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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03 - Parking Restrictions on Balboa Bouleard� CITY OF NEWPORT REACH City Council Staff Report Agenda Item No. 3 July 24, 2012 TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL FROM: Public Works Department Stephen G. Badum, Public Works Director 949 - 644 -3311, sbadum(cDnewportbeachca.gov PREPARED BY: Antony Brine, City Traffic Engineer APPROVED: ^"U-,VA/ TITLE: Removal of Parking Restrictions on Balboa Boulevard between 15th Street and 19th Street ABSTRACT: Staff recommends the adoption of a Resolution removing existing parking restrictions on the northerly side of Balboa Boulevard between 15th Street and 19th Street. RECOMMENDATIONS: 1. Rescind Resolution 95 -121. 2. Adopt Resolution 2012 - 61 removing existing parking restrictions on the northerly side of Balboa Boulevard, between 15th Street and 19th Street, between 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, between May 15 and September 15, Memorial Day, July 4, and Labor Day. FUNDING REQUIREMENTS: If the Resolution is approved, signs establishing NO PARKING restrictions will be removed on the northerly side of Balboa Boulevard between 15th Street and 19th Street. Cost for removal of the signs will be under $500.00 and will be funded by current Maintenance and Operations budget. Removal of Parking Restrictions on Balboa Boulevard between 15th Street and 19th Street July 24, 2012 Page 2 DISCUSSION: Since 1965, parking has been prohibited, with varying restrictions, on the northerly side of this segment of Balboa Boulevard. Initially, parking was restricted year -round on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays between 15th Street and 22nd Street, with no specified time limits. Between 1965 and 1995, there were several Resolutions approved by the City Council to revise the parking restrictions to either change the roadway limits of the restrictions, the hours of restrictions, or to add certain holidays. On November 13, 1995, the City Council approved Resolution 95 -121 prohibiting parking on the northerly side of Balboa Boulevard during summer months, between 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. on weekends, Memorial Day, July 4 and Labor Day. These are the current parking restrictions. The primary change approved with Resolution 95 -121 was that the previous parking restrictions would become effective only between May 15 and September 15, rather than year- round. It was determined that during the non - summer months, demand for the third westbound traffic lane would be minimal. In February 2010, the Central Newport Beach Community Association requested that the City remove the existing "No Parking" restrictions on the north side of Balboa Boulevard between 15th Street and 19th Street during summer months, Saturday and Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The purpose of the request was to provide for additional parking for residents and beach visitors. Approximately 60 on- street parking spaces would be provided between 15th Street and 19th Street. During the past two summers, staff has observed the traffic flow, with and without the parking restrictions, to determine if there would be impacts associated with adding parking and eliminating the third westbound lane during summer weekends. In the summer of 2010, staff removed the parking restriction signs on a trial basis. Parking was allowed during that summer, except for major holidays. Staff observations of traffic showed that during peak traffic congestion times, the traffic flow was not impacted by the parking restrictions alone. Other factors including the high pedestrian volumes, the previous flashing crosswalk at Newport and 23rd Street, the weather variations, visitor confusion, all contributed to the congestion between 15th Street and 28th Street. At the end of the summer of 2010, new advance lane designation signs were installed between 18th and 19th Streets to help reduce the last- minute lane changes made prior to the outbound Newport Boulevard /Balboa Boulevard split. In early 2011, the flashing crosswalk was changed to a full traffic signal to better control pedestrian crossings. Also, the traffic signal modernization project was completed including new signal timing to synchronize the traffic signals on the peninsula. New CCTV cameras were installed to monitor traffic and adjust timing based on traffic flow. In the summer of 2011, parking was restricted as posted on Saturday, Sunday, and the designated holidays between 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. for the entire summer. Using the v Removal of Parking Restrictions on Balboa Boulevard between 15th Street and 19th Street July 24, 2012 Page 3 CCTV cameras, staff observed traffic on the following dates between 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.: July 4; July 16 -17; August 13 -14; August 20 -21; August 27 -28; and September 5 For all of the observations, the peak period for exiting the peninsula was approximately 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. For the most part, prior to 6:00 p.m. the third westbound lane was not being used by drivers even though it was open to traffic. On July 4, the lane was being used by bicyclists throughout the day. Even with parking allowed after 6:00 p.m., staff did not see any unusual queue issues. Staffs observations showed that the traffic flow on the peninsula improved greatly with the new signal modernization system, synchronization and staff monitoring. Meetings have been held with the Central Newport Beach Community Association, the Balboa Peninsula Point Association, and Balboa Village representatives. After a discussion of the history and staff's observations, each of the Associations indicated no objections to the proposed removal of parking restrictions. For these reasons, it is staffs opinion that the parking restrictions can be removed, without significant traffic impacts. Staff would like to note that as the construction of the Marina Park project moves forward, planning should begin for the future installation of parking meters along the north side of this segment of Balboa Boulevard. Generally, on- street parking meters have been installed on the peninsula on segments of roadway that are commercial, or are not immediately adjacent to residential frontage. Installing parking meters adjacent to Marina Park, as the project develops, would be consistent with current practice. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW: Staff recommends the City Council find this action is not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act ( "CEQA ") pursuant to Sections 15060(c)(2) (the activity will not result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment) and 15060(c)(3) (Architectural and Engineering services is not a project as defined in Section 15378) of the CEQA Guidelines, California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Chapter 3, because it has no potential for resulting in physical change to the environment, directly or indirectly. Removal of Parking Restrictions on Balboa Boulevard between 15th Street and 19th Street July 24, 2012 Page 4 NOTICING: The agenda item has been noticed according to the Brown Act (72 hours in advance of the meeting at which the City Council considers the item). Submitted bv: Attachments: A. Location Map B. Resolution 0 3 CD 17th St 16th St r, r r i 3 Jr a � ' 18th St .j 19th St O r O '77 0 Z 00 m� C/) > O • �I ATTACHMENT B RESOLUTION NO. 2012- A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH REMOVING "NO PARKING" RESTRICTIONS ON BALBOA BOULEVARD BETWEEN 15TH STREET AND 19TH STREET AND RESCINDING RESOLUTION NO. 95 -121 WHEREAS, Section 12.44.150 of the Newport Beach Municipal Code provides that the City Council shall by Resolution designate streets or portions of streets on which the parking or standing of vehicles is to be prohibited. The City Council shall designate in the Resolution the days of the week and the exact hours during which such prohibition shall be in effect; and WHEREAS, the City Council previously approved Resolution 95 -121 designating parking restrictions on the northerly side of Balboa Boulevard, between 15th Street and 19th Street, between 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, between May 15 and September 15, Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day; and WHEREAS, the City Council has determined that it is reasonable and in the public interest to allow parking of vehicles on the northerly side of Balboa Boulevard, between 15th Street and 19th Street with no parking restrictions. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City Traffic Engineer shall remove all necessary signs that indicate said designated parking restrictions; BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Resolution No. 95 -121 be and hereby is rescinded. Adopted this 24th day of July, 2012 Mayor ATTEST: City Clerk McDonald, Cristal From: City Clerk's Office Sent: Friday, July 20, 2012 3:22 PM "RECEIVED AFTER AGENDA To: McDonald, Cristal r- �� Subject: FW: Agenda Item 3 6iP .�D. From: David Hernandez [SMTP:DAHERNANOEARTHL'INK.NETI Sent: Friday, July 20, 2012 3:22:01 PM To: City Clerk's Office; mhenn527(cDhotmail , com Subject: Agenda Item 3 Auto forwarded by a Rule Dear Council Members, I strongly support agenda item 3, removal of parking restrictions on Balboa Boulevard. Sincerely, David A. Hernandez, Ph.D., Ed.D. RESIDENT 1826'/2 West Balboa Boulevard Newport Beach, CA 92663 -4515 (949) 293 -1506 1 McDonald, Cristal From: Craig M [craigmorissette @hotmail.com) Sent: Friday, July 20, 2012 5:42 PM To: City Clerk's Office; mhenn527 @hotmail.com; Curry, Keith; Selich, Edward; gardnerncy @aol.com; Brown, Leilani; Daigle, Leslie; parandigm @aol.com; Hill, Rush Cc: Kiff, Dave Subject: My thoughts on 7/24/2012 City Council agenda items "RECEIVED AFTER AGENOA PR RITEI:" _'Z4� - - — Dear Newport Beach Councilmembers Hello everyone. Thank you for considering my thoughts when you vote on several 7 /24/2012 agenda items. Item 3 — Removal of parking restrictions on Balboa Blvd. The signs should have been removed several decades ago. They serve no purpose. They restrict parking before 6:OOPM, yet allow parking during the summer weekend mass exodus from the peninsula -- generally sometime between 6:30PM and 8:OOPM (depending on weather and sunset time). Item 16 — Marina Park Coastal Land Use Plan Amendment. It would be a missed opportunity to not to include an iconic design element in the Marina Park project. I've attended nearly every Marina Park related meeting in the past many years and I can't recall a better "iconic" idea than the lighthouse. A 35ft lighthouse is a ridiculous notion. It simply doesn't fit the scale of the buildings. So, I'm either for a properly scaled lighthouse (71' sounds good to me), or no lighthouse. Item 13 — Phase 11 Lower Bay Dredging. All I can say is DREDGE, DREDGE, DREDGE —if the funds are available. I was out in the main channel the other day and watched some kids "turtle" a Lido 14. The funny thing was that the head of the sails were scooping mud long before the boat was upside down. It's not that deep out there —as you all well know! As for Banning Ranch, I still haven't a clue. But, I'll let you know after wading through the staff report this weekend. Oh, and I really liked the policy of not supporting private political fundraisers with public funds. As much as we would all like any presidential candidate to come visit us, if it's private then the folks giving the party should pay for city services. As always, thank you for your dedicated hard work. Craig Morissette Newport Beach resident and homeowner McDonald, Cristal From: Carol Trenton [caroltrenton @yahoo.com] Sent: Friday, July 20, 2012 6:31 PM To: City Clerk's Office Cc: mhenn527 @hotmail.com Subject: REMOVAL OF BALBOA BLVD PARKING RESTRICTIONS Dear Council Members - ee C— C nr> r. F "1= t,1r1!i:�[3 A -T,_Fi FiLCiaiSr1 rvu ;; _--3 is?: --: + —__ I strongly support agenda item 3, removal of parking restrictions on Balboa Blvd. 'There are only three signs on the 1800 block, the signs are not distinctive and displayed brilliantly and the verbiage is misleading. Anyone not familiar with the area would be unsuspecting of the consequences. Thank you. Carol Trenton 1817 W. Balboa Blvd. Resident McDonald, Cristal From: The Larsons [larsons44 @hotmail.com] Sent: Friday, July 20, 2012 7:23 PM To: City Clerk's office "REC El. VED AFTER AGEN"M Subject: tow -away signs on Balboa Blvd PRINTED:" 7ray'�� Council Members, We support agenda item 3, removal of parking restrictions on Balboa Blvd. Thank you, Mark and Kay Larson Residents: 1715 W. Balboa Blvd McDonald, Cristal From: Oriented [oriented @aol.com] Sent: Saturday, July 21, 2012 8:01 AM To: mhenn527 @hotmail.com; City Clerk's Office Subject: Tow -away signs Dear Mike Henn and City Clerk and all Council Members I strongly support agenda item3, removal of parking restrictions on Balboa Boulevard. Sincerely Orien Ted Pfeiffer 108 18 th St Newport Beach resident and registered voter 1 "RECEIVED " tMR AGED, . a ?L McDonald, Cristal From: QualityRlty @aol.com Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2012 11:07 AM To: City Clerk's Office Subject: Removal of parking restrictions I support agenda item 3,removal of parking restrictions on Balboa Blvd. Sincerely Jack Hardy. 1828'West Balboa Blvd. -Tr r McDonald, Cristal From: John [allegro @roadrunner.coml Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2012 8:18 PM To: City Clerk's Office; mhenn527 @hotmail.com T,EAcIV Ss GE Subject: Parking Restrictions Hi Councilman Mike and others, d-11J o- I want to inform you of my support for agenda item 3, the removal of parking restrictions on Balboa Blvd. I'm a long time resident (since 1990), and have operated a business down here for a number of years. I only would add that having an enlarged red painted curb area by the corners would increase safety for all. John Grafman 1823 West Bay Ave. Unit A Newport Beach, CA 92663 949 -279 -4444 McDonald. Cristal "RECEIVED / ETER AGENDA From: Grace Dove [doveperch @sbcglobal.net] J Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2012 8:48 PM To: City Clerk's Office Subject: Support For Removal of Parking - Item 3 - City Council Agenda 7/24/12 Attachments: photo.JPG; ATT539738.txt This is to support the removal of parking restrictions on the north side of Balboa Blvd. between 15th and 19th Streets on summer weekends. As a long time resident by the intersection of 15th and W. Balboa, I have watched cars being needlessly towed, as evidenced by the photo taken last summer. As the staff report explains, the traffic lane is not needed but the 60 plus parking spaces being sacrificed certainly are needed by residents, their guests, other residents of Newport Beach who do not have ready beach access and visitors. City staff is to be commended for the traffic light synchronization program which has improved traffic flow and for accepting the suggestion to research the restoration of the 60 plus weekend parking spaces. Thank you, Grace Dove 1 1 y L. 1�• i i Is Y 4 Jim I w Brown, Leilani From: McDonald, Cristal Sent: Monday, July 23, 2012 10:40 AM " „CtC�IULD AFTER AGENDA To: Brown, Leilani "' Subject: Item 3 - 7/24/12 Council Meeting . 1, C.V 11 Leilani, Mr. Hyans request you please relay the below message to Council via email for the 7124112 meeting, Item 3. Thanks. Mr. and Mrs. Hyans support the removal of the parking restrictions on Balboa Blvd. Cristal M. McDonald Administrative Assistant Office of the City Clerk City of Newport Beach 3300 Newport Blvd. I Newport Beach I CA 192663 T (949) 644-30051 F (949) 723 -3530 1 cmcdonald a(7newportbeachca.gov McDonald, Cristal From: City Clerk's Office Sent: Monday, July 23, 2012 4:17 PM To: McDonald, Cristal Subject: FW: No- Parking sign removal on the "RECEIVED 1500 -1800 blocks of W. Balboa Blvd. From: David Ricketts ` SMTP : DAVID. RICKETTS(@SBCGLOBAL. NET I Sent: Monday, July 23, 2012 4:16:49 PM To: 'Mike Henn'; m hen n527no hotmail.com Cc: City Clerk's Office Subject: No- Parking sign removal on the 1500 -1800 blocks of W. Balboa Blvd. Auto forwarded by a Rule Dear Mr. Henn and Council Members, I support agenda item 3 of Tuesday's meeting, 7/24/12, removal of parking restrictions on Balboa Blvd. Thank you for listening. Sincerely, David Ricketts, homeowner 1824 W. Balboa Blvd. Newport Beach, CA 92663 From: Mike Henn Imailto:mfhenn(o)verizon.net) Sent: Monday, July 12, 2010 8:11 AM To: 'David Ricketts'; 'Dave Kiff Subject: RE: No- Parking sign removal on the 1800 block of W. Balboa Blvd. Mr. Ricketts: Thanks for your input. I live on Balboa Peninsula, so I am intimately familiar with the situation. The signs were taken down on a trial basis and this situation is still being assessed. Please stay in contact with the Central Newport Community Association, as I am working with them to organize a public meeting to discuss this issue sometime soon. Mike From: David Ricketts ( mailto: david.ricketts(alsbcglobal.net] Sent: Sunday, July 11, 2010 11:11 PM To: Dave Kiff; Mike Henn Subject: No- Parking sign removal on the 1800 block of W. Balboa Blvd. Dear Sirs, I am writing to thank the persons involved for removing the No Parking on Weekend signs on the bay side of the 1800 block of W. Balboa Blvd for improving my safety and my neighbors'. If you're not familiar with this, here's the background. Westbound Balboa Blvd. is 4lanes wide, normally with 2 lanes of traffic, one lane of metered parking at the center divider and another lane for public parking next to the sidewalk. For years, no parking was enforced on this single block during daytime hours until 6PM on summer weekends, creating a 3,d lane of traffic right next to the sidewalk. The sidewalk is only 5 It wide on the 1800 block, whereas it's 10 ft wide on the 1900 block where the street is permanently 3 lanes wide. Recently, those signs were removed, and daytime parking is now allowed during the weekends. Allowing the street parking to remain has made it safer for the larger number of weekend pedestrians, since cars have been speeding up when they reach the temporarily open 3« lane, in many cases well over the speed limit. These speeding cars are also less able to respond to the busy crosswalk at 19th and Balboa. There's a dogleg to the road, so this particular sidewalk doesn't have the best visibility, but is plenty safe with two lanes of traffic at 30mph. I've lived on this block for 15 years, and listened to countless screeching brakes at that crosswalk during the summer. Fortunately, as far as I know, there have been no pedestrian injuries, but there have been a few fender benders and a lot of close calls. This has been the first summer I've been able to relax while walking on the sidewalk weekends in front of my own house. Again, thank you. David Ricketts, homeowner 1824 W. Balboa Blvd. Newport Beach, CA 92663 McDonald, Cristal From: Tom Boyer [tboyer @boyerco.com] Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2012 8:25 AM "ii�Gu!KD ?1F 8i �.la r�i To: City Clerk's Office F.x , ; ;" -�L3 _ Cc: mhenn527 @hotmail.com 7 I strongly support agenda item 3, removal of parking restriction on Balboa Boulevard Sincerely Tom Boyer Redsident 1806 W oceanfront NB 92663 BOYER COMPANY ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS www.Boverco.com 1656 Babcock Street Costa Mesa CA 92627 McDonald, Cristal From: steve trenton [stren4 @yahoo.comj Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2012 9:16 AM To: City Clerk's Office R`CFI`ED p?aFR{ GENT;'A Subject: parking ;,,,i.,_ ": � 2 a� —taLf. .Y�.:. C�.. ._ -_- % a-`'i l i strongly support agenda item 3 removal of parkingrestrictions boa boulevard sincerely resident steve trenton McDonald, Cristal From: Fred Pratt [fred_bsphl @msn.com] Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 201211:52 AM To: City Clerk's office 1 �E[Ue� FiER AGEia Cc: mhenn527 @hotmail.com; Bay Shores on the Peninsula Subject: Agenda item 3 - Support Gentlemen, I support agenda item 3 at tonight's City Council meeting. We always need that parking more than we need the occasional increase in traffic flow. Thank you. Fred Pratt 1806 W. Balboa Blvd. Newport Beach