Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-13-2004 City Council Study Session MINUTES CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION CITY OF LAKE ELSINORE 183 NORTH MAIN STREET LAKE ELSINORE, CALIFORNIA FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13,2004 ************************************************************* CALL TO ORDER Mayor Buckley called the City Council Study Session to order at 5 :00 p.m. ROLL CALL PRESENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: HICKMAN, KELLEY, MAGEE, SCHIFFNER, BUCKLEY ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: NONE Also present were: Assistant City Manager Best, Deputy City Attorney David Mann, Administrative Services Director Pressey, Community Development Director Brady, Community Services Director Sapp, Information/ Communications Manager Dennis, Engineering Manager Seumalo, and Deputy City Clerk Ray. DISCUSSION ITEMS (F:82.2)(X:162.1) Assistant City Manager Best gave an overview of the item. She stated that the City began reviewing the Railroad Canyon interchange several years ago, knowing it would be a traffic impact area. A project study report was brought forward by staff for a Study Session with the seated Council in December 2000. She indicated that project was completed in the fall of 2003, and CalTrans signed off on the project recently and Staffhad documentation regarding the next step. Community Development Director Brady indicated Engineering Manager Seumalo would be giving an overview of the alternatives. The project report had reflected eleven alternatives one being; the do nothing PAGE THREE-STUDY SESSION-FEBRUARY 13,2004 He noted that the City was not limited to the projects that were presented. Widen and Reconstruct the existing interchange. The challenge was the spacing between the northbound off ramp and the intersection of Grape Street. The spacing between Grape Street, the ramps, and Casino Drive caused the congestion. c. Alternative 3b: Installing or constructing hook ramps to Grape Street. This alternative eliminates the northbound off ramp, which increases storage length under the freeway. CalTrans typically preferred not to have off ramps end into a shopping center. The alternative would eliminate one of the maj or conflict movements and allow more storage. d. Alternative 9: Construct Hook Ramps to Summerhill Drive, Casino Drive and southbound loop exit ramp. He indicated the bridge over the San Jacinto River would need to be widened. He noted a benefit for a looping off ramp was that it provided a free right movement meaning traffic could continuously merge off the freeway. He noted the restriction in this alternative was the newly constructed Washington Mutual Building that eliminated this as a City choice, however if CalTrans saw the need or saw benefit exceeding the cost of purchasing the land that was just improved, that would be an item that would be discussed in the Project Report phase. He indicated that the hook ramp on Casino Drive provided significant storage, the cost would be losing some business and buildings. e. Alternative 10: Construct hook ramps to Summerhill Drive and Casino Drive. He indicated that the bridge would need to be widened for this alternative. The northbound right lane remained as a free right turn there would be no signal and the on ramps would be moved to the Washington Mutual site, the storage would be increased and the conflicts are eliminated. There would be two right turns going into two receiving lanes and traffic distribution would continue. He noted a restriction Staff had encountered was that the left turn movement, due to the number of lanes that would need to be crossed. The alternative enhanced the hook ramps off Casino Drive and provided a hook off ramp southbound. The cost would be the business due to the PAGE FOUR-STUDY SESSION-FEBRUARY 13, 2004 - land acquisition. f. Alternative 11: Reconstruct interchange to a partial clover leaf configuration and realign Grape Street and Casino Drive. He noted the free right movement from on ramp eastbound to northbound; free right movement from westbound Lakeshore to northbound. In order to complete this alternative everything west of Interstate 15 in close proximity of the freeway would be impacted. This alternative would cul-de-sac Summerhill Drive and route traffic through a proposed bridge; and to get to the freeway traffic would take Lakeshore Drive. There would be no direct access from Lakeshore Drive except for the newly proposed roadway. He noted it would be extremely expensive to construct. They were also proposing to cul-de-sac Casino Drive and build alternate routes from Casino Drive to Lakeshore Drive through Sav-ons. Mayor Pro Tern Kelley questioned Alternative 9 where there was a short red line above Sav-on to the right was that an improvement to a particular area and also the rectangular lines under the loop. - Engineering Manager Seumalo explained that it was an error if the ramp was eliminated there would be no connection from the hillside onto the street. He further explained the rectangular lines were a detention basin and that was a subject that was not scheduled for discussion for this Study Session. That was a design feature that CalTrans had planned on putting detention basins in that area. Mayor Pro Tern Kelley asked for the pricing of the alternatives. Mayor Buckley asked for clarification that Alternative 2 was to compress everything into the existing space. Engineering Manager Seumalo confirmed. Councilman Schiffner asked if the alternatives include an efficiency schedule. - PAGE FIVE-STUDY SESSION-FEBRUARY 13,2004 Engineering Manager Seumalo indicated he had not seen the direct benefits, but the alternatives did include a general description of low, middle, and high. Councilman Schiffner indicated that the original alternatives that were given to Council included a sheet that reflected each movement; and by reviewing that information he had little improvement. Councilman Hickman asked who proposed these particular sites. Engineering Manager Seumalo explained there was a design team that met with CalTrans and the City Design Consultant. Councilman Hickman indicated that his concern on Alternative 11 was if there would be any traffic exited onto Grape Street. Engineering Manager Seumalo explained that Railroad Canyon Road would be the main exit for the freeway and the surface streets would be impacted. Councilman Hickman indicated that it would be simpler to add a clover leaf onto Grape Street and widen the southbound off ramp. Engineering Manager Seumalo indicated that the PSR had been completed the next step was the PR and draft environmental document. He noted the time table in the outline given to Council for this part of the process had no margin for error. Mayor Buckley inquired if there were any cost estimates at this time. Engineering Manager Seumalo indicated that for each alternative there was a rough cost estimate. He listed the cost for each alternative presented to Council. PAGE SIX-STUDY SESSION-FEBRUARY 13,2004 - a. Alternative 2 - $6.5 million. Low level of service. b. Alternative 3b - $8.9 million. Minimum right of way impact and higher level of service on northbound ramps, but low level of service on Summerhill Drive and Lakeshore Drive in the afternoon and CalTrans did not support ramps entering shopping centers, but that did not mean they would not do it. c. Alternative 9 - $13.4 million. Provided high overall level of service, increased level of service at Summerhill Drive and Railroad Canyon Road and a high level of service at the southbound ramps. He noted that at the time of these studies Washington Mutual had not been developed. He noted there was high construction cost and major right-of-way impacts. d. Alternative 10 - $13.3 million. Provided high overall level of service, increased the level of service at Summerhill Drive and Railroad Canyon Road and a high level of service at the southbound ramps. High construction cost and impact local businesses and a low level of service on northbound ramps. - e. Alternative 11 - $38.8 million. Provided a high level of service overall and increased the level of service at Summerhill Drive and Railroad Canyon Road. Higher level of service on the southbound ramps. There was a major right-of-way impact and required new streets and cul-de-sacs and a bridge over the San Jacinto River. Assistant City Manager Best indicated that on Alternative 10 the southbound hook ramp off Interstate 15 led onto Casino Drive, which meant all the traffic going to Canyon Lake, Tuscany Hills, Summerhill, etc. would exit onto Casino Drive and go back up to Railroad Canyon Road and underneath the freeway. - PAGE SEVEN-STUDY SESSION-FEBRUARY 13,2004 Councilman Schiffuer indicated that the alternatives as shown would help in some ways and cause problems in other ways and would cost a lot of money. He indicated the one alternative he liked and the State did not like although they built several, was the ramp located below Interstate 10, and the entrance into the Ontario Airport. Assistant City Manager Best indicated that Staff would be developing an RFP for the consultants and it would be brought back to Council later this sprmg. Councilman Magee encourage Staff to look outside the box when working with CalTrans and the Federal government, he indicated that there was unnecessary impact on local businesses. He requested they included Franklin Street, Malaga Street and Olive Street as alternatives. Public Comments Michael O'Neal, 1403 W. Heald Avenue, asked if the value was considered today's value or future growth value. Engineering Manager Seumalo indicated that the anaylsis were good through 2025. The intent was permanent improvement that did not need to be revisited. Don Summers, 30713 Riverside Drive, suggested a Camino Del Norte extension, from Main Street to the Franklin Street Bridge. Edith Stafford, 29700 Hursh Street, suggested concentrating on the other possible streets such as Franklin and Camino Del Norte, which would alleviate a lot of the congestion on Railroad Canyon Road. She commented Staff and CalTrans were trying to solve the problem in the problem location. Regina Lesane, 21031High Crest Drive, indicated that her family purchased a home in Lake Elsinore in 2000. She suggested having officers at the intersection. She indicated citations could bring money to the community. She suggested widening the lanes that currently exist; and noted it would be PAGE EIGHT -STUDY SESSION-FEBRUARY 13,2004 - a mistake to eliminate the local businesses that had supported the community. Ron Rasmussen, indicated that if Summerhill Drive was closed and a bridge was built, considering there was another 250 additional homes to be built in the area it did not make a lot of sense. Tony Schiavone, 780 Lake Street, indicated he noticed the problem with Railroad Canyon Road more than four years ago and he notified the City Manager and spoke with Mayor Brinley. He noted for the past year or so he and his wife had been going to the Murrieta Walmart to avoid the long delays at Railroad Canyon Road. He noted he had suggested to Mayor Brinley and members of Staff that the two lanes making left turns on Grape Street and according to Staff an average of 400 cars per day uses those two lanes; the right hand lane he calculated 5 out of 8 cars did not make a right turn, they continued east. He indicated if the right lane was made right turn only that would pick up another 160 cars per day going to the shopping center, by eliminating one left turn lane on Grape Street, would give two straight lanes going east. He indicated that the signal at Grape Street was red and the other two preceding signals were green, which causes traffic to back up around Mission Trail. He suggested synchronizing the lights to give a continued flow. - Councilman Hickman agreed with Mr. Schiavone suggestion. Engineering Manager Seumalo commented that he had discussed with the City Traffic Engineer earlier regarding this Study Session and what Mr. Schiavone had mentioned was the same idea Staff had in place as a temporary solution. The cost would be $950,000 to do the improvements, but the pedestrian sidewalk would be removed on the south side under the freeway to gain an additional lane. He noted there would be a right turn only lane eastbound, two through lanes, and two left turn only lanes at the intersection of Grape Street and Railroad Canyon Road. He indicated the - PAGE NINE-STUDY SESSION-FEBRUARY 13,2004 northbound off ramp would be widened to three lanes at the intersection with two right turn only lanes and one left turn through lane. Joe Tunstell, Wildomar, indicated that he owned property in Lake Elsinore. He commented the property owners east of Interstate 15 had a meeting with the City five years ago to complete some right of ways through the properties to connect to the bridge where the old dump was located. 100% of the property owners that attended the meeting were for the idea of having a frontage road through that area, which would give access from Railroad Canyon Road to Main Street. He indicated that he could not speak for the current property owners. He noted five years ago those right-of-ways would have been donated if the City had put a road in at that time. Assistant City Manager Best indicated there was a meeting several years ago. Staff was still in the process with some of the new developers based on the way the MSHCP had formed in the habitat corridors to review the opportunity from Tuscany towards Camino Del Norte as an extenstion and connector between Main Street and Franklin as well as some of the new development that may be developing in the Ramsgate area to access near the City owned landfill. She noted that was something Staff had interest in for a number of years. Mayor Buckley asked in the Capitol Improvement Budget for 2004/2005 bring back a cost for Camino Del Norte, South Ramsgate, and North Tuscany Traffic Study. Councilman Schiffner commented this was a tremendous problem and the intersection would get a lot worst before it got better. He stated it was problem that would take some time to complete. Councilman Hickman suggested Staff thought outside the box and it would probably take until 2008 or 2009 to get this problem resolved completely. Mayor Pro Tern Kelley commented that she was happy to see this project moving forward. She noted the project would take some time and the goal was to choose the right alternative the first time. PAGE TEN-STUDY SESSION-FEBRUARY 13,2004 - Councilman Magee commented the.~project would take a significant amount of time. He requested that the City Manager's Office on a quarterly basis at the end of the Council Meeting during the informational section provide an update of the project, so that Council and the public would know something had moved forward. Mayor Buckley inquired if it was possible to get drivers in the habit of right only and then two straight lanes, and left turn only; or would it invite accidents. Engineering Manager Seumalo indicated what was being cleared through CalTrans to get the encroachment permit was the design that Staffwas going with, so to modify that Staff would need to get CalTrans approval, a concern they might have would be the width of the shoulder by restriping. Councilman Schiffuer questioned where the limitation of CalTrans. - Engineering Manager Seumalo explained that it was between Grape Street and the ramp. Mayor Buckley commented that Highway 74 and Interstate 15 would be the next big commercial intersection. He noted that Staff needed to be thinking ahead. Community Development Director Brady commented that Staff and CalTrans had been in conversation regarding that intersection. He noted there were several parcels in that area that had been considered redevelopment, that may not be able to be developed. ADJOURNMENT THE CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION WAS ADJOURNED AT 6:14 P.M. - PAGE ELEVEN-STUDY SESSION-FEBRUARY 13,2004 Respectfully submitted, . / . i/ ~1f:R:./~eputy City Clerk A ~;rEST: '~ ,...-..,.' , 0~j VICKI KASAD, CMC, CITY CLERK! HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR CITY OF LAKE ELSINORE