offs and afternoon pick-ups at Daves Avenue Elementary School.
Meeting attendees commented on traffic from Clubhouse being a hazard during pick up and drop off times.
• “Many kids bike on Poppy coming from Senior residential area cul de sac [El Sombrozo Oaks]” • “It is dangerous on corner of Bruce and Poppy
and more needs to be done to secure that area for kids on bikes and those who are walking to school from the El Sombrozo Oaks complex.” • “Need curb cut for bikes to get onto school
grounds from Poppy Lane”
• “Many times we have cycled on Poppy and doors from parked cars open without checking what's behind them. There is not enough space
for cyclists to be safe. The same happens as a pedestrian on the sidewalk.”
COMMENTS – Bruce Avenue
While the survey did not result in much public comment regarding Bruce Avenue, meeting attendees engaged in a robust discussion on traffic speed and pedestrian and bicycle safety on Bruce Avenue. Suggestions for improvement on Bruce Avenue included:
• Extend curb/sidewalk to wrap around Bruce (but not down Bruce as this would impact parking)
• Crossing guard on the corner of Poppy and Bruce
• Crosswalk across Bruce at Winchester • LED stop sign at Bruce and Poppy
• “As we drive down Bruce every day, I was also wondering why this street has not been upgraded like almost all of the other streets in Monte Sereno. The potholes are unbelievably huge and dangerous to cars, bikes, as well as pedestrians.”
Summary
The broad consensus obtained from the Community Meeting and survey was as follows:
• There is not strong support for the proposed striping changes on Poppy Lane
• There is strong support for lighted signage • Residents on Daves Avenue and Bruce Avenue
