Report to Mayor and City Council
Wednesday, November 07, 2018
Discussion
SUBJECT:
Title
PROVIDE DIRECTION TO CITY STAFF ON CAROUSEL TRACT STREET SWEEPING ENFORCEMENT (CITY COUNCIL)
Body
I. SUMMARY
In July of 2016 residents of the Carousel Tract requested that the City Council suspend the parking restrictions on street sweeping times in the tract due to the lack of parking due to construction vehicles. Since that time the parking restrictions in the Carousel Tract have become confusing and ineffective, and have contributed to the decline of street sweeping service in the neighborhood and accumulation of trash and debris. Residents are now asking the City to restart the parking enforcement program.
Staff is suggesting that the City Council express its desire to restore the quality of the street sweeping in the neighborhood, which first requires the return of ticketing for illegal parking on street sweeping days in areas well away from those directly impacted by the remediation work. It also directs Staff to develop the “No Parking” guidelines around the worksite and a public outreach program to reach all the residents in the neighborhood prior to implementation.
II. RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
1. Declare the City Council’s desire to return to normal street sweeping enforcement in the Carousel Tract, except as narrowly modified, in order for street sweeping ticketing to commence throughout the neighborhood; and
2. Direct City Staff to develop a map and protocol for the relief of street sweeping ticketing in the areas immediately surrounding active cluster worksites, with a “no parking” area within 0’ to 50’ of any sound wall, and a buffer of “no parking enforcement/no sweeping” within 50 to 150 feet of any sound wall, as well as a public outreach campaign to inform the residents of the change.
Body
III. ALTERNATIVES
Take another action acceptable to the City Council.
IV. BACKGROUND
Since the commencement of the soil remediation work in the Carousel Tract in May 2016, the City has been asked to clarify its policy on enforcing parking restrictions in the Carousel Tract related to street sweeping, specifically in the areas around the remediation site as it moves through the neighborhood, cluster by cluster.
Shell is finishing up Cluster 8, as those families moved out in April, adding 12 more completed homes. That brings the project to about 85 homes completed, or 30% of the total of 285 homes. Cluster 9 families moved out at the end of July. Completing both Clusters 8 and 9 before the end of the year will put them at 97 homes completed. Cluster 10 families just moved out in late October. Shell moves a group of families out roughly every 3 months, and it takes them roughly 5 months to complete a cluster of homes, so there are periods of time when they overlap and have work in parallel on 2 clusters.
Still, remediation activity is scheduled for nearly five more years. As residents in each work cluster are temporarily moved out of the neighborhood while their homes are being remediated, installation of the sound walls and closure or partial closure of streets creates parking impacts within a certain radius around each work site for the neighbors who remain, with the loss of some off-street parking. On blocks where the sound walls are erected, traffic flow is reduced and there is a temporary loss of on-street parking in the immediate area of the remediation, resulting in fewer parking spaces overall.
Successful street sweeping programs require the enforcement of the “No Parking” restrictions on street sweeping days, as without enforcement the sweepers are challenged to get a “straight shot” on a street and sweep all of the debris from the gutter. Sweeping is also mandated for all cities in Southern California by the Water Board, and cities can face fines of up to $10,000 per day for failures to implement and maintain a functioning street sweeping program in their jurisdictions.
Originally Shell, the City, and the Regional Water Quality Control Board (“Water Board”) believed each cluster would only be impacted for 8 to 10 weeks and only in a relatively small radius around the worksite, so minor adjustments in the street sweeping parking program could make it work. But when a resident received a ticket for parking on “Street Sweeping” day in 2016, not long after the remediation commenced, it resulted in their request for the City to be more lenient in parking enforcement, at least on the block(s) or section of street(s) facing the sound walls, just for the duration of the work in that section. After assessing the situation, Staff originally proposed a solution that Shell’s contractor would cover the Street Sweeping signs to temporarily remove the “no parking” designation in the areas immediately surrounding each work “cluster,” and at the end of the work in that cluster, the bags would be taken off those signs and moved to the next cluster.
In July 2016, however, residents complained about street sweeping tickets to the City Council at a Carousel Tract Town Hall Meeting held at the Carson Community Center, and the Council informally declared that no vehicles would be ticketed for street sweeping parking violations during the Carousel Tract construction period (more than six years from that point). Given that direction, albeit informal, the City’s Parking Enforcement Officers have generally ceased ticketing for street sweeping parking violations in the Carousel Tract, which has led to the decline in service in the neighborhood.
Essentially, the “no parking” system on street sweeping days is no longer working in the Carousel Tract, and the lack of parking compliance has begun to affect the ability of the street sweepers to do their job. In some cases the sweepers have been unable to sweep a certain block, jeopardizing the City’s compliance with its master storm water permit from the Water Board. While it is important to provide some relief in the areas immediately around the sound walls (and the walls will move every 4-5 months), there is no reason to provide broad relief to drivers parked 3 or 4 blocks away, which is currently the case.
Today, two years later, the City receives more complaints over the lack of enforcement and the resulting diminishment of the street sweeping operation in the neighborhood than it does over unfair enforcement, which has nearly ceased to be an issue.
Two things are necessary to happen:
1. In order for street sweeping ticketing to commence throughout the neighborhood (with the exception of the excluded areas, discussed below), the City Council should declare a return to normal street sweeping enforcement, except as narrowly modified; and
2. The City will develop a map and protocol for the relief of street sweeping tickets in the areas immediately surrounding active cluster worksites, with a “no parking” area of 0’ to 50’ of any sound wall, and a buffer of “no parking enforcement/no sweeping” within 150 feet of any sound wall, as well as a public outreach campaign to inform the residents of the change.
Discussion
On the streets where clusters currently are located, there is a short distance from the end of the sound walls (on either end) that should be “No Parking Anytime,” for the purpose of keeping it clear and allowing for the remediation contractor’s sweeper to keep it clean. This is about 50 feet and is in Shell’s RAP. On the rest of the block where the sound walls are located (this is both Panama and Ravenna now under the new Broadway cluster plan), there should be some distance of about 100 additional feet where there should be temporary relief of the “No Parking-Street Sweeping” restrictions while work is being done on that particular cluster. These two adjacent zones have opposite purposes: (a) from 0’ to 50’ from the edge of the sound wall there would be no parking at all; and (b) from 50’ to 150’ there would be no enforcement of street sweeping-related parking restrictions. Every other area of the Carousel Tract, including both Neptune and Marbella, would return to normal street sweeping and parking enforcement, as there is not any current remediation activity on either of those streets.
Delineation/Identification
One of the challenges of creating a temporary No Parking area is how to identify it in a way that can go up quickly, stay in place during the duration of the exemption, and then can be swapped out for a new area.
In 2016, one resident got a ticket for parking on the “Street Sweeping” day and requested the City to bag or cover the Street Sweeping signs on the block(s) or section of street(s) facing the sound walls, just for the duration of the work in that section. At the end of the work in that cluster, the bags would be taken off those signs and moved to the next cluster. Shell’s contractor can actually do the bagging, but they’ll need permission from the City to do so. Since the cluster sound walls move every 4-5 months as work is completed, there is no “one size fits all” solution to signage: rather, the installation of No Parking signs on either end of each cluster will need to be part of the cluster planning for each cluster.
Rather than merely “bagging” signs, Staff suggests as more affirmative and descriptive placement of signage. For the 0’ to 50’ section, signs should be placed at the 50’ mark saying “No Parking Anytime from Here to Sound Wall”; and, from the 50’ to 150’ mark, signs should say “No Street Sweeping Parking Enforcement.”
The signs themselves can be reused and relocated, since they will be moved every five months. It may be necessary for either City crews or Shell’s contractor to install sign posts at the approximate locations described above. Further, the “No Street Sweeping Parking Enforcement” signs would not exempt owners from complying with other parking regulations, such as fire hydrants or distances to driveways. Those parking restrictions would remain in effect.
Timing
If the City Council takes action at this meeting, Staff will finalize the parking guidelines, sign language and installation, and the coordination with Parking Enforcement during November and December. The Public Outreach program, including a letter from the City, door hangers, and other outreach tools, will be implemented during January and February. Full implementation would occur on March 1, 2019.
V. FISCAL IMPACT
There is some cost of additional No Parking signs, as well as some occasional sign post installation every five months or so, but the City will request Shell perform the work or reimburse the City its costs. In addition, the City would receive some additional undetermined amount of parking ticket revenue. If the program is properly implemented, that revenue should be a modest amount.
VI. EXHIBITS
1. Cluster Map of Carousel Tract (pg. 6)
1.
Prepared by: John S. Raymond, Assistant City Manager