9-7-23 Agenda with BackupTRANSPORTATION SAFETY ADVISORY COMMISSION
HAL BALDWIN MUNICIPAL COMPLEX COUNCIL CHAMBERS
1400 SCHERTZ PARKWAY, BUILDING #4
SCHERTZ, TEXAS 78154
MEETING AGENDA
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2023 AT 5:30 PM
CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL-TRAFFIC SAFETY ADVISORY COMMISSION
HEARING OF RESIDENTS
This time is set-aside for any person who wishes to address the Commission. Presentations
should be limited to no more than 5 minutes. Each person should fill out the Speaker’s
register prior to the meeting and give it to the Chair. The Commission can only discuss items
that are on the agenda. Discussion by the Commission of any item not on the agenda shall be
limited to statements of specific information given in response to any inquiry, a recitation of
existing policy in response to an inquiry, and/or a proposal to place the item on a future
agenda. The presiding officer, during the Hearing of Residents portion of the agenda, will call
on those persons who have signed up to speak in the order they have registered.
1.Minutes: Consideration/action for approval of August 3 and August 10, 2023, TSAC
Meeting Minutes.
2.Updates on Various Requests and Studies:
a.Speed concerns
i.Data collected: Wild Cherry, Westchester, Crest Oak, Rhine Valley, Mobile
Villa, Turquoise
ii.Data collection pending: Columbia, Greenfield Village Alley
b.Request for four-way stop, data collection pending - Aero Drive and Oak Street
c.Request for evaluation of 4-way stop, data collection pending - Woodland Oaks
and Kline Circle
d.Signal warrant study – Pecan at Schertz Parkway
e.Belmont HOA Update
i.Celtic Ash Run and Cloverbrook
3.Staff Comments and/or New Requests
4.Future Agenda Items Requests from Commissioners
5.Adjournment
I, Cyndi Simmons, Administrative Assistant - City Management Office of the City of Schertz,
Texas, do hereby certify that the above agenda will be posted on the official bulletin boards on
this 1st day of September, 2023, at 11:00 AM, which is a place readily accessible to the public at
all times and that said notice will be posted in accordance with Chapter 551, Texas Government
Code.
Cyndi Simmons
Cyndi Simmons, Administrative Assistant - City Management
I certify that the attached notice and agenda of items to be considered by the TSAC
(Transportation Safety Advisory Commission) was removed by me from the official bulletin board
on _____day of _______________, 2023.
____________________________Title:__________________________
This facility is accessible in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Handicapped
parking spaces are available. If you require special assistance or have a request for sign
interpretative services or other services please call 619-1800 at least 24 hours in advance of
meeting.
08-03-2023 TSAC Minutes Page 1 of 5 Transportation Safety Advisory Commission
Transportation Safety Advisory Commission
Minutes
Thursday, August 3, 2023
5:30 PM
The Transportation Safety Advisory Commission (TSAC) convened for a meeting on
Thursday, August 3, 2023 at 5:30 PM in the Bob Andrews Conference Room, Building #2
1400 Schertz Parkway, Schertz, Texas 78154
TSAC Commissioners Present:
Dziewit, Richard, Chairman
Heyward, Ferrando
Hormel, Chris
Martinez, Will
Ragsdale, Roy
Stevens, Ronald
Wiley, Paul
TSAC Commissioners Absent:
Cornelisse, Chuck
Dominguez, Andres
Icke, Steven
Winter, Michael
Staff Present:
Mark Davis, City Council Liaison
Brian James, Deputy City Manager
Kathy Woodlee, City Engineer
Larry Busch, Public Works Director
Robert Martinez, Streets Superintendent
Travis Westbrook, Graduate Engineer
Cyndi Simmons, Administrative Assistant
CALL TO ORDER at 5:30 PM by Chairman Richard Dziewit.
ROLL CALL
HEARING OF RESIDENTS
James M. Hough, 5133 Black Horse, Schertz – He’s here to put a face to their request to your
committee. He understands that your committee advises the City Council and that your vote is very
important. The neighborhood he lives is just south of Northcliffe in Schertz. Black Horse has a cul-
de-sac that has about 18 houses. They don’t have any place to have their children and residents to
play anywhere in their cul-de-sac or neighborhood. It becomes problematic because in their cul-de-
sac has a 20 MPH speed limit and people are driving faster than that. They are requesting for the
speed limit to be reduced to 10 MPH which they believe is reasonable because there are children and
adults playing and playing basketball. They would like to have two more signs to be put up that
read, “Slow Down 10 MPH, Children at Play”. He also thanked Robert Martinez for speaking with
him about this request.
08-03-2023 TSAC Minutes Page 2 of 5 Transportation Safety Advisory Commission
1. Minutes: Consideration and/or action regarding the approval of the minutes of the June 1, 2023
meeting. Motion was made by Commissioner Ferrando Heyward to approve the minutes of the
June 1, 2023 meeting. Seconded by Commissioner Ronald Stevens. Motion passed. Vote was
unanimous.
2. Staff Updates on Various Requests and Studies:
Kathy Woodlee thanked everyone for their patience with them as they work through the backlog
of projects and issues they’ve been looking into. They did get some good news recently – Larry
Busch has been named Public Works Director officially which frees us up in the Engineering
Department to work on finding a replacement for him. They now have three vacancies: two
PE’s (Professional Engineers) and one Graduate Engineer, so they are still quite understaffed.
Travis Westbrook, our other Graduate Engineer, has been helping behind the scenes all this time,
but we’re going to make the transition to him being the staff liaison principally for TSAC and
this will be his first presentation. Note: ADT = Average Daily Traffic
• Wild Cherry (Greenshire) Recount
a. 2827 Wild Cherry, ADT - 444, 85% - 25.0 MPH
b. 2842 Wild Cherry, ADT - 496, 85% - 25.0 MPH
Study Result: Counter does not meet volume criteria, 85% speed at limit
Next Steps: Deploy mobile dynamic speed sign, higher PD presence, follow-up with
requestor and provide results
Commissioner Will Martinez asked, who determines the criteria for the volume.
Travis Westbrook advised it is in the UDC Ordinance. It has to meet the 500 ADT
and be 85% 5 MPH over the posted speed limit. Commissioner Ferrando Heyward
remarked that when school starts again, the numbers will likely increase.
Commissioner Will Martinez commented that the threshold should be based upon the
density of the neighborhood, because you only need one to have a problem. Kathy
Woodlee advised that they can add it to the list to be checked again once school
begins.
Brian James commented that the other thing to keep in mind is that it’s a good point
to say that you only need one to have a problem, but we look to see if there’s
anything unusual here relative to any place else in the city in a residential
neighborhood. A couple of things on this is what we find is the issue is that most
people are driving under 25 MPH through the residential streets. Relative to most
cities in Texas, Schertz sets a very low speed limit in residential neighborhoods. Not
that there’s a right or wrong, but we set 20 MPH. City of San Antonio, it’s 30 MPH.
In addition to looking at the 85th percentile, what we also look at is to see if we have a
few folks who are driving significantly faster to try to determine the nature of the
problem. In this set of counts, he doesn’t recall seeing this. It wasn’t as though we
said, yes, we have a few folks that are driving significantly faster or there was a
period of time during the day where you tend to have most of the speeding happen
(peak times in morning and afternoon). Part of the issue on this one is that when we
look at it, we would say there’s not a speeding problem. This wasn’t a route that
when we looked at it, that the volume of trips seemed to make sense being fairly low
which you look at who would tend to drive on that road. It tends to be residents or
deliveries in that area as opposed to what we’ve seen before is where you have people
trying to get from one place to another through an area where you tend to see higher
08-03-2023 TSAC Minutes Page 3 of 5 Transportation Safety Advisory Commission
speeds. Again, that’s not to say we can’t revisit things, but relative to what we tend to
see, this looks pretty good in terms of compliance.
• Riata (Livingston/Red Tip Drive)
a. 536 Livingston Drive, ADT - 95, 85% -24.4 MPH
b. 516 Livingston Drive, ADT - 182, 85% 24.6 MPH
c. 2820 Red Tip Drive, ADT - 130, 85% 24.7 MPH
Study Result: Counter does not meet volume criteria, very low traffic counts, 85%
speed does not meet limit
Next Steps: Report results to requestor
• The Village (Westchester)
a. 621 Westchester, ADT - 2096, 85% - 24.7 MPH
b. 505 Westchester, ADT - 980, 85% - 27.2 MPH
c. 309 Westchester, ADT - 457, 85% - 22.0 MPH
Study Result: Counters warrant speed hump
Next Steps: Respond to requestor and explain the process for petition to request
a speed hump
This concern was brought to our attention due to people cutting through the
neighborhood. Brian James commented that this is a good example when comparing
this one to the previous one, the ADT in that one location is 980, so significantly
more cars going through there than the last one. If you know the area, what you get is
people coming around from Curtiss, from Schertz Parkway to get to the Library or the
YMCA, or school traffic; so not necessarily traffic from those who live in the
neighborhood. When we look at the test for speed humps, what we want is the speed
hump to have an affect on behavior and at times when you don’t necessarily see that
volume or those speeds, we tend to think the speed humps are not really going to do a
whole lot of good in the neighborhood. They’ll drive the speed they drive, slow
down over the speed hump and get over it, and then get back up to speed; try to make
up time. This is one we’ll be curious to see what happens.
• Crest Oak (Circle Oak)
a. 1410 Crest Oak, ADT – 793, 85% - 27.7 MPH
b. 1320 Crest Oak, ADT – 918, 85% 30.4 MPH
This was a request to increase the speed limit from 20 MPH to 25 MPH. We initially
did a sight study using Google Earth to formulate whether there was enough sight
distance for 25 MPH and looking further into it, to increase the speed limit for an
intersection turn, there needs to be more confirmation to validate that increase to 25
MPH due to safety reasons.
Study Result: Street segment is not a primary neighborhood street segment with only
1 property frontage. Consistent speeding throughout traffic study. Intersection sight
distance concern exists.
Next Steps: Further field measurements to identify current available sight distance.
• Pending Traffic Counts:
a. Columbia
b. Turquoise: Received counts on 7/28/23 and need to review
c. Mobile Villa Estates
d. Greenfield Village Alley
e. Rhine Valley
o Mulhouse/Alsatian Way: Counts to be set 8/7/23
o Alsatian Way/Bening Valley: Counts to be set 8/7/23
f. Aviation Heights: Aero/Oak
g. Woodland Oaks and Kline Circle
08-03-2023 TSAC Minutes Page 4 of 5 Transportation Safety Advisory Commission
• Traffic Signal Warrant Study at Pecan and Schertz Parkway (referred to consultant, data
collected)
• Belmont Crosswalks
a. Celtic Ash Run and Cloverbrook
b. Crusader Bend at Noble Way (All three crosswalks painted)
Brian James commented that he’s not sure if we’ve contacted the homeowner to ask them
not to park their truck at the corner. He will check to see if contact has been made and if
not, will do so before the next meeting.
3. Staff Comments and/or New Requests
• Brian James reported that in response to Mr. Hough’s request for a reduction in the speed
limit. He will chat with him after the meeting, but as it relates to that, there’s a couple of
things that are important to remember.
o One is that for us to drop the speed limit on a street below 30 MPH, we have to conduct
a study that demonstrates effectively that there’s a safety issue present that would be
resolved by dropping the speed limit. One of the challenges we have with that study is
that if we’ve not had any issues or near-misses, we’re not likely to find a basis to drop
that speed limit down. The other is that 10 MPH is significantly slow and what we tend
to find is we’re not likely to get compliance with that, it’s just too slow. What you don’t
want to do is set something artificially too slow and then people tend not to follow it.
Secondly, it’s about expectations about what our streets are. I, like every other kid,
played in the street all the time as a kid. In the summer we’d try to fry eggs on the
pavement, and play touch football, kick the can, SPUD, etc. One of the things again is
the expectation set. Our streets are for our cars to drive down and don’t want to set a
false expectation that the street is a place to play. Honestly, it’s not likely that we can
get a study to drop down to 10 MPH. On a sidenote, there was a bill before the State
Legislature this time that would’ve allowed cities to drop the speed limit in residential
neighborhoods from 30 MPH to 25 MPH without a study and that bill did not make it
through.
o The other is we had a question about the entrance to the drive at Dollar General and
Arlan’s. He reached out to one of the property owners who seemed open to it and the
other property owner was not as open to it going forward. What staff would recommend
at this point is let’s see if there is any accident data and if there isn’t, he’ll reach back out
to the other property owner on the Dollar General piece for some better signage and see
if they would do some striping to make clear what is there. But the idea of the right of
that median to be in and the left is out, is probably not viable. What we can do is on the
left is to have signage to make clear that it’s a two way. There doesn’t appear to be
access easements across those properties so there’s some concern expressed about
increasing traffic on property that doesn’t have a right to be there and creating issues and
challenges.
• Robert Martinez reported that they’ve been in the neighborhoods taking care of painting all
the school crosswalks and stop bars. They’ve been in the Belmont and Fairlawn area as well.
We are going back into the Belmont to address the two pedestrian crosswalks that meet up
with the parks and walking trail. They are about 80% complete. Just have a few areas on
Live Oak and Curtiss to finish.
• Commissioner Ferrando Heyward asked about the proposed Westchester speed hump in
relationship to the Fire Department. Brian James responded that the speed humps we use –
08-03-2023 TSAC Minutes Page 5 of 5 Transportation Safety Advisory Commission
the cushions and the spacing – are designed to allow emergency vehicles to get over them
relatively quickly. What you would find is that we’re okay with them, but if you talk to the
battalion chiefs or fleet personnel, speed humps are causing issues at times. But again, it’s
like everything else, there’s a balance – good and bad to be found – and he thinks it does
back to balancing a fire engine or ambulance slowing down a little bit and adding some
damage versus having this thing go unchecked and then having a kid hit. They’re not
opposed to them.
• Commissioner Chris Hormel asked that as a part of these studies if we are pulling accident
reports or just going by the numbers of the speed studies. Brian James responded that we go
over them as a group and rely on PD and A.J. Arriaga to recall if there have been any
accidents in a location. At times we will pull specific accident data. For instance, the
Schertz Parkway/Pecan, we specifically had A.J. pull the data and went through it. Most of
the time what we do is ask in our pre-meetings if anybody has a recollection of accidents at a
location. Commissioner Chris Hormel also asked if when they do their traffic checks if
they’ve done a traffic check in an area of concern and what the results were – how many
tickets, etc. Sometimes we’ll have them go out and enforce in that area and then A.J. will
report back. It’s not as formalized as you’re asking, but we do it more informally and that’s
why PD is part of the team.
4. Future Agenda Items Requests from Commissioners (Next meeting scheduled for
Thursday, September 7, 2023):
• Commissioner Ronald Stevens had a request from his HOA and noticed that many of these
surrounding cities have ordinances that prohibit basketball goals in the street and Schertz
does not. Has that been considered and rejected or never come up? Brian James responded
that there have been a series of meetings where this has been discussed at Council. His
recollection is that we do have an ordinance that prohibits it, but he could be wrong. We will
add to next month’s agenda. He believes the direction was that we’re not going to heavily
get out there and actively enforce basketball backboards on the edge of the street and maybe
it was a case-by-case basis where we had a problem.
NOTE for Minutes: Ordinance No. 08-H-16, Section 54-21. Exterior Property Areas;
Nuisance Upon Premises; b) It shall be unlawful for any person to permit or allow the
keeping or the depositing on, or the scattering over the premises of any of the follow: 3)
Any sign, notice, pole, post, basketball goal, and any other obstruction placed or
painted upon any sidewalk, street or in any public right-of-way within the corporate
limits of the City.
• Commissioner Ferrando Heyward asked if the property owner has been contacted at Schertz
Parkway and near 35 where people have to turn right but some are still turning left. Where
are we on this issue. Kathy Woodlee reports that we still need to make contact with the
property owner to work on doing some enhanced signage and possibly some
landscaping/striping to work on that.
5. Adjournment: Motion was made by Commissioner Ferrando Heyward to adjourn the meeting.
Seconded by Commissioner Roy Ragsdale. Motion passed. Vote was unanimous. Meeting
adjourned at 6:10 PM by Chair Richard Dziewit.
Attest:
________________________________ ________________________________
Richard Dziewit, Chairperson Cyndi Simmons, Recording Secretary
08-10-2023 TSAC Minutes Page 1 of 3 Transportation Safety Advisory Commission
Transportation Safety Advisory Commission
Minutes
Thursday, August 10, 2023
5:30 PM
The Transportation Safety Advisory Commission (TSAC) convened for a Called Meeting on
Thursday, August 10, 2023 at 5:30 PM in the Bob Andrews Conference Room, Building #2
1400 Schertz Parkway, Schertz, Texas 78154
TSAC Commissioners Present:
Dziewit, Richard, Chairman
Heyward, Ferrando
Hormel, Chris
Martinez, Will
Ragsdale, Roy
Wiley, Paul
TSAC Commissioners Absent:
Cornelisse, Chuck
Dominguez, Andres
Icke, Steven
Stevens, Ronald
Winter, Michael
Staff Present:
Brian James, Deputy City Manager
Kathy Woodlee, City Engineer
A.J. Arriaga, Police Sergeant
Larry Busch, Public Works Director
Robert Martinez, Streets Superintendent
Cyndi Simmons, Administrative Assistant
CALL TO ORDER at 5:30 PM by Chairman Richard Dziewit.
ROLL CALL
HEARING OF RESIDENTS
None present.
1. School Speed Zone for Comal Creek Elementary School: Establishment of a school speed
zone on Hubertus Road.
• Kathy Woodlee reports that it is fairly straightforward. Currently, on one side of your
exhibit, we established school speed zones on FM 482 in both directions from the
intersection with Hubertus and also on Hubertus Road and the distance there was to
accommodate the entrance and exit from the Danville Middle School when that was
constructed a few years ago. Now we have the Comal Creek Elementary on the other side of
the road and their drive is further south, we are proposing to extend the school zone on
08-10-2023 TSAC Minutes Page 2 of 3 Transportation Safety Advisory Commission
Hubertus Road and go to approximately 500 feet north of the intersection with the frontage
road. We are asking TSAC to provide a recommendation to City Council to approve an
ordinance modifying that school zone.
• Commissioner Richard Dziewit remarked that currently on Hubertus it’s 30 MPH, so we’re
basically looking to make it within the same perspective as all the other school districts. He
asked if there will there be a signal light indicating the school zone. Kathy Woodlee
responded that there won’t be on this one, there’s signs that indicate the times for the school
zones and we’re leaving those as posted. It’s not a location that at this time is recommended
to have flashing lights. An interesting point is that there will be a traffic signal at the
intersection of FM 482 and Hubertus, not specifically because of the school zone, but the
new generation of traffic has pushed it to the point where a signal is warranted, so the school
district is having that constructed.
• Commissioner Will Martinez asked if we know what is the most southern driveway location
of the new elementary school? Kathy Woodlee responded that it is approximately at the
most southern portion of that lot so you can see it in the exhibit.
• Commissioner Paul Wiley asked if the zone on FM 482 would remain at 30 MPH. Kathy
Woodlee responded that the speed limit on FM 482 is 45 MPH and then drops to 20 MPH in
the school zone during the school hours.
• Commissioner Chris Hormel asked if a study has been conducted in this area to see what
speeds are typical in this area to determine if signs or flashing lights are warranted. Kathy
Woodlee responded that we haven’t done a study on the vehicles and how they’re traveling
now, but that will change dramatically as soon as the school opens. She anticipates that if
there are problems or issues, then we’ll go in and evaluate. Commissioner Hormel asked if
there is a reason that we’ve opted to not put the flashing sign. Kathy Woodlee responded that
we will need to research to find out what leads to the warrant for flashing versus just signage.
A lot of times we start with something as minima as possible and then if it appears that more
attention needs to be brought then we would move to the next level. It has been operating
fairly well and hasn’t hear about issues with the middle school with the standard sign, so we
will look at it very careful with the addition of the elementary school.
• Commissioner Paul Wiley commented that when you’re using just a static sign and not a
flashing signal, it’s interpretation of when it applies such as during holidays, Christmas
break. Is there an expectation that people are going to follow that 20 MPH? That’s when
you have the benefit of a flashing light. Kathy Woodlee responded that she did check in the
ordinance and it does properly explain the rule. It indicates that it is not in effect on holidays
or when school is not in session. She agrees that the flashing light is clearer, but there is a
maintenance issue – another piece of equipment that needs to be maintained.
• Commissioner Ferrando Heyward asked if there would be kids walking to this school. Kathy
Woodlee responded that this area is not within walking distance of any residential
development. However, we have applications in for an apartment complex project on FM
482 across the street from the elementary school. At the moment, she’s not aware of any
residential property. He also asked for all the other school zones, it is understood that the
speed limits are in place while the school is in session so with or without flashers people
know.
• Commissioner Chris Hormel commented that the time on the signs indicate 3:30 PM and the
middle school currently releases at 3:20 PM. Kathy Woodlee responded that we’re not
08-10-2023 TSAC Minutes Page 3 of 3 Transportation Safety Advisory Commission
setting the time with this ordinance, it’s just a graphic representation, and the times for the
two schools are staggered. The zone will be in effect the entire time for the entire zone and
will be posted to cover both.
• Commissioner Richard Dziewit clarified that the 30 MPH zone is to be reduced within that
area for 20 MPH.
• Commissioner Ferrando Heyward motioned and Commissioner Roy Ragsdale seconded to
recommend to City Council to adopt Ordinance 23-D-20. Motion passed. Vote was
unanimous.
2. Adjournment: Motion was made by Commissioner Chris Hormel to adjourn the meeting.
Seconded by Commissioner Roy Ragsdale. Motion passed. Vote was unanimous. Meeting
adjourned at 5:43 PM by Chair Richard Dziewit.
Attest:
________________________________ ________________________________
Richard Dziewit, Chairperson Cyndi Simmons, Recording Secretary