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Final TSAC 8-7-25 Minutes8-7-2025 TSAC Minutes Page 1 of 8 Transportation Safety Advisory Commission Transportation Safety Advisory Commission Minutes Thursday, August 7, 2025 5:30 PM The Transportation Safety Advisory Commission (TSAC) convened for a Called Meeting on Thursday, August 7, 2025, at 5:30 PM in the Council Chambers, Building #4 1400 Schertz Parkway, Schertz, Texas 78154 TSAC Commissioners Present: Richard Dziewit- Chair Ronald Stevens Roy Ragsdale Paul Wiley Donald Nolan TSAC Commissioners Absent: Michael Winter Melanie T. McCoy Chris Hormel Ferrando Heyward- Vice Chair Stephen Icke Staff Present: Brian James, Deputy City Manager Kathy Woodlee, City Engineer Larry Busch, Public Works Director Serena Contreras, Associate Engineer Tammy Lawrence, Administrative Assistant Jeffrey Krivacka, Police Department Robert Martinez, Street Supervisor Mark Davis, City Council Liaison CALL TO ORDER at 5:30 PM by Chairman Richard Dziewit ROLL CALL HEARING OF RESIDENTS Jeff Losey- 253 Victoria Pt I have lived in Schertz for 23 years at the same address on Victoria Point. Every year school starts, no one ever complains. But nobody ever does anything. Parent will come and park in this little area at between Victoria pt off Schertz pkwy. It is right near the Elementary school, they don’t want to wait in line, gives kids freedom to walk to the car, which I understand. But when cars are parked on both sides of the road - it is horrible dangerous trying to get in and out and I understand it only for about 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the afternoon at 3:30pm. It is insane how close cars have to be to get into or leave the neighborhood. The Police do stop at Schertz Pkwy and Ashley Park area, 8-7-2025 TSAC Minutes Page 2 of 8 Transportation Safety Advisory Commission the 30’ area, always appreciative, always cleared. PD block them off and get speeders. Hoping to be put on the future agenda. No Parking for certain amount of time. Parents do go up to Victoria Pt. There is enough room. Please take a drive there, imagine 4 cars there. There is more room on Victoria Point to get out. Have to stop there to turn left or right. You can see kids crossing the street. There are people who park on the street that live in the houses, so you have to slow down, which is very dangerous. Please have someone look at this. I tried contacting PD, asking to have signs put up or red paint. He was instructed to come to TSAC meeting. Hoping this can be put on a future agenda. Commissioner Richard Dziewet stated the information has been turned over to Kathy for review. 1. Minutes: Consideration/action for approval of June 5, 2025, TSAC Meeting Minutes. Motion was made by Commissioner Ronald Stevens. Seconded by Commissioner Roy Ragsdale. Motion passed. 2. Traffic Study Updates: a. Mulhouse- Speeding Concerns Kathy Woodlee provided an update on Mulhouse issue- bounced around for quite some time, completed different speed counts, also the dynamic of the new construction in Saddlebrook, east of Rhine valley and connects to Rhine Valley. There is still quite a bit of construction traffic. It will change over the next several years as far as traffic flow and speeds. We are not going to wait. We did 4 counts at the same time, we have the results summarized – This section on Mulhouse, East of Alsatian, volume of traffic are less than 500 ADT, which means, it does not meet the criteria for speed hump requirement. However, speed is an issue. 5 mph over which is 20, all 3 were over. The speeds were high. 25.6, 27.4 and 27.8 is the 85% percentile speed. So, the speeds are fairly high, we will keep on the list for PD to check out, while we also consider traffic calming measures to implement there. On the lower segment of Mulhouse, South of where Alsatian Way comes in, the volumes were considerably higher, 532 ADT, does go over the 500 daily volume speed hump request, speed was 27.8 mph. I saw some anomalies. We are going to take another set of counts on the southern section before we get back to the requestor, ok this does meet for speed humps, now the next step is completing a petition for speed humps and is this appropriate. Commissioner Ronald Stevens stated that because construction is still going on, the volume is going to go up, we know that. Do you anticipate, in your experience, those 3 that are farther East, will it be just as bad as the one to the south there. Kathy Woodlee stated, it is possible, we will just have to wait and see because there are two connections to Lower Seguin Road directly from the Saddlebrook subdivision. So, will the folks in Saddlebrook head out to Lower Seguin directly from Saddlebrook or will they come through Rhine Valley. This southern section 532 ADT isn’t hugely higher than the trigger for speed humps. Rule of thumb, it’s not all about speed humps, it’s hard to say right now. Commissioner Ronald Stevens asked whether it is more economical to do 1 speed hump now, or multiple at the same time. Kathy Woodlee stated it is essentially the same costs, not terribly difficult to install. Our crews do the work. We wouldn’t do 50, never get to that volume. Commissioner Donald Nolan stated since I live in this neighborhood, it is near and dear to me. We still have a lot large trucks, hauling machinery, equipment and semi type vehicles that come in and 8-7-2025 TSAC Minutes Page 3 of 8 Transportation Safety Advisory Commission travel up Rhine Valley into Mulhouse into the Saddlebrook subdivision. I know we have the sign – no thru traffic. To them, is someone giving them directions, go to Lower Seguin, turn first road to left, where it says don’t turn there. There is a lot of construction traffic into the Saddlebrook subdivision. Another question I have about these. I think you will see more and more traffic as that builds up. It is second nature to some people. If you own a house in the area where Mulhouse enters into Saddlebrook, if you want to get to 1518 or somewhere, you may not want to turn and go backward, east, to go to Lower Seguin Rd. People are going to take Mulhouse, Alsatian to Ray Corbett to hit 1518. It is too bad, I know we went thru this a few meetings ago, that the Saddlebrook subdivision didn’t plan for a Ray Corbett exit out of the back, but they didn’t. So now the way that the Subdivision gets out FM 1518, is to come down through our subdivision because it is a quick hop, rather than going down Lower Seguin Rd and driving to down to 1518. Just my opinion. We are going to see a lot more traffic in Rhine Valley because of Mulhouse going all the way through. Kathy Woodlee stated I can give you more information, not that it will necessarily change anything you said there, but for Saddlebrook, the subdivision that has not been constructed yet, extends all the way up to RAF Burnette. Ultimately Redbud will continue up to Schaefer. Intersection of Lower Seguin Rd and FM1518 will be vastly improved here in a while. Commissioner Donald Nolan asked when they extend road to Schaefer, are they also going to connect to Ray Corbett East? Kathy Woodlee stated Saddlebrook will not, it is on the Master Thoroughfare Plan to extend Ray Corbett. There is another subdivision development in the works, they and/or the school district would put another school, ultimately there will be another road there. Quite a few years or next year, never know. 3. New Citizen-Requested Items a. Woodland Oaks at Lotus Park – Stop Sign Request – speeding concerns Kathy Woodlee stated we received a new request; we haven’t done full counts on this to do a stop warrant. This is Woodland Oaks, East of 3009, at the city limit at Cibol for a stop sign request on Woodland Oaks at Lotus Park. We need to look at the intersecting road and volumes, times of the day to see if it meets stop sign warrant. I was happy to see Roy’s stop sign placard on his notebook, that folks understand a stop sign isn’t just for controlling speeds. We don’t want to install stop signs where they are not warranted. Commissioner Donald Nolan asked who is stopping, the people on Woodland Oak or Lotus Park? Kathy Woodlee stated Woodland Oaks, Lotus has stop signs, the request is to make it a 4 way stop b. Rhine Valley – Stop Sign request at Obernai Path and Belfort Pt Kathy Woodlee stated a resident requested a stop sign; however, this is not an intersection. There is a stop sign at Bening Valley coming into Obernai Path, but Obernai is not an intersection so it’s not appropriate to have a stop sign there. What is appropriate is for people to drive safely. This is a location where the average driver would generally ask why am I stopping here? No reason to stop here, then they start to ignore it. others are fastidious why there is a stop sign here. We don’t generally put stop sign here. Commissioner Doanld Nolan stated this is mine, a resident said this Bening Valley, this short road. Buses stop at Alsatian and Bening and she walks up there and gets her grandkids, a short walk, the 8-7-2025 TSAC Minutes Page 4 of 8 Transportation Safety Advisory Commission problem is when kids are coming home, the cars come up Belford pt and turn and it’s a dangerous crossing for kids there. Wanted stop signs. Kathy Woodlee suggested we look at does a designated crosswalk need to be installed. Not the easiest place to get around. Raise awareness. Staff will look into this. Commissioner Richard Dziewet stated I have been there, looked around.it is a tough area for the kids. Chancey area for them to cross, is there anything we can do to make it more notifiable that this is a kid crossing area. Kathy Woodlee stated we can look at this, traffic calming in this area, on Alsatian at Bening. 4. Commissioner-Requested Item Updates a. SBFR of IH 35 between FM 3009 and Schertz Parkway striping Kathy Woodlee stated this is fairly straight forward, however not all have been addressed yet. The southbound frontage road between 3009 and Schertz Parkway, the lane striping is faded and is a dicey area for folks, it is TxDOT, we have notified them, they have acknowledged it. It is part of the 35 NEX project. The contractor needs to fix; we will keep pestering if we have to. b. Main Street- First Street lane striping Kathy Woodlee stated this one is a little bit tougher. And it also involves TxDOT. TxDOT is responsible for 1518 up to First street, all TxDOT. We need to get them involved to get refresh of striping in this area. Also mention that the plans for the Main Street project will be under construction in the next several months. The overall project, the plan is to bring the curb at Lindberg out further all the way down to the big tree and it will make it clearer that this is a single lane. Right now, it is pretty wide open. The weaving of lanes the rest of the way, I can address it, but I wanted to make sure that the request was to refresh striping. Until project gets done, we can ask TxDOT to refresh. Commissioner Richard Dziewet asked to start with TxDOT. c. FM 78- removal of signage and striping on the shoulder Kathy Woodlee stated this is a non-update, TxDOT did agree to remove, hasn’t been done yet, will remind. Commissioner Richard Dziewet stated timing, based on TxDOT. Do we have any idea on where we stand, are we looking at tomorrow or sometime. Robert Martinez stated this belongs to the Seguin area. He can contact the supervisor and get an update. Commissioner Richard Dziewet stated to please provide an update at our next meeting Commissioner Ronald Stevens asked if we just removed the striping and the sign, is it still a shoulder, what does it take to turn it into a turn lane? 8-7-2025 TSAC Minutes Page 5 of 8 Transportation Safety Advisory Commission Kathy Woodlee stated, if I understood Dale Picha, there is not enough real estate, it is not wide enough to meet the criteria for a TxDOT turn lane. Commissioner Ronald Stevens stated technically the right lane can still turn right at that intersection which could be problematic. Albert Arriaga stated many folks have asked why is it like this? This is 45 mph zone on FM 78, what happens is the drivers try to obey no shoulder, you have near misses, going to rear-end somebody because of the train or something else going on. FM 78 is down to one lane for that little spot. When I go to Bill Miller in UC, train comes, move to the right so people can go. They don’t come way back; it is just 3-4 cars deep. Train comes; cars move over. People are trying to comply, if you turn on Randolph or First street, they move over and use two lanes. Kathy Woodlee stated sitting on shoulder to turn and someone from right lane tries to also turn right. We have not seen it yet. No. Commissioner Paul Wiley stated all the way down from Marion to Schertz, there are numerous problems, 1103, Main street, it is just strange that Schertz Parkway is the only one that has that sign. Albert Arriaga stated he got an earful on that one, he could not resolve it. Coming from Smiley and Nixon, we drive, not speeding, country ways, move over, drive on shoulder, and get back in the lane. Trying to make it not a lane of travel a park, but lane of travel. Commissioner Donald Nolan stated if we don’t want people to travel on this, can we stripe it, or take out some of pavement? Kathy Woodlee stated we want people to use it. Commissioner Donald Nolan stated the curb sticks out, almost prohibits you, squeeze close to another car, if you want that to be right turn, wouldn’t you remove the curb and sidewalk, so you don’t touch another’s door handles? Kathy Woodlee stated for this location, we need to leave it to TxDOT to make that determination , we can certainly suggest. Commissioner Donald Nolan stated if I wanted to make right hand turn, that curb and sidewalk, I am going to have to scoot over, almost touching another car Brian James stated if all the commission has never made that turn then it is a valid point, then we better off without people navigating- we can request to TxDOT. There will be further backups. Commission can certainly make a recommendation to TxDOT to do away with if unless they can fund major improvements to that intersection. Have you sat near there and watched what happened and not seen people make that turn? I made it, we want a recommendation. TxDOT may not modify this and spend 1000s of dollars. We can carry that forward. Traffic back up, we will defer to the Commission. Commissioner Roy Ragsdale asked if there has been accidents. Albert Arriaga stated there has not been any, but I can research that. 8-7-2025 TSAC Minutes Page 6 of 8 Transportation Safety Advisory Commission Brian James stated it is signed and striped appropriately, for what people should be able to do or shouldn’t be able to do. Robert Martinez stated to add to what Brian stated, when TxDOT decided to change the traffic light configuration. When the train comes, quit stopping the main lanes on FM 78. Train goes through, we get the green light. Traffic flows, if making a right turn. Schertz Parkway is the only intersection. Randolph is tight. If TxDOT hadn’t changed, the light would stay flashing red when trains go through. Goal is to keep the main lanes of traffic moving Commissioner Donald Nolan retracted his comments. 5. Staff Updates a. Crusader Bend/Noble Way Kathy Woodlee stated the Noble Way stop sign relocated behind the crosswalk. Previously it was way forward passed the crosswalk. People won’t be encroaching on the crosswalk now. It received a score of 50 when it went through the prioritization. Active or enhanced. Crusader Bend 65, also active and enhanced. It is included on our list of unfunded projects. Commissioner Ronald Stevens asked what the requirement is for a stop bar, now it is a stop sign and crosswalk. What is the requirement for a stop bar? Kathy Woodlee stated there is not a requirement Robert Martinez stated we will have to research that. b. Directional signage Elble & Borgfeld at FM 3009 Kathy Woodlee stated that Public Works took point on this- a lot of discussion with TxDOT where Elbel and Borgfeld meet FM 3009. The signage and striping has been completed. c. Belmont Parkway near Hourless Kathy Woodlee stated the refresh of striping Belmont and Triple Crown. The prioritization received a score of 75- high visibility and warning signs, is on the unfunded projects list d. Fairlawn at IH 35 Frontage Rd & Riata – updates to signage & striping Kathy Woodlee stated striping and markings updated. More improvements to the roundabout coming, Public Works looking very carefully to get the right markings to meet TMUTCD. There was also a refresh of striping at the 35-frontage road e. Alsatian Way Traffic Calming Public Works still has plans to get out there to get the traffic calming devices in place. I will mention that until recently, the last few weeks, it has been a very wet summer, high rains, wreaks havoc on the streets, creates potholes, so Public Works has gotten backed up. Hopefully they will be back on track. 8-7-2025 TSAC Minutes Page 7 of 8 Transportation Safety Advisory Commission f. Lower Seguin Road & Canopy Bend – Speed/Sight distance concerns Kathy Woodlee stated this is not complete, they did get pre warning on the Westbound. They are still working on Eastbound. Update, we did submit a defense grant, widening and flatten the curve here. We will also look at speed limits. Later in august we will know if we made the short list. In September we will know if funding is secured. Sooner if we get the grant, but it will be done. g. TSAC-Related Supplemental Budget Request Kathy Woodlee stated now, the exciting part. We did present the list of projects that TSAC recommended, as well as folks’ request, priority listing that you came up with last meeting, it was put in as a supplement request. These are beyond our current budget requests. Every dept puts in supplemental requests. This is all the general fund, this does not include Water and Wastewater, Drainage or EMS, as they have revenue sources. They got prioritized; the first two segments are ones that made the cut to be included and funded if the tax rate is kept the same or no new revenue. The TSAC funding was slightly below the cut, but high on the list. I will also share, when presented to city council – they indicated to fund TSAC, but they don’t want to raise taxes. Council is reviewing several tax rates options, but no new revenue rate does include TSAC funding, one time. Not as a reoccurring. But a one-time $315,000. Next, to be added as a reoccurring funding source for these TSAC items, it will be a slightly higher rate. One-time TSAC funding and 1% cola and reoccurring and COLA. Got some options to work with. This is the least, one time funding of $315,000. Council will hold public hearings and vote on the tax rate on August 19th, so certainly come out and advocate for extra increases to be approved. Can tell neighbors and sing up to speak during citizens to be heard or public hearing. We will know before our next meeting for sure. Commissioner Richard Dziewet stated, I’m sure, you have already prioritization of products, and it is important that we voice our support on the 19th. Thank you Kathy. Commissioner Donald Nolan asked is that the residential rate? Kathy Woodlee stated – Yes, property tax. Commissioner Donald Nolan asked do they also have a rate for commercial rate. Brian James stated the city sets the property tax rate, regardless of the use, residential or commercial, it is the same rate. Commissioner Donald Nolan stated he wonder if the rate was different for commercial. Brian James stated No, same rate. Comes down to how important and how much do you want to pay for it. 5. Future Agenda Item Requests from Commissioners None