Folsom City Council Regular Meeting

>>> we will call to over the regular meeting of the folsom city council for March 26, 2019. [Roll call]. >> if you will join me in the pledge of allegiance.>> >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Spector we have any agenda updates? Other than the fact that we are esesr~ moving item 10 b? >> nothing different than what you described. >> I want to remind everybody that if anyone has an item that they want to speak on there are blue speaker cards on the table , you can fill one out and handed to our officer. That would be wonderful. And with that we will start with business from the floor. We have one request to speak. Welcome muriel, you have three minutes. >> thank you mayor howell. We have residence in the audience that are supporting the california voting rights act. By district elections it's less expensive because fewer ballots need to be printed each election. And the principle of one vote. Ensuring that they have one representative who is accountable to the voters in the neighborhood that elected him or her. We hope that the folsom city council will begin the process towards going from at-large to district elections. thank you. >> thank you muriel. >> the other cards I have are for agenda items. >> with that we will move to the scheduled presentations. The first is a proclamation regarding the community be involved on arbor day. And I last council member kozlowski to do that presentation. >> anna nunez is a city arborist. >> is that loud enough? >> you can move the microphone over if you want to? >> fantastic. Okay. I am the lorax and I speak for the trees. >> you look more like a tree. >> this is a proclamation of the mayor of the city of folsom to become involved in arbor day. And I present that to our city arborist amy nunez. The proclamation says that in 1872, j sterling rapoza a special day be set aside for the planting of trees. In 1907 President Roosevelt claimed that the national time to plant trees. It's observed throughout the nation and the world and will be celebrated in folsom on April 17. Trees can reduce the erosion, cut heating and cooling costs, moderate the temperatures citywide, clean-air, produce a life-giving oxygen, provide habitat for wildlife and protect us from the harmful effects of the sun on her skin. Trees are a renewable resource, giving us paper for our homes, furniture, and trees in our city increase the property value and enhance and beautify our community. Trees wherever they are planted are a source of joy and spiritual renewal. We will be planting a ceremonial tree and pruning young trees in celebration of arbor day. And now in place of mayor howell declare April 13 as arbor day for the city of folsom. And encourage all listens to celebrate by planting a tree of their own or at her city arbor day plenty. And I encourage citizens to promote the well-being of this and future generations as folsom becomes a tree city usa for the 13th year in a row. So proclaimed on March 26, 2019. Here is your certificate. >> arbor day is being celebrated on April 13. I encourage everyone to come out and help us celebrate our urban forest. Bring your appetite. John will be providing much. Hopefully that sweetens the deal. >> thank you. >>> the next item will be a proclamation for "creek week" and council member gaylord will be presenting that one. >> I will be presenting this to glenn, he will be accepting the proclamation from the city of folsom. Declaring the week of April 4 as a "creek week". I got to travel by bicycle and sell the gorgeous creeks. Do not Miss It. The sacramento area creek council preserves and protects and restores the urban streams. And urban creeks including willow, alder, and gold creek in the city of folsom are important amenities within our commute. Providing recreation, and many other benefits. Whereas the folsom creek flows into the american river and is an important source of drinking water, fisheries, and resources in the region. Actions we take to promote "creek week" benefit the rivers, citizens are being called upon to be part of the areawide volunteer effort to improve and enhance waterways by clearing trash and debris. And as a city of folsom sponsors "creek week" activities. Covering costs and publicizing event. Providing lunch to volunteers. And providing citizens with the April 13th cleanup. Collecting and disposing debris as needed. The sacramento area creek council has designated April 4 through the 13th as "creek week". Therefore I council member gaylord on behalf of mayor howell and the folsom city council proclaim April 4-13 as "creek week". We call upon the citizens and civic organizations to acquaint themselves with the activities, fun, adventure during the special week set aside to benefit the creeks and rivers. Declared on March 26, 2019. >> thank you very much for this proclamation. We enjoy a high quality of life here in folsom. One of the reasons we enjoy that. Is because of the creeks and trails that we have. They are very beautiful this time of year. The wildfires are out in the grass is green. In the creeks are looking good. That is just one amenity that we have. Those things don't happen by accident. It takes a leadership of the city council and I like to thank them for leading us, there are many communities where the creeks are put in the pipeline are paved in concrete. But here they are out for us to enjoy. Every year we have a "creek week" to clean up. And we had about 100 volunteers that will go around picking up and making the creeks look nice. We are looking for more volunteers. The sacramento creek council has a website. You can go there and volunteer. And then they have the cleanup on April 13. We appreciate all the help and support that the city has done over the years. Thank you. >>> with that we will moved to the consent calendar. Does anyone want to pull anything from the consent calendar. Anybody? >> I will move in adoption for the consent calendar. >> we have a motion and a second? >> [Roll call] >>> that moves us to a public hearing. >> that public hearing is item 8. Public hearing: a. Ordinance no. 1292-an uncodified ordinance adopting prima facie speed limits on blue ravine road and on iron point road (Introduction and first reading) >> point of order. Can I just ask. Can you explain the purpose of a first reading, and what the action is ultimately? >> I asked the city attorney to do that. >> thank you mayor howell. It is a statutory requirement that every ordinance be introduced at one meeting and then reread again at a separate meeting. So that if there is any change to be made it can be made before final adoption. >> is a vote necessary this evening? >> yes her. >> good evening. My name is mark I engineering manager the public works department. We are here to adopt updated speed limits on blue ravine and I am point road. This is a legally mandated update that we are required to do on a tenure basis. This is the first of several such items that we will bring to this year. The first of two roads that we have recommendations for, biting the deer we will have updated speed limits on all major roads north of highway 50. And some of the new roads south of 50. census is the first of the items, and it has been 10 years since we have done a comprehensive update of the speed limits. I thought it would be appropriate to give a presentation on the statutory regulations associated with the speed limits. The procedure that we go through. And clear up any misconceptions about what speed limits are for. And what they accomplished. And hopefully we can get to the main event which is the recommended speed limits on the two streets. The last time we had a comprehensive the speed a survey was in 2010. The traffic officers have been using the speed surveys, the sacramento county traffic court has advised them that it is time to update the surveys to continue to use the radar for speed enforcement. I will go through several slides explaining exactly what an engineering in traffic survey is. Known as a speed rate. And then we will get to the recommendations. This is the basic speed law. I have highlighted the most important phrase in there. Reasonable and prudent. The state has taken upon them selves to define region reasonable and prudent when it comes to adopting spirits. They said the 85th percentile is the critical speed. This was a statistical measure. That 85% of the traffic doesn't exceed a certain speed. and May define that as a reasonable and prudent. I think we could spend the evening debating whether or not 85% of motorists on a given day or road, whether they are driving prudently. Never last this is what the law is based off of. And what is freed speed surveys are based off of and this is what we need to adhere to. Some of the factors influencing speed, in tonight's case we are talking about free flow speed. Anyone as a motorist would drive on the road with unconstrained conditions. No heavy traffic. No presence of law enforcement. No adverse weather. In the absence of anything. What speed do you feel is the appropriate speed to drive on the spit street. Including the geometric conditions of the road. The vertical and horizontal environment. Are you in a dense urban setting or in a rural grassland. How frequently are there stop signs or traffic signals. And then other factors. Driveways people parking on that street. Large concentrations of bicycles and pedestrians. If taken as a whole, you could take a street in downtown sacramento which is in a dense urban setting, with frequent traffic controls and high volumes of pedestrians. And people will not drive on that street like they would herein folsom that is the same with but is a more suburban or rural setting. with lower volumes of pedestrians and less traffic control. All of these factors control how you feel you should drive on that street. So why do we need engineering and traffic surveys? Is to enforce the speed limit through the use of radar. The california penal code prescribes that. This is a speed in absence of any other regulation or posted signs. What is the speed that the majority of people feel is a reasonable and prudent on any given street. What we are trying to accomplish is the speed limit that encourages uniform driving behavior. Ideally if we posted 45 miles an hour everyone will be going 45 miles per hour. But we know that that is not the case. Ideally if we post the speed limit to match the characteristics of that road people will adhere to the posted limit. This is just to demonstrate the vehicle code that has the most regulations associated with definitions of speeds and speed limit that define how surveys are supposed to be performed. And how you handle the percentage once we calculate. The manual on uniform traffic control devices they said the policy speeds and the methodologies for gathering this information. And then the reason we are here this evening. It responds to the city council for adopting speed limits based off a valid survey. So what is engineering traffic survey commonly known as a speed survey. It's one speed survey for one section of road. It is in engineering a document that is signed and stamped by a licensed engineer. And it is in legal document. Once all of these surveys are adopted by local agencies they are provided to the traffic court for that jurisdiction. That would be the sacramento county, and officers referred to the surveys when defending against the speed violations. >> every now and then we get questions about the use of an engineer stamp on documents. You and I know this. Whether or not the engineer has stamped the document. If it is a licensed engineer, whether or not the stamp has been used. We are responsible for whatever is in that document. And if there is misinformation or purposeful errors in the document. We are subject to discipline by the state of california and the board of registration for engineers. One of get that out there. >> very good point. >> even if there is no stem. >> I know it is hard to read. And I apologize. That is why I highlighted which each area of the survey depicts. I would note that each of the surveys was performed by a licensed engineer that the city retained. He has extensive experiences and multiple jurisdiction providing service. He was the most qualified for the surveys on our behalf. The first page of this example survey. Describes the section and row that was a survey. Other areas summarize the speed statistics. And I will going to that on the next page. They document the daily traffic volume and what the street classification is. If it is arterial or residential. The collision history is also documented. And then it is used to calculate what the accident rate on the road would be. And that it is compared to a statewide average. In this case there were 49 accidents on this stretch of road over a five-year period. And that came to a rate of 1.14 per million vehicle miles. That's a standard term. A common denominator so that all agencies can compare their accident rates against averages and other agencies. In this case the statewide average for this type of road is 1.61. In this example the accident rate is much lower. And down to area five is the roadway conditions. With adjacent land uses. Residential with some shopping centers. The roadway conditions, four lanes with the center turn lane. And periodic traffic controls. The engineer has put in comments , based on his finding what he recommends should happen. At the bottom you see is a signature and stamp along with his recommendations. The second page is where the real meat of the report is. Describing the location and what is important. The surveys are not done during peak hours. We don't want congestion to affect the speed of traffic. This survey was done on a thursday in front of folsom middle school. Between 130 and 3:20 pm. After lunch and before student pick up. They were able to get free flow conditions. It's also important that it was clear and dry conditions. Weather was not affecting people's driving behaviors. The road conditions were dry. Wet pavement affects people's driving ability. The second section is the speed broken down into individual space. At the top of 10 miles per hour in the bottom of 70. And you can see the breakdown of the speeds. And the length of each bars. The number of cars there were going at that speed. I think the longest here was 42. And 16 vehicles that were going through 42 miles per hour. >> those of you that have a background in statistics. You will note the standard bell curve, it's a valid statistical example. We are not surveying every motorist traveling on that road in any given day. It's between 100 and 200 vehicles that are traveling at free flow speak. Representing a sample that the engineer can fall back on. And then these little tiny numbers down here are the statistical averages the 50th percentile. And the 85th percentile and then the 10 mile-per-hour pace. Which is a bracket of 10 miles per hour, 10 speeds that most cars were traveling in. It has to be this area right here in the middle. Where you can see that dense concentration of speeds. The 85th percentile is important number for the california vehicle code. I've zoomed in to show you. This example is 46 miles per hour. Now the next step in the process we have to round to the five mile per hour increments and talk about the appropriate speed limits. On this line I plotted out where that percentile is. The nearest five mile per hour is a 45. Just rounding down to 45. It does allow an engineer to do one more five mile an hour zoning if they determined that there factors present that are not apparent to the motorist that should affect the posted speed limit. In this case, if we were to do that. It would drop down to 40 miles per hour. Let's look at what that does. The 40 miles per hour is this orange line. If we were to have that justification. Whether it was right or wrong. We would be saying the half of the motorists out there are exceeding the speed limit we know that the 85th percentile is closer to 45 miles per hour. One of the things that the manual uniform traffic control devices. It's careful if you're trying to do that because you can create a situation where there will be a disproportionate number of collisions because they have a wider variance of speed. Some people will be trying to drive at that prevailing speed which is closer to 45, and others will be trying to adhere to the posted speed limit for whatever reason. And then you get this larger variation in speed. It is allowed. And it is encouraged. There is a lot of caution that goes with it. The other example would be if you had an 85th percentile that was in the 49 range. The nearest increment would be rounding up. You can get a downward zoning for engineering reasons. The law office says you can downward zone and take no further reductions regardless of engineering factors. Under this scenario, if you had 85th percentile that is 48 or 49. The lowest you go is a 45. You couldn't under any circumstance justify anything lower than 45 miles per hour. I'm going to pause there for a second. I know that's pretty heavy. And it's all general principles. Before we get into the specifics of iron point and blue reading road does anyone have any questions? >> I have a question. This was done over two hours, not multiple days, is that the standard? Doesn't seem like two hours every 10 years is a lot. >> you would be surprised how consistent it is. If the roadway has not changed. And we're looking at blue reading road over by folsom middle school. That roadway hasn't changed for more than 10 years. The traffic drives on that street at the speed that they feel is a reasonable and prudent. And that number hasn't changed over time. >> any other questions? >> I have one. >> how do you account for the chicken and egg nature of testing that prevailing speed on a road that has a posted speed limit already? >> good question. I've experienced that a lot in my years here at the city. As the city has grown a lot of it is initial engineering judgment. You look at a given street. Like when iron point was extended. And what other roads look a lot like iron point road. And what do we establish with those. Will put that in as an initial posting. Or we will leave it on posted and let the traffic find its own prevailing speed. >> was this one poster did have a gas? >> blue ravine road has been surveyed as far back as I have been here. Folsom please farming to their own surveys and establish the speed limit here in town. You're having the agency in enforcing the speed limit and setting it. Nfl to the engineering department to start doing surveys. We did those in 2000 and 2010. This year we decided to bring in an outside unbiased consulting firm. >> this portion of blue ravine has been paid for 35 years. This was before it extended to folsom boulevard. >> got it. >> I'm not sure that that was an answer to the question I asked. >> it's been posted a 45 for a long time. >> the original question was how to avoid the chicken and add a speed limit where people are encouraged specifically to not exceed 45 miles per hour. If it was posted at 45 miles per hour for two weeks and you did this test would it be 42 miles per hour. >> it's possible. We have to disable what was an adopted speed limit sign by an engineer endorsed by the city council we would have to unravel all of that and adopt a temporary limit by the public. >> I'm not suggesting that we do any of that. >> I'm just wondering how it has been addressed in terms of statistical analysis. >> that is like saying the flow of a pipe is six inch worth of water at whatever pressures delivered >> if I could jump in. i think what you would see is increased accident rates, and other factors would be involved if you look at the traffic study. And that would become glaring over such a long period of time. People will drive that speed because it is comfortable. Whether the geometrics were. >> I understand the principle of it. I'm not suggesting that there's anything faulty about the actual test that was done. I'm just curious about how to overcome the fact that you've already told people how fast to drive? >> I suspect did if you were to ask people driving they would know. They say I drive 45. >> thank you >> any other questions. Here we are for tonight. We are talking specifically about iron point road and blue ravine road. In this case we have identified five distinct segment and conducted a survey for each of those segments. Here is a summary of the findings. You will see for the most part there are situations where it was a rounded up and sat back down, as in the second example that was given. Or rounded to the lower speed. He did not identify any engineering factors that allow for further downward winding. That was reviewed by the staff as well and we concluded for these particular sections, none of the roads have gone through significant change since the last survey was it done. there are no justifications they were not present in the 2010 that we should cite now. I will get back to that with one particular section of blue ravine road it's about to go through a significant change. It May lead us to do a new radar survey out there this summer. For now the conclusions are maintained all of the existing speed limits on these at 12 sections of road. >> can I ask a question on that. So line number two. The 85th percentile. You could recommend 50. And then there is another one on their. Number eight. You can brown that went to 35 if you wanted to? >> you could. But that is a case where your rounding up and the law permits you to go down to five miles an hour for no further justification. That one is correct for 30. I should note on item number nine. You can see a range of speeds. We do have a short 40 mile an hour zone in the vicinity of dick's sporting goods shopping center through the target intersection. The rest of that stretch is generally rural on the south side because of the creek and on the north side, residential. As we come into that area it becomes retail, there are higher driveway density. We had a short 40 mile an hour zone in there. And we want to acknowledge and recognize that we can maintain that short speed zone. the findings and conclusions, we've reviewed the speed surveys and approve them. The traffic safety committee recommended maintaining the current speed limits. That wasn't without some discussion. It was a good discussion. That ended up in a 6-1 vote to maintain the speed limits. We did talk about blue ravine road from oak avenue to east nokomis. Whether or not conditions existed that would allow for those engineering factors to go down to 40 miles per hour. The committeem m said no. He doesn't feel like the right speed limit. B~b~u_`_`;t it feels appropriate. The police department representative didn't feel that it would hold up in court. So the vote was to maintain the speed limit. The full dissenting vote was the activist on the community who said anything with a lower speed limit has to be beneficial for bicyclists. She was favoring the lower speed limit. The committee picked to further actions. We will bring that back later this week. For further discussion for safety improvements and as mentioned earlier that stretch of road is about to go as significant change. We are resurfacing the road and after it is resurfaced, instead of reinstalling the striping as it is today. We will install it with 11 foot vehicle lanes, and some stretches will be 14 feet wide. And to create a buffer between the vehicle lanes and the bicycle lanes. And then have a slightly wider bike lane. That affect could affect people's prevailing speeds. Once the striping is in place, and people have adjusted to it, we recommend going back and doing another speed survey. And if the results come back lower, and then we will come back with a recommendation to create a lower speed zone. That was another recommendation they came out of the traffic safety committee discussion regarding subpoenas. >> I'm happy to hear that. The only reminder I'm going to give you, we've been through this before is that we tried that on glenn and it didn't change the speed at all. I think it has already been done on the lower part of the flower between willow creek and blue ravine. I think that was tried a year ago. That's my neighborhood. And it has not slowed the traffic down. It's not that bad. But there are a lot of people traveling faster than I am at 25 miles per hour. >> I want to give any false expectations. This is something that we feel would be a significant change in the character of that road. And we feel compelled to resurvey it. >> probably late summer. >> you have alluded, and maybe this is a question for the police chief. you've alluded to the fact that the sacramento court was not satisfied with the speed of survey that we have because it is dated. And that enforcement would be compromised without adopting the speed limits. Can you expand on that a little bit? I don't really get where a dated speed survey did exist is in defensible somehow? >> it's a specified in the section on california vehicle code section 408. In order to use the radar for speed enforcement there must be a valid survey, and it must be done within the last five years there's been a change in road conditions or can be as long as 10 years if the road stays the same. In all of these cases. >> are you publicizing a get out of jail free card. >> if we adopt these. They are still valid. From 2010 means we are good through the rest of this year. They are giving us a heads up that we are pushing the boundaries of compliance. >> this again is probably specific. In terms of enforcement. Do we have a lot of traffic citations for speed they get contested? >> in this way. >> that I could not tell you for certain. I do interact with the traffic enforcement officers frequently . They do go down to sacramento court and defend a lot of citations. We are doing our part as engineers to give them the tools that they need to properly enforce and defend in court. >> it's important to note that radar enforcement isn't the only method of enforcement the police can do. Is just simply the most efficient. They can fall behind the speeder and paste the car, and then have to go to court and explain the process that they went through. You can imagine that's more time-consuming and flaccid safe for the officer. This is their preferred method. It's something we've been asked to do for them, and we happily do that for them. >> we recommend that the council adopt the recommended speed limits of those surveys and then as stated earlier, you will see me again for future roadways as those surveys get prepared by staff and go through the process. I'm not going go through the presentation every time. This is just a primer. But in the future we will be bringing this specific recommendations to you. >> any other questions? >> what is this being that speed limit on green valley road? >> I think it's 55 miles per hour. Specs the people coming out from where it transitions into blue ravine? How do we slow them down? >> we look at the speed limit sign or do the lights coordinate? So they could just fly through that area? >> we post signs warning people that there are speeds ahead. Saying that there is reduced speeds ahead. Beyond that there's not a lot we can do to convey or compel them to change their speed. Green valley road is a great example. It's about to go through significant change. It's about to be widened to four lanes. We will be here after that project with the new radar survey >> I make the same request. Please do increase enforcement to scare people to driving slower. >> when is the green valley project? >> it is on hold because of the weather. We have a contractor selected. He's done some preliminary work. But the summer they will hit it again. >> we will place a barrier out there in April. >> the movable concrete barrier. >> if it says 70 miles an hour I ago 60. Is a mandatory to set this stage is that because of the liability that we might get into. Q u we bring it down? If it says it should be 50. That it qualifies for 50 they're going go faster. >> again we are trying to accomplish two important things when we set this below. Trying to create uniformity. I use folsom boulevard as an example. I think that is one of the 50 mile an hour streets in town. generally it's a flat, straight, road. And when you're out of the traffic conditions. It tends to allow for higher speeds. If everyone is traveling around that speed, that is uniformity, and it is a safe. And then the other aspect that we are trying to achieve his enforceability. If we do not want to enable radar enforcement on that street. Then we don't have to adopt and enforceable speed limit. Be prepared that the consequence is that we May set a speed limit that is arbitrarily low. Not defensible in any incidents. Through speed enforcement or in the event of a collision, and there going to get that wider variation in speeds that leads to aggressive driving and unsafe lane changes. >> so blue ravine is 50 miles an hour. And once you go pastf(F(!N blue ravine it goes up to 55? >> your talk about green valley. >> no I'm talking brown green back. I'll go to green valley. >> if you go over the bridge that's 50 miles an hour, you change from that point to 55 until you get to folsom boulevard. If it's 50 all the way to blue ravine. And it's the same way coming back is that because it's mostly trees and everything there? >> again. The roadside development changes as you go through the various sections. There are some areas where you have development. Light development on both sides of the road. But you do have development. You going down or up the hill depending on the direction. And as you get down to green back lane you into that area were the shopping center is.'s the character of the road starts to change. You May have to potentially different segments and two different radar surveys. Going across the river, that's a whole another survey. A very unique condition. And then once you get down on the folsom boulevard. That's in generally the same. Once you get past nokomis history. Until you get to lake forest. There is a multiple surveys. We haven't received the most recent results. I am curious to see if anything has changed there. Usually traffic conditions don't change unless the road itself changes. I am not expecting a huge change in recommended speed limits. But we will see what they come up with. >> more to come on the other streets that are not moving. >> bring us back to blue ravine and iron point. We have any more questions before we close the public hearing? We have two requests to speak. Versus elinor hopkins and then Joanne. >> welcome. You have three minutes. >> this is where I should stand? >> my name is eleanor and I am a member of the folsom folsom advocates. I have three children. We regularly walked to where we need to get in folsom. I'm concerned because many of the roads are unsafe for people who are not traveling the roads and motor vehicles. The speed limits are too high along the roadways to accommodate other users that are not in cars. I am disappointed that the recommendations being brought forward do not recommend a reduction in speed limit along the two roads in these current speed studies. The way the roads are currently designed. We were talking about specifically on blue ravine, this permit is 45 miles per hour. And is recommended to stay that way. I wanted to express my concern in general about how the roads are designed and how speed limits are based on. I am not sure if you are aware of the speeds at which collisions with pedestrians and vehicles are fatal. If the vehicle is traveling at 20 miles an hour or less, the chances of someone dying is 5%. At the 30 miles per hour the chances go up to 40%. And then at 40 miles per hour they go up to 80%. Once your beyond 50 miles per hour. If you're struck by a vehicle you are guaranteed to die. We talked about the 85% rule for determining what speed should be. I know that this is the accepted way of doing things. The speed limit is set based on how fast people drive on the road. Which how the road is designed. So if you divine a road that makes people think they can drive fast, of course it will. If you make a residential road feel like a highway. Y with multiple lanes people are going to drive like they are in a highway. And because they drive fast, the speed limit gets set higher. Which is and how it should be. In the road design does affect us. Another thing that wasn't really discussed in the analysis and the background provided it doesn't mention traffic other than motor vehicles. It discusses minimizing the inconvenience to cars and other motor vehicles but there is no mention of other users that are on the roads. Whether it's bicycles or pedestrians. There are other users on the roads that deserve equal consideration and more consideration and priority since the users are not encased in the protective metal of a vehicle. And there a greater risk for bodily injury and in event of a collision. Those that can drive or choose to transport themselves are no less deserving than those in cars and it's a shame that the laws are so weighted towards motor vehicles. it is one thing to have higher speed limits on roads like highways whether or not conflicting uses like schools or shopping centers that require people coming in or out. But where there are people using roads that are not in cars, the higher speed limits are not acceptable. On blue ravine we were talking about the section between where folsom middle school is. I'm interested because I have three young children who enjoy bicycling. I want them to have the freedom of mobility. To feel safe, children shouldn't have to fear for their lives, it doesn't need to be such a conflict between cars and other road users. And it really comes down to the infrastructure sign. The way the roads are designed. There are lots of examples. Other countries that have figured it out. Countries like the netherlands. A few decades ago, they made a conscious effort as a country to increase the safety of their roads for everyone. The result is a significant decrease in pedestrian mortality rates, and increase in quality of life, I was just looking today, dutch drivers have the highest satisfaction rating. Which I thought was interesting. The netherlands have a clear set of guidelines that includes separated tracks for roads that are over 18 miles per hour. If their roads are under that speed limit, you can find mixed modes of transportation. but when they have that there is clear signage and prioritizing over who has the right-of-way at the intersections and crossings. Local roads have the speed limits of 10 miles per hour. >> I'm sorry to interrupt. You're going on six minutes. >> can I ask a question? >> what are some of the common trips that you make in folsom on foot. Or on bicycles. >> we bicycle to and from school every day. So school trips are the bulk of our trips. But we also bicycle to get groceries to sports activities, swimming, karate, basically anywhere we need to go.'s back which artillery or roads are you on. >> we try to avoid roads that are 45 miles per hour. Blue ravine folsom boulevard >> I'm not trying to figure out where you live. I'm just trying to figure out if blue ravine is a path that you use? >> it would be. We find ourselves having to take a different route. We also have a really nice trail system which is fantastic. Sometimes those trails let us get to where we need to go, minimizing our ability, we don't need to go on the roads. We shouldn't have to take a different route. We should be able to get where we need to go. Having sake safe bicycle lanes. But not when there's a speed that is over 40 miles per hour. If you get hit you're going to die. I wouldn't put my childrenww~b on any of those roads. >> as a side and no. I was in denmark last year. And it was a revelation. It was very confusing when I was riding in a taxi. He looked unfamiliar. But on foot it seemed much more protective for bicyclists. >> denmark, the netherlands, they have the best european example of infrastructure that works for motorists and pedestrians and cyclists. >> thank you! I want take up any more time. That's pretty much my point. I definitely think that lowering the speed limit and having an extra 30 seconds is worth saving someone's life. And I urge you to consider and question the way that we design our streets and implement better designs to include appropriate speed limits that accommodate all users equitably and safely. >> thank you >> next is that Joanne. >> I want to address some of the points that mark May. I attended that traffic safety committee. And I take exception to some of the things that he characterized at that meeting. You have already had your education on the 85th percentile. I will not go through that. At the traffic safety committee . I thought I was there to thank mark for the recommendation of a reduction to 40 miles per hour. I met with him in January, and we went through the 85th percentile and explained that as the engineer he has the ability to round down or make a five mile an hour recommendation. And he intended to do that. He invited me to attend the traffic safety committee. I was prepared to thank him for making that reduction. At the meeting he did not make the 40 mile-per-hour reduction. He left the speed as is. Issuing a speeding citation. I don't want to blow their cover and give everyone here a heads up as to how fast motorists can travel in a 45 mile an hour zone before getting a citation. I was appalled by the revelation. The citation for issuing anything lower mean she can be thrown out of court. When I explained to my husband what the 85th percentile rule was. He literally said to me. That is a little chris. There is no way that is how the speed limit is set. You must have misunderstood. I challenged him to look it up. And there was no misunderstanding on my part. Again in the traffic safety committee meeting. There was discussion about the fact that the speed limits in our area of blue ravine, in the big valley parkway area, that the threshold that was discussed was much to the consternation of the residents of that area. And I replied that is why I am here. I come to this meeting because I am related to the fatality incident that happened on January 10, 2019. Which is not included in the speed study because it took place prior to that fatality incident. It is not the reason why I am currently involved. It open my eyes to what I believe is a bigger wide safety issue. I was led to believe I didn't have a three minute limit at this point in time. I will try to jump through my notes. To what I think are some of the high points. Beverly newman was the only traffic safety committee member that is stood up for people other than motor vehicle us. She was only one that took the convoluted blue ravine vote and specifically asked to have the records state that she was opposed to not reducing the speed limit to 40 miles per hour from prairie city to east natoma street. I'm going to try to articulate the need that eluded the engineer for the reduction of speed from is natoma to prairie city. I will try to do this quickly. The answer to your question, as you come down green valley into folsom. The speed limit is 50 miles per hour. There is no sign from green valley until the first 45 mile an hour speed sign this is reduced to speed ahead. There is no warning that it goes from 50 to 45. I have driven all the way down, there is no warning as your approach that your speed limit is changing from 50 to 45. there is a 45 mile an hour speed limit on the sidewalk. This is the only means of notifying you that the speed has been reduced to 45. Interestingly enough. As you travel blue ravine, and I talk about going from natoma to prairie city. As I travel southwest. There's all kinds of businesses on blue ravine. At that segment, there is a solid medium that prevents crazy cross traffic. It also prevents left terms and certain situations. There are several roads coming off blue ravine their uncontrolled accesses. Several of those are uncontrolled accesses. >> none of them are in uncontrolled. They all have stoplight. >> the point I'm trying to make. At south parkway. And oak avenue. And at the folsom middle school, >> there is a stop sign or stop light at every one of them. >> let me finish my point. >> on big valley lower there is a stop sign for big valley that prevents him from barreling out. But there's nothing that prevents him from making a left turn across two lanes of traffic onto the northeast side of the blue ravine. That is in uncontrolled access point across the southwest lane. >> you called uncontrolled. But there's a stop sign. >> it's not a four way stop. >> the same is true for crossing way. there is nothing that helps the motorists trying to get across the southwest lanes of traffic. The segment of blue ravine the ghost 40 miles per hour is one block long. There is a sign way back on flower, excuse me on school street that says 40 miles per hour ahead. I have driven it and I have a walked in. There are no other signs that say 40 miles per hour until you cross east bidwell and you hit wells fargo. And then the 40 mile-per-hour speed limit sign that lasts for one block. The if I travel northeast on blue ravine, cross it doesn't get the same benefit, as I come up from riley to east bidwell, I've already passed crossing. He gets the benefit of a 40 miles an hour and then there is no reduction or increase in speed. It stays at 40 miles an hour on that side of the road from golden one all the way past folsom middle school all the way to just before flour. And then it's 45 miles an hour. When the little darlings are there in reduces to 25 miles per hour. Why is it appropriate to drive a 45 miles an hour going southwest, and appropriate to drive a 40 miles an hour going northeast? It's inconsistent that should be addressed. If there is any justification on blue ravine to reduce to 40 miles per hour, then I suggest a reason to reduced along the entire segment. After everything I laid out before you, if you consider adopting the new blue ravine recommendation how does it affect these 40 mile an hour sections already in place. Why is it okay to travel that section at 45 miles an hour but northeast at 40 miles per hour. Why is the southwest section so small? What is in the northeast section reduced to 40 miles per hour prior to crossing. Why are there no 40 mile an hour section signs on the north side. When will it be revisited or appealed? If adopted to remain at 45 miles per hour can we address some of the issues that I have raised? Can we reduce the speed on the green valley section to 45 at whatever point. And can we utilize additional measures available? More medians, warning lights, traffic signal improvements. Giving engineers the ability to use the new traffic control center to slow travel down. Restriping, or striping southwest blue ravine in the manner that is intended to be changed. Are there ways that we communicate to our citizens and others who travel that is slowing down saves lives. Just that five mile an hour speed reduction gives everyone response time doesn't matter. Can we come up with a public service campaign. And can I respect of the folsom police department take a new approach to speed enforcement. Whether or not a citation holds up in court is a crazy standard to employ. as a citizen of the city I would rather we err on the side of losing in court versus a site of not writing a ticket. And not delivering a slowdown message. You can affect behavior. Word of mouth will spread the you take the speed limit is seriously and you will consider without a threshold. I'm not a citizen that just sits by an idol he complains. Making streets safer, I will stand before you because I was touched by tragedy. I would be aware of this aside from that. It did happen, and I'm not going away when you see so clearly have the opportunity do so. It's just a matter time before others will have to's dan before you for the same reason that brought my attention to this matter. >> thank you Joanne. >> we have no other request to speak. To any questions from the staff? >> I just want to mention that I spent the better part of sunday and monday driving these streets and intersections and evaluating the speeds. When I was researching the speed of everyone around me and how unsafe conditions. There are some things that you can do. The greater signage and the striping and marking. There are some intersections that I found that even though they are controlled, there are some that could be more prominently shown so that when you're getting ready to cross the guy who doesn't see the red blows rick might see the striping in general. I think speed is an issue that we are facing in the city in general. Understanding the speed, I spent a good time about it, and I feel confident in the same that. I know that there are issues and everything can be improved. We have a young family with small kids and ride the bike's. And there are speed limits were the reduction going back. Speed in general, people are going through without looking at the speed limit that is posted. I May be a greater response to this beating from the police from it. Those are the comments that I have looking at the agenda over the weekend. >> any other questions of staff? >> I do. A procedural question. This is the first reading. As was asked earlier. We are voting whether or not to adopt this tonight. That is the first question. And then the second question what if we did not. What if we send back to the traffic safety committee. How does it affect our ability to enforce the existing speed limit for the next few months? >> if you don't mind, allow me to answer that. Matta mayor. To answer the question about tonight's action item. To introduce the ordinance. It's not too.. That will come after the second reading. this is a chance where you can evaluate the proposed speed limit and make any adjustments that you believe is appropriate. >> if we do that it needs to come back for another first reading. >> correct. Subject to the engineer study and the limitations established by the study. Basically what mark presented tonight. The wiggle room that you have to deal with the numbers that are verified by the traffic unit. >> the only thing that I would disagree with. I think that there is nothing based on a presentation of data. >> if there any recommendations or comments from the council this is a draft of surveys. We can go back to the engineer with some of the information that Joanne shared. We can discuss that in terms of better defining the boundaries for the speed zones that are recommended. Once we know those boundaries we can make the appropriate changes. If there are any sections that you are curious about. To use the term wiggle room. We can discuss that. And find out if he is the engineer on record would be comfortable and the staff would the evaluate this and we would put it back through the process. >> the only additional comment I make. This is just me with my engineer had. you can call those reports draft if you want to redo them. Right now they're not draft they are final reports. If you choose to redo them. They become drafts. The data is not going to change. It is what it is. And it indicates that the speed limit should remain as it is. Joanne brought up good points. That there is confusion about what the speed limits need to be and we need to make sure that the signage is where it belongs. But I think that is relatively easy if are going to move forward for lane and with the reduction. I don't think that is going to changes be there. I don't see it being anything more than what it is. The numbers are what they are. Downgrading the speed limits are going to make enforcement of any of those tickets much more difficult than they already are. I don't know what the threshold was talked about in traffic safety committee. I appreciate the previous speaker talk about safety. We need to post these based on the fact that the law believes that 85% of people are driving a reasonable speed. We can argue that all day. That is the way the law is written. It's not just here in the sacrament of. It is a nationwide. And these are how the speed limits are established everywhere. I see that in order for us not to have the same conversation again. Not to pay the consultant to do this be sorry. I am happy that we are able to keep it at 45. I was afraid that we were going to come in over 50 and we be stuck. And I would be very unhappy over that. Which is why as you know. And as a police department nose. I make that request every time we do a speed survey. To please have the police department out there in advance. So the people are little bit afraid. I don't see the wiggle room. And I don't see the point in delaying this and going over it again. >> let me ask a question. I do not want to jeopardize our ability to enforce the subpoena. Whether it's 40-45. Is there one that is better than the other? If we take a second look at this, and possibly bring it back. Or adopted with the understanding that in the next few months, let's say six months. It would be looked at again is the one that is preferable in being able to enforce? >> it would be the second scenario. Adopt what is before you today. Then every time we make changes. The striping plan, or whiting agreement and the opportunity, we will be reserving undo another survey and come back with fresh results. for the time being we are recommending adopting what is there to have enforceable speed limits. >> is there time threshold to revisit this? And we have to wait for a particular period of time? >> I think once a condition changes. I would advise that we give traffic a short period of time to acclimate. >> and then of these changes are going to happen in the next six weeks. >> I realize that. >> can I, to make a motion. On your map that you show where they did the different testing locations. Number 12 is my house. And I drive to number 14, the other end of the ravine every single day. I work at an office park on one end. And I'm intimately familiar with the complicated movement along that road. And I'm sensitive to the way that people use blue ravine in that zone between east natoma and the north parkway. It's a complicated left turn you have to make going back into the parkway. I have lots of neighbors that live in there. We all do that. What ends up happening. People coming off green valley that don't make the light don't realize that you have to go across two lanes to make that left. The come in and get contact, and causes all kinds of promise problems. That's an example of the issues with blue ravine. The other piece. I had kids that went to folsom middle school. And who bicycled it to school. They were there in two different time frames. And in both incidents they had first-hand experience. There is a need to do something to make us safer path to school along blue ravine. And I have recommended that before. What I would suggest the data is the data and the law is a lot. Looking at this while it seems flawed is the way that everyone looks at it. Delaying this adoption doesn't give us a meaningful prediction. What I would like Oh ?Qe is the traffic safety committee in their notes taking a look at safety overall along blue ravine . I would like to have them be specific in an assignment to send back to us from the staff and committee. For recommendations on specifically making blue ravine an example for future improvements, for safer pedestrian pathways re- evaluating those crosswalks. Some of them May be inappropriate or not timed correctly. Crazy as a mud. I think the level of service on the north parkway intersection might need to be downgraded to come up the works. So that people don't come blasting off green valley. There's a whole series of things. i recognize that speed is one of the areas where we control the safety. And I like to make sure that we identify what the others are, enforcement is obviously one of them. Clear signage is one of them. And how it is that we use the signal. With that being said, I'd like to make a motion that we adopt this ordinance, the first reading of it with the caveat that the traffic safety committee will look at safe pathways along blue ravine and bring back recommendations within the next 4-5 month. >> before the second reading. >> the second reading will be the next meeting. As schedule now. So that is not enough time to do an adequate analysis. >> we do not do first reading await six month. >> I don't know if I need to separate that? I think the staff gets the just of what I'm asking. In terms of this motion, I move that we adopted, understand that we're going to look at other ways to make blue ravine safer. And try to make that 50 percentile movement of main street. >> I agree with everything you said except I would like to see that case study put 4b for the first reading. >> book what case study? >> looking at better improvements, starting at half. I think the data is the data. If we go back to the consultant and spend money on that is not going to change. i do agree with that. I like to see those improvements come back >> I think that that is what the proposal has been. That will go back to traffic safety for recommendations. Determine what the changes will be, and determine what we have budget wise and what timeframe, and put that into practice. Once the changes have been made we will redo the speed survey. We could be looking at some of those things up to a year away. >> I second the motion. >> it even given a significant amount of direction? >> roll call. >> we will then take item 10 b in advance of nine a speculating mad american members of city council. >> we want to send the consultants home. >> I public works director. Thank you for taking the item out of order on the agenda. The item is requesting authorization to amend and restate the agreement with our current vendor, cal waste recovery system. For single stream recycling service. It's a do the restrictions imposed by china, known as the china national sword that has forced recyclers across california to slow their processing lines as well as increasing staffing to manually sort materials in order to meet the requirements imposed by china. This is resulted in an increase for costs, and coupled with the decreasing revenue, recyclers are forced to terminate their contracts or renegotiate those contracts. Staff has considered soliciting a new request for proposals to seek a new vendor. Sacramento county recently conducted a rfp and only received two proposals. They chose cal waste based on their proposal. That is our current recycler. If you have any questions in the staff report? I have marked rappaport and a representative from cal waste to answer your questions? >> to any questions? >> one question. The agreement with cal waste. Doesn't have a lot of tonnage? >> yes it's in a draft form. Let's pull up the number. I believe it's 5000 times. >> we are fairly confident that we will meet the requirements. >> any other questions? >> the only request that I would make is to do whatever we can to let people be aware of this issue. It's an ongoing issue. Years ago the city of folsom was one of the first communities to hit the recycling minimum. And for a long time we are making a significant amount of profit. That market has fallen apart. Letting the residents of no what they need to do to those things that they want to put into the recycling, so that we can minimize the amount of loss that the city is taking. Whether it's washing out can tainer's, whatever it is we need to do. To make people aware of that so that they can continue to put things in their recycling. >> we are on the brink of a major educational outreach to address that issue. >> some of the clauses in our contract address that issue. We already have a clean recycling stream going to the vendor. That's accommodated by premiums >> it would be a better revenue source >> the more we get it clean the more we can reduce our expenses. >> I make a motion to move >> second. Roll call >> with that we will move back to item 9 a resolution 10253 a resolution the city council proving establishment of the historic district parking solutions ad hoc committee. >> you're up again. >> I am here on this one as well. As you stated the resolution before you tonight is to establish the historic district parking solutions ad hoc committee. At your October 23 meeting you had a public workshop relating to the parking concerns in the residential portions of the historic district. We heard from many residents and business owners sharing their viewpoints. You directed staff to bring an action item to a point in ad hoc committee. For possible solutions on the parking issues. The proposed ad hoc committee will be tasked with discussing the parking constraints and challenges affecting residents. To explore possible solutions to alleviate parking concerns in the historic district and to make a final report and recommendation no later from 12 months from the first committee meeting. The committee is proposed to be established for one year, in each member of the committee. >> I need to clarify that my understanding is that it is based on the charter and should last six months but could go with extensions of that six months up to no more than one year. >> I believe the charter says one year. >> ideally I'd like to see the ad hoc community work at a little faster pace. >> we will discuss that is one of the motions to bring back quickly. >> each member of the committee shall have one vote, and it shall be made by majority vote. Community members shall choose that chair and vice chair, they will meet monthly for two hours, or more often as agreed to by the committee. Be open to the public with the notification disseminated throughout the city in advance to encourage maximum public participation. They will be professionally facilitated, not facilitator will be paid for by the city. City staff will report back to the council monthly through a written memorandum unless directed by the committee chair. The committee will support a report 12 months from the first committee meeting. And city manager May assign staff to provide administrative support and subject matter expert to the committee. >> I can assure you that the city manager will do just that. >> we can help. >> and now to the composition of the proposed ad hoc committee. The proposal tonight would be a nine-member committee, with two folsom district members. To folsom historic district residents association members. One historic district business owner not affiliated with the chamber of commerce. And I just repeated that. >> I can't even read it. >> one is business one is a resident. One resident outside of the historic district. And one business owner whose businesses outside of the historic district. And one professional planner or licensed engineer that is a folsom resident has professional expertise working on transportation related products. That is the formation, and I believe the city manager has additional comments. >> I just wanted to add that we suggest that no member of the ad hoc committee be a folsom elected or appointed official. To act on future recommendations. >> we had quite a discussion, I want to add one to the numbers that makes the committee a total of nine. There's a lot of give-and-take in that meeting. I'm very happy with t