Revised traffic calming plan gets public airing

By Gloria I. Wang

A proposed traffic calming policy for Los Gatos neighborhoods would demand resident involvement for the implementation of any traffic improvements.

The revised Neighborhood Traffic Calming Policy requires resident participation in three stages: a neighborhood petition for town staff to look at a specific residential street, a 67 percent vote in favor of a proposed trial project and another 67 percent majority supporting a permanent project. In between those stages, the town will hold neighborhood meetings to receive and present information.

According to Los Gatos Parks and Public Works Director John Curtis, town staff will run a postcard vote; postcards will be sent to the affected residents, with a simple "yes" or "no" question such as "Are you satisfied with the traffic calming measures on your street?" Staff will then make a decision based on the number of responses received and the comments.

Previously, the town had an interim traffic calming policy, adopted in March 2000, that said 67 percent of the residents need to sign a petition for a trial project to be put into place, and 50 percent must petition for the permanent measures to be implemented.

In addition to the increased resident involvement now required, Curtis and his staff modified the criteria. In both policies, local streets are considered for traffic calming when they meet at least one of the following requirements: There is a curb parking occupancy of more than 70 percent between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m.; 0.5 percent of the traffic consists of trucks; and there are more than 1,500 cars each day for a local street and 3,000 for a collector street.

Last, the interim policy stated that 85 percent of the vehicles must not be driving more than 34 mph. That was changed to the new prerequisite that 85 percent must be driving over the speed limit by 5 mph.

Curtis made a presentation to the Los Gatos Town Council Feb. 19, after the council had asked the staff in November to review the interim policy and see what changes needed to be made.

In explaining traffic policy, Curtis said, "We're not talking about pure safety issues or issues driven primarily by safety." Town staff were already obligated to resolve safety problems in a timely manner, Curtis said; traffic calming was more about "quality of life" issues.

While Curtis said there was no easy way to differentiate the two, he gave two examples. First, streets that are consistently used as cut-through routes for drivers to avoid traffic on another street are considered traffic calming issues. The cut-through traffic would impact the residents' quality of life as opposed to presenting safety hazards. On the other hand, left turns from minor roads to major streets are "pure safety" problems, since there is poor sight distance and the drivers are put at risk.

Councilman Joe Pirzynski questioned which streets were eligible for review under the policy. "Obviously there's question among members of our community and the Monte Sereno community about Winchester [Boulevard]," Pirzynski said.

Because Winchester is an arterial and not a neighborhood street, Curtis said it would not be included. Even if Winchester were a neighborhood street, missing sections of sidewalk would fall into the safety issue category not traffic calming. "It is probably safety because what it really does is get the pedestrians off the street and onto the sidewalks as they ought to be," Curtis said.

Curtis acknowledged, however, that it was difficult to define what traffic calming was and what streets it would apply to.

Councilman Steve Glickman asked if those neighbors polled were more than merely those who live on a street, but also those who use it.

Curtis said the neighbors would include the people who drive through a neighborhood. For example, Curtis said, Oka Road is used often by people who live on the other side of Highway 85. Those residences are not affected by the traffic on Oka, but they would be part of the petition and voting process.

Oak Rim Way resident Marc Jensen said the plan was an improvement over the interim policy but pointed out that the previous criteria included school routes. That section was taken out, Jensen said, and the new policy did not address children, the elderly and the disabled. Pedestrians should be discussed in the new policy, Jensen said.

In response to Jensen's comments, Vice Mayor Sandy Decker asked if there could be a mention of pedestrians and if the town could conduct a study on pedestrian safety. While the other criteria included a numerical figure and pedestrian safety did not, the wording could indicate the town's awareness of pedestrian issues.

Curtis will return to the town council with a final version of the traffic calming policy for its approval.

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