PC 072606 - Laserfiche WebLink

~- - traffic signal not compatible with community character: Vote: 3-2 Yes: Commissioners Arkin, Foz, and Pearce. No: Commissioners Olson and Blank. Commissioner Olson commented that the Minutes of the January 11, 2005 Joint City Council Workshop included extensive discussion regarding how models aze used and how the process works and should work. He indicated that there aze some great ideas, some from current Commissioners, and inquired if any of these have been resolved at the Council level in past yeaz or if they are still in the position of multiple opinions about what the model should do, how to interpret results, and planning for traffic flow. Mr. Tassano replied that since January 2005, there have been great improvements on determining what to do and what approach to utilize. He stated that back then, staff tried a model with everything at the same time and then tried to discern what each did and what their benefits were. He noted that it appeared that the Council and Planning Commission wanted to take out items piece by piece and run the model, which would have taken a lot of time. He stated that the current approach will give a solid foundation to some general assumptions that Traffic Engineering believes need to be in place, and from there, work on additional improvements that maybe necessary for certain locations. r d In response to Commissioner Olson's inquiry if in this approach, the model begins with what the current levels of service aze and where they aze unacceptable, Mr. Tassano explained that to have any valid model and thrust for a future date, it will first have to be ensured that the model works. He added that from there, a lot of model validation takes place with the assignment of land uses, the number of vehicles on the road, and the amount of time it takes to get from one point to another. Commissioner Olson requested that the City Council be given a copy of the January 25, 2005 Minutes the next time this item comes before the Council. He noted that it would be beneficial for the Council to review these Minutes because of the great ideas that were presented and because many of the Councilmembers and Commissioners at that meeting aze still here. In connection with the removal of the West Las Positas Boulevazd interchange from the General Plan, Commissioner Fox stated that she recalls that one of the big issues in the neighborhood was that the neighbors did not want the area to appeaz like an interchange was ever going to be built there. She indicated that she thought the installation of a new traffic signal on West Las Positas Boulevazd at Muirwood Drive, as shown on the second-to-the-last bullet on page 2 of Attachment 1, was tied in some way to the interchange. She requested that staff re-visit that item, should the interchange be removed from the General Plan, to determine if a stop sign would be sufficient at that r.., intersection, considering that the amount of traffic would not be that much in the absence of an interchange. PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, July 26, 2006 Page 10 of 24