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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAGENDA REPORT 2018 0502 CCSA REG ITEM 09A MOORPARK CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT TO: Honorable City Council FROM: Shaun Kroes, Program Manager DATE: April 20, 2018 (CC Meeting of 05/02/18) SUBJECT: Consider Analysis of Parking Restrictions on Second Street and Bus Stop Alternative Locations SUMMARY On February 21, 2018, City Council approved Resolution 2018-3681, restricting Parking from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday through Friday at two bus stops located on Second Street (northwest corner of Second Street and Millard Street; and the southeast corner of Second Street and Bard Street). City Council also directed staff to report back to City Council in May 2018 after the Transportation and Public Works Committee (Committee) had an opportunity to discuss comments provided by ACCESS riders and further review the parking restrictions. The Committee met on April 2, 2018 and concurred with staff’s recommendation to continue to provide bus service along Second Street and leave the current parking restrictions in place. BACKGROUND On March 6, Public Works staff installed temporary signage establishing the parking restrictions at the bus stop located on the southeast corner of Second Street and Bard Street. Signage was installed at Second Street and Bard Street as it was the bus stop of greater concern due to a homeowner on Bard Street stating the parking restrictions would restrict access to the property’s side gate. Temporary signage was not installed at the northwest corner of Second Street and Millard Street due to additional signage not being available and because that stop was already delineated by a bus shelter. Permanent signage was installed on March 28 at both bus stops (Attachment 1). Attachment 2 provides an aerial view of the parking restrictions on Second Street. Attachment 3 also provides close-up photographs of the signs posted on Second Street. Attachment 4 provides another close-up photograph showing the end of the parking Item: 9.A CITY OF MOORPARK, CALIFORNIA City Council Meeting of May 2, 2018 ACTION Received and filed report M. Benson 1 restriction at the southeast corner of Second Street and Bard Street and the resident’s side gate. The side gate is approximately six feet beyond the restricted parking area. Unrestricted parking continues 41 feet from the restricted parking area to the property line of 390 Bard Street. Under the current configuration there is adequate parking for at least two vehicles, more than enough space for a vehicle to be parked next to the side gate for access to the property. As a reminder, the parking restriction itself is only effective Monday through Friday, 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Outside of that restriction, vehicles can park within the 50-foot restricted parking area. Staff has received feedback from the bus operator stating that the bus drivers like the space provided by the restricted parking zone. At this time, there’s no proposal to extend the length of the 50-foot restricted parking area. As City Council may recall, continuing existing bus service and adding a second route through Second Street were a result of a year-long transit study approved by City Council on May 17, 2017, which included comments from the public requesting that bus service remain on Second Street. For additional background information, further passenger counts were performed March 5- 16, 2018 for both Route 1 and Route 2 at both bus stops. Table 1 below provides a summary of the average number of passengers that board and alight from each stop per day. Table 1: Average Daily Boarding and Alighting on Second Street Route Bus Stop Passenger Count 1 Second and Millard (northwest corner) 20 2 Second and Bard (southeast corner) 10* *Route 2 did a makeup count day on Wednesday, March 20 as a complete day’s count was not performed on Wednesday, March 13. It should be noted that ridership can fluctuate on a daily basis and that boardings and alightings are not necessarily evenly split. For example, on Tuesday, March 6, Route 1 had 29 total boardings and alightings, with 11 boardings and 18 alightings. On Thursday, March 8, Route 1 had 9 total boardings and alightings, with 5 boardings and 4 alightings. Similarly, on Thursday, March 8, Route 2 had 20 total boardings and alightings, with 8 passengers boarding and 12 passengers alighting. The next day, Route 2 had 3 total boardings and alightings, with 1 passenger boarding and 2 passengers alighting. Passenger counts are potentially lower than at other times of the year as ACCESS confirmed that they did not use Moorpark City Transit a few times during the two weeks of passenger counts due to poor weather conditions. DISCUSSION City staff met with ACCESS on March 22, including three staff members and one student at the ACCESS facility located at 30 Flory Avenue to discuss ACCESS’ use of the two bus stops on Second Street, as well as potential impacts of no longer providing bus service on 2 Second Street. Students and their instructors/aides compose a large portion of passengers who use the Second Street bus stops. Class groups currently using Route 1 and Route 2 range from as small as one individual student to groups of 10-12 students with 3-6 staff. The ACCESS Program serves students aged 18 to 22 with moderate to severe disabilities by providing training services such as job training, independent living, and community-based instruction, including utilizing public transportation and accessing Moorpark College (for some students). The bus service is utilized almost daily, though there can be days when they are not able to travel. Alternative bus stops for Route 1 and Route 2 discussed at the March 22 meeting were: 1. Route 1 (currently located at northwest corner of Second Street and Millard Street) would be Spring Road at Woodcreek Apartments and the Ruben Castro Human Services Center. 2. Route 2 (currently located at the southeast corner of Second Street and Bard Street) would be Moorpark Avenue at Moorpark Town Center and the southeast corner of Los Angeles Avenue and Moorpark Avenue. During the meeting, ACCESS provided some of the following comments about the use of bus stops on Second Street and about bus stop alternatives. Comments included: • Some of the students walk slowly. By having the bus stops on Second Street instructors are able to spend more time teaching safety skills while the students walk to and from the bus stop. When students use busier streets such as Moorpark Avenue and Los Angeles Avenue more time is spent actively attempting to cross the street(s). • For the alternative bus stops for Route 1 (Spring Road), the bus stops would be a greater walking distance (approximately 1,500 feet further); though Spring Road is a less intimidating road to cross than Los Angeles Avenue or Moorpark Avenue. • For the alternative bus stops for Route 2 (Moorpark Avenue and Los Angeles Avenue) ACCESS staff stated the Moorpark Avenue stop would be more feasible for their students than Los Angeles Avenue (though they have crossed Los Angeles Avenue in the past). They currently use Moorpark Avenue for certain trips, usually crossing at the Third Street pedestrian crossing. Crossing Los Angeles Avenue is more difficult due to the width of the road (some students walk slowly and they also have students in wheelchairs). ACCESS staff did mention that they currently have one student who has stopped in the middle of the road to look at grass growing through the cracks in the pavement when crossing. It is staff’s position that both bus stops are well used and are in safe locations. The 50- foot restricted parking area leaves space available for a vehicle to be parked near the resident’s side gate and the drivers have reported that they have enough space to pull into the bus stop and pull out without interference from parked vehicles. Also, although the focus of this staff report has been the use of the bus route by ACCESS, there are other neighborhood residents who use the Second Street bus stops. Staff has received 3 one comment from a resident who lives in the neighborhood who also uses a wheelchair. He voiced concern about losing the Route 1 bus stop (northwest corner of Second Street and Millard Street), which he routinely uses. As previously mentioned in this staff report, as well as at the February 21, 2018 City Council meeting, and the April 2, 2018 Committee meeting, alternatives to continuing to provide bus service on Second Street include: 1. Remove bus stop at southeast corner of Second Street and Bard Street. If removed, Route 2 would be diverted to the southeast corner of Los Angeles Avenue and Moorpark Avenue as it travels east to Moorpark Marketplace. Bus stops would be provided along Moorpark Avenue and Los Angeles Avenue which have more traffic and Moorpark Avenue would require stopping traffic when at the stop. 2. Remove both bus stops on Second Street. This would be similar to the removal of other bus stops along Christian Barrett Drive, Mountain Trail Street, and Countrywood Drive performed in August 2017. The loss of the bus stop on the northwest corner of Second Street and Millard Street would also mean that Route 1 would no longer serve the bus stop in front of the Metrolink Train Station (the latest passenger counts for the Metrolink Train Station were in April 2016, averaging 10 boardings and alightings per day). Route 2 would continue to provide service and passengers would also be able to use the VCTC East County and VCTC East-West Connector services to travel to Moorpark College. Alternatively, potential passengers could walk from the train station to the southeast corner of Princeton Avenue and Spring Road to board Route 1. Attachment 5 provides an image of the City’s current bus route map in the downtown area. Attachment 6 provides an aerial image of current bus stops in the downtown area, and the location of the alternative bus stops mentioned in items 1 and 2 above. Should City Council determine that it wants to remove one or both bus stops on Second Street, staff will need to post notices about the proposed removal and return to City Council with a request to remove the bus stops and approve a revised bus route map and schedule. Additionally, a date for the removal of the bus stops would need to be scheduled with enough advance time for staff to produce and distribute new Ride Guides. During the Committee meeting on April 2, one of the homeowners on Bard Street spoke about the bus stop located at the southeast corner of Second Street and Bard Street. She stated that the new parking restrictions leave enough space for her to park her vehicle next to the side gate. She did have safety concerns along Second Street as children walk to and from the Flory Academy in the morning and afternoon. She was concerned about speeding vehicles and children and other pedestrians running across the street without using the marked intersections. She also noted an issue where she’s noticed people kicking her side gate. The Committee advised that if she continues to observe people actively kicking her side gate she should contact the Moorpark Police Department. City staff also forwarded a request to the Moorpark Police Department for 4 additional police presence (if possible) during the noted times of concern (7:30 am – 9:00 am and 2:45 pm – 3:30 pm during school days). Moorpark Police Department did increase police presence. They noted traffic is heavy during the times mentioned as there’s only one lane of traffic in each direction and there’s a large amount of people gathering to pick up their children from school. Moorpark Police Department ran LIDAR and no speeding tickets were issued. As previously mentioned, the Committee concurred with City staff’s recommendation to continue to provide bus service along Second Street and leave current parking restrictions in place. City staff will continue to monitor use of both bus stops (performing occasional passenger counts) as well as continue to evaluate the bus routes themselves to determine if sometime in the future one or both of the bus routes should be removed from Second Street due to ridership trends. FISCAL IMPACT None. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Receive and File. Attachments 1. Second Street Signage 2. Second Street Aerial View 3. Second Street Signage Positions 4. Second Street Side Elevation View 5. Route Map 6. Bus Stop Aerial Image 5 Northwest corner of Second Street & Millard Street Southeast corner of Second Street and Bard Street Attachment 1 6 Attachment 2 7 Start point of restricted parking zone. Southeast corner of Second Street and Bard Street. End point of restricted parking zone. Blocked  for  privacy  Blocked  for  privacy  Attachment 3 8   Side gate is approximately 6 feet east of restricted parking zone. 9 10 11 Attachment 6 asdgfasdfas12