PC 061202 - Laserfiche WebLink

/"'" Rick Dowling, Dowling Associates, gave the PowerPoint presentation on the 2001 Baseline Traffic Report, and noted that Pleasanton was the only city that he knew of that produced an annual baseline report. THE PUBLIC HEARING WAS OPENED. Tom Gill, 6415 Amber Lane, noted that he was impressed with the body of work presented, especially with regards to the service standards based on the quality of life criteria. He believed that there was a disconnect between adding capacity, and keeping the traffic under control in the more congested routes. He believed that the City should develop a way to get many more bicyclists and pedestrians on the road, and added that the major streets were not currently conducive to them. He did not agree with the elimination of any crosswalks, and added that they were important to the safety of bicyclists and pedestrians. He noted that the Commission had a chance to put an end to the lack of attention given to the pedestrians and bicyclists. He believed the model was a good one, and would like to see the importance of pedestrians equal that of traffic. ,--... Steve Brozosky, 1700 Vineyard Ave, inquired why the traffic decreased by 5% in 2001- 2002, Jeff Knowles replied that the assumption was because of the community downturn. Mr. Brozosky did not believe that Route 84 would not be increased to four lanes in the next 20 years, and believed that the model should be reworked, eliminating that assumption. He added that there would be many environmental factors as well. He believed that if every mitigation in the report was instituted, the same traffic problems would still exist because the point of diminishing returns had been reached. He noted that most residents wanted to know how long it would take to get from Point A to Point B, and how the signals were synchronized. THE PUBLIC HEARING WAS CLOSED. In response to Commissioner Arkin's inquiry whether it would be possible to put the Demand-Simulation model on the web, so that residents could run a simulation for a variety of routes, Rick Dowling replied that would be possible. The users could use the information in the software in a number of ways. Commissioner Arkin noted that he was very impressed with the software. Mr. Dowling noted that they were asking for the recommendation of the Baseline Report, with the understanding that it was the first year of the model. They recognize that there are areas that need to be refined. - Commissioner Roberts was pleased to see quality of life issues addressed in the residential neighborhoods. She added that she was horrified that the past baseline reports did not include regional traffic. She addressed Tom Gill's concerns about prioritizing, and did not believe it was the purpose of the Baseline Traffic Report to prioritize. She believed the General Plan would address that issue, as well as the encouragement of bicycle and pedestrian traffic. She noted that the mitigations were general, and added that there had not been an analysis which prioritized the traffic concerns. PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES June 12,2002 Page II