Item 4.1 ADDITONAL MATERIAL submitted by Lynne Baker at Council Meeting (2)Uate:
Item #: q I I
Submitted by: 1_�one -3lk°
Green Valley Highlands HOA Attachment 2: Resolution
Green Valley Highlands HOA Resolution dated March 1, 2013
Be it resolved that the Green Valley Highlands HOA is opposed to the proposed three
way stop at Stone Canyon and Martincoit as it will;
Increase vehicular noise and duration during braking and stopping and
acceleration for nearby residents,
Increase the ease of use of Stone Canyon and Martincoit as bypass for
Pomerado and Espola, `
Is pursuant to a request from those who are unhappy about the increase in
speed limit from 30 - 35 mph on Martincoit,
Provide false hope to those neighbors that want speed control,
Is an attempt to use a stop sign to control speeds on north bound Martincoit in
violation of California state law, Federal MUCTD requirements and sound
traffic control principles,
Is supported by those who benefit from and those who utilize the bypass to
take their children to school 3/4 of a mile north on Martincoit (just 1 block from
the arterial Espola) who now must cue and wait for residents to exit the
neighborhood before turning north,
Is a solution in pursuit of a problem as adjacent residents are overwhelmingly
in support of the status quo T stop intersection signage,
Will endanger drivers traveling south on Martincoit into the intersection, an
unintended consequence that has not been studied,
Will increase the potential for rear end collisions from the south -bound
travelers into lower Green Valley due to difficult sight lines,
Will greatly reduce throughput from the hundreds of residents off upper
Martincoit who have only this route for egress, causing a public safety issue in
an emergency situation,
Will not reduce speeds on Martincoit or make our neighborhood safer.
Green Valley Highlands HOA Attachment 1: Chronology
Martincoit Traffic History
Only two changes have occurred to Martincoit Road near the subject
intersection in over 20 years. First, the road was striped at residents request
to create bike lanes and narrow the lane of travel in 2009 -2010. This striping
also placed a double yellow line on Martincoit for the first time in history, and
against local wishes, increased the speed limit from 30 mph to 35 mph.
The increased limit induced higher speeds of travel, and the road striping
allowed pedestrian and bicycles access. Speed studies conducted at some
distance north from this intersection, near the bottom of the grade were used
to justify the increased speed limit. Neighbors complained about the limit.
The justification given was that state law requires no speed limit less than 10
mph below average speeds. An average speed of 39 mph had been recorded
in a full speed study at the bottom of the grade on Martincoit near Rostrata.
This was borderline close (39 - 10 = 29 mph) to the state law, and did not
require Poway to make the speed limit increase. However, the 10 mph buffer
was quite near at 9 mph. Repeated requests by citizens for Poway to review
the actual law and the actual studies instead have found lower speeds yet
produced a staff and traffic committee recommendation for a stop sign that
will not address resident concerns over speed.
Recent localized speed data taken near this intersection (in pursuit of
justifying the originally proposed stop sign) show that along this section of
Martincoit, even with the 35 mph limit, show average speeds below 35 mph. It
appears that with a full speed study, even the state law limits could support a
30 mph speed limit for much of Martincoit Road, as residents originally
requested and above all, most desire.
Intersection Control v. Speed Control
The original complaints to the Traffic Committee and to this Council were, and
remain, speeding complaints. Though the staff report cites the Council
requesting signage at this intersection, the issue is not the safety of the
intersection. The intersection functions better than many of our signed
intersections in other parts of Poway.
Green Valley Highlands HOA Attachment 1: Chronology
No accidents have been reported at this intersection, save one in the last ten
years. This was a single high profile vehicle that was rolled when the driver
was spooked.
This has nothing to do with the signage at the intersection or the safety of the
current signage. Results would show if the intersection signage was not
working. The intersection has functioned well for 45 years. Yet the report
continues to focus on the intersection rather than changing the speed limit
back to 30 mph.
The new speed data taken on upper / southern Martincoit supports reducing
the speed limit. This is a welcome change that would address local concerns,
but this is not yet on the agenda. Instead, staff continues to focus on an
intersection signage change that will not address the speeding concerns
brought to the Council.
The proposal is a placebo that has taken significant staff resources and
induced much civic participation, but stop signs do not work for speed control
and are specifically prohibited from being used for that purpose by state law,
and also in the federal traffic engineering guidelines of MUCTD. It is a well -
studied phenomenon that speeds actually increase after stop signs are
introduced. However, as the Council well knows, stop signs cannot be
removed once they have been placed.
Our Request
The Green Valley Highlands Homeowners Association asks the City Council to
use their good judgment and the available data to discern the distinction
between a speeding problem and an intersection problem and deny this false
solution.
If the Council would ask the Traffic Committee to recommend the lowest legal
speeds available to every section of Martincoit, given the state law and
localized data, that would meet our neighborhoods' need. Our HOA has also
proposed they return to the Traffic Committee to conduct a joint trial of local
private signage. These efforts have been shown to positively affect drivers
Green Valley Highlands HOA Attachment 1: Chronology
speed habits and we would like the opportunity to pursue these community
remedies with the Traffic Committee.
Our Participation
Our Vice - President, Lynne Anne Baker, and many of our residents, have been
communicating with the City, first, in correspondence to the traffic committee
and council in August 2013, in correspondence and testimony in December
2013, and in testimony before the traffic committee last month.
We want to work with the City to reduce travel speeds on Martincoit and
Stone Canyon, and do not see the proposed signage will address these needs.
We appreciate that the Traffic Committee is responding to a Council request,
and doing the best that they can given the constraints that were first imposed
by the original speed studies. Your leadership is needed, to understand the
problem that change has created and to direct real solutions.
We love our community and thank you for your consideration.