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5-5-22 TSAC MinutesTransportation Safety Advisory Commission Minutes Thursday, May 5, 2022 5:30 PM The Transportation Safety Advisory Commission (TSAC) convened for a meeting on Thursday, May 5, 2022 at 5:30 PM in the Council Chambers, Building #4, 1400 Schertz Parkway, Schertz, Texas 78154 TSAC Commissioners Present: Dziewit, Richard, Chair Cornelisse, Chuck Heyward, Ferrando Ragsdale, Roy Stevens, Ronald TSAC Commissioners Absent: Dominguez, Andres Wiley, Paul Winter, Michael Staff Present: Brian James, Assistant City Manager Charles Kelm, Assistant City Manager A.J. Arriaga, Police Department Cyndi Simmons, Administrative Assistant Suzanne Williams, Public Works Director Kathy Woodlee, City Engineer CALL TO ORDER at 5:33 PM by Chair Richard Dziewit. ROLL CALL HEARING OF RESIDENTS Robert Behn, 2945 Winding Trail, regarding the traffic issues on Fairlawn Avenue. Provided packet citing his concerns and supporting documentation from the Center for Transportation Research (see attached). He is asking for "no stopping" signs in addition to "no parking" signs. D. Shofner, 1509 Red Oak Cove, regarding the Greenshire speed humps. Item was addressed in agenda item and he did not speak. SPECIAL PRESENTATION Lee Byrd and Melissa Cox from CPS Energy re: the Streetlight Maintenance Repairs Reporting program. Provided instruction flyer for reporting a streetlight issue (see attached). The preferred option is to complete the online form available from any device (phone, tablet, desktop computer) at cpsenergy.com/streetlightalert. Questions from commissioners: • Ferrando Heyward asked if the app shows the boundaries between GVEC and CPS and Lee Byrd indicated, yes. The application will only show the lights that are CPS Energy's responsibility. 5 -5 -22 Minutes Transportation Safety Advisory Commission • Ronald Stevens asked if there are areas where a home is serviced by GVEC and the streetlights serviced by CPS. Lee Byrd advised that no, the service will be the same for both in a particular area. • Charles Cornelisse asked who to call when we can't find the answer on the website or the app. Lee Byrd advised we may call him directly at 210 - 353 -2843 if an answer can't be found or if you find there is an error with the app. Richard Dziewit asked if there are studies to determine the length of traffic light cycles, etc. Lee Byrd advised that CPS provides the electricity to the traffic lights, but do not own or service the traffic lights or controls. They do, however, service the streetlights. Kathy Woodlee explained that Public Works regulates the timing of the lights on city street intersections. If it's a TxDOT intersection, TxDOT regulates those at this time. Once we get to 50,000 then things will change and we start to take them over. Any complaints about signal timing should be directed to Public Works and they'll be referred to TxDOT if it's a TxDOT light. 1. Minutes: Consideration and/or action regarding the approval of the minutes of the March 3, 2022 meeting. Motion was made by Commissioner Ronald Stevens to approve the minutes of the March 3, 2022 meeting. Seconded by Commissioner Roy Ragsdale. Motion passed. Vote was unanimous. 2. Crosswalk Requests: a. Update on the status of the Request for a Pedestrian Crosswalk on Savannah Drive near Willow Ranch Street. b. Update on the State of the Request for a Pedestrian Crosswalk on Homestead Boulevard near the Homestead Amenity Center. Kathy Woodlee reports that unfortunately there isn't an update for a variety of reasons, but we will go over them every time. She apologized for not getting the updates onto the website, but we will make that happen. Commissioner Heyward advised that what he would really like to see is a TSAC link on the main page for the City of Schertz website that directs you to the TSAC page with the updates. Kathy Woodlee also reports that we were referring these requests to a consultant to do a study that would allow us to look into the situation and also be a learning experience for us and that is underway. Commissioner Heyward asked if the ending of the school year would impact the study and whether the timing is now off for a valid study. Kathy Woodlee responded that it may very well be and we will discuss that with the consultant and with the school district. Last summer or the summer before they had summer operations where the campuses had something going on and also is not sure when school ends and we may not do the studies if it is not an appropriate time and may have to move the study to August. Charles Kelm indicated that there is four more weeks of school. 3. Traffic Studies: Update on Status of Traffic Studies. a. Misty Woods Subdivision b. Dimrock c. Woodland Oaks in Greenshire Subdivision d. Bench Trail e. Rhine Valley f. New: Cliffside Drive in Northcliffe 5 -5 -2022 Minutes 2 Kathy Woodlee reports that for the Misty Woods and Dimrock studies we continue to find anomalies in the results. You will see the same update for all of these studies that they are on hold pending diagnosis and repair of equipment issues. Last week the Streets Division of Public Works took all 10 sets of traffic counters on Commercial Place and lined them up across the street and had different types of vehicles — including a police motorcycle, trucks, cars — go across and took measurements by hand and also get the traffic counter data to try and figure out what's going on with all of these counts and trying to solve the issue with the equipment. 4. Schertz Parkway - Ashley Park: Update on the Status of the Request for Signalization. Kathy Woodlee reports that this has been sent to our consultant for evaluation and will confirm when it is appropriate to conduct those studies. 5. Traffic Issues on Fairlawn: Update on Preparation to Present to City Council. Kathy Woodlee reports that the ordinance will be heard by City Council on May 24th with our recommendation of the no parking and school zones. She will do research to find out if no parking constitutes no parking, stopping or standing or if there has to be separate ordinances for each one, in which case we may have to modify it if appropriate. 6. Chapter 86 Proposed Amendments: Update on Preparation to Present to City Council. Kathy Woodlee reports that the Chapter 86 overhaul has been waiting until we get the final list of all the traffic control signs (stop signs, yield signs, school zone signs, etc.) so we can incorporate them as an appendix into the new ordinance and she's happy to report that the PCI data study that we've been waiting for is underway and the data collection should take about a week. We should get the results sometime in June. 7. Truck Traffic on Schertz Parkway: Update. Kathy Woodlee reports that the investigation revealed that there wasn't anything out of the ordinary or shouldn't be happening. Public Works installed some reminder signs that there's no thru truck traffic at 78 and 35 as you enter onto Schertz Parkway. 8. Request for Special Signage on Schertz Parkway at Curtiss: Discussion and Feedback to Staff. Suzanne Williams reports that a resident has requested a lighted stop sign at the intersection of Schertz Parkway and Curtiss. This lighted stop sign is not standard. The reason he has requested this is that he's witnessed an accident at the intersection and that's been confirmed by Schertz PD. He's also seen several near misses which has also been confirmed by Schertz PD and they've issued tickets at this intersection. This stop sign is the only stop sign on Schertz Parkway, so you're used to looking for the traffic light and as you approach the stop sign heading towards 78, if you look beyond the stop sign, there's the railway crossing and a stoplight. The requester believes that the driver has a visual up ahead and may miss the stop sign. We internally have concerns about installing something: 1. It's not our standard stop sign; 2. Setting a precedent; 3. Maintenance. However, we don't want to ignore the request due to the safety hazard at this intersection. We would like to perform an all- encompassing traffic study to see if a stop sign is warranted that stops traffic on Schertz Parkway. It could come back that it is warranted and then we would address the request for the lighted stop sign. We would also take into account pedestrian traffic at this particular intersection. a. Commissioner Heyward commented that the conditions at this location are unique compared to others and he is in favor of this request. b. Ronald Stevens commented that he would like to know if the accident or violations were from people driving west on Schertz Parkway versus driving east. Suzanne Williams replied that the requester has asked for lighted stop signs from both directions. The traffic study would get into depth the accidents and the tickets issued. He supports the study. 5 -5 -2022 Minutes 3 c. Charles Cornelisse asked if there was a "stop ahead" sign from either direction and may need to be a consideration. d. Roy Ragsdale asked if the study would include all the traffic in that area, including the traffic coming in and out of the parking lot by Arlan's. 9. Staff Comments and /or New Requests: a. Safety of U -Turns on Schertz Parkway (particularly at Prairie Lane). Kathy Woodlee reports that it's becoming apparent that they may be problematic at that intersection and may have to establish that as a no u -turn intersection. U -turns are not prohibited by state law, however, if there is a sign that indicates no u -turn, then they are illegal. We need to determine what the rule will be for Schertz to place a sign and will most likely be the same process as placing a stop sign. We will first need to deem it unsafe and bring it to TSAC and ask if we agree with the recommendation to take to Council. Once approved, the sign can be placed and PD can enforce it. b. Kathy Woodlee reports that Council has discussed and recommended getting input from TSAC regarding the naming of what will be the extension of Old Wiederstein/Cibolo Valley Drive on the northwest side of 35. There is a QT being constructed there and the very first segment of that street will be constructed soon so it needs a name and our input will be requested. c. Commissioner Heyward asked what the weight limit is for trucks on city streets. A.J. Arriaga responded that the weight limit is 15,000. Being from the Belmont area and the construction going on in that area, there were live updates on Facebook that there were 11 or 12 trucks that drove down Belmont Parkway. A.J. Arriaga responded the way it reads is that if the truck is going through its conveyance — taking something and then going out — they can't just travel that road for a shortcut. If they are taking a load to Dean Road to the new neighborhood and that's their conveyance, we can do an investigative stop and see where they're going to and coming from. Brian James also responded that if, for example, they are going to Marion from Schertz and there's another clear way for them to travel that complies with the weight limit, that's an issue to cut through just to avoid traffic. However, if there is no other clear way to travel without violating the weight limit, then this route is just as good as the next. If folks are seeing that there are a lot of trucks coming through for example between 8 AM and 11 AM Monday through Friday, give us a call and the PD will do an investigative stop. Commissioner Heyward advised that some questions are asked so that the answer will be on record. d. Commissioner Heyward thanked everyone for the new surface layer on Old Wiederstein. It should be completed next week (the week of May 12). 10. Future Agenda Items Requests from Commissioners: No requests. Adjournment: Meeting adjourned at 6:21 PM by Richard Dziewit. Attest: i hard Dziewit, C irperson 5 -5 -2022 Minutes 4 Cyn i Simmons, Recording Secretary