Report to Mayor and City Council
Tuesday, June 07, 2022
Consent
SUBJECT:
Title
CONSIDER ADOPTING RESOLUTION NO. 22-095 FOR COMPLETE STREETS AND GREEN STREETS POLICY (CITY COUNCIL)
Body
I. SUMMARY
The City of Carson has been undertaking the update to the City’s General Plan, providing an excellent opportunity to engage all sectors of the community. The City’s General Plan includes policies focused on complete streets, green streets and multimodal strategies that address specific corridors, various travel modes, implementation, and budgetary considerations, and identity areas that entail coordination with other City Departments such as Planning, Law Enforcement, Parks and Recreation, and Public Works. Independent from the General Plan, the City’s consultant, Fehr and Peers, wrote a Complete Streets and Green Streets Policy for the City of Carson. This policy includes elements that refine the vision, provide clear direction and intent, are accountable to a community’s needs, and grant the flexibility in design and approach necessary to secure an effective process and outcome. It also includes the plan to develop as many street projects as possible in an affordable, balanced, responsible, and equitable way that accommodates and encourages travel by motorists, bicyclists, public transit vehicles and their passengers, and pedestrians of all ages and abilities.
Staff requests that the City Council approve the Complete Streets and Green Streets Policy by adopting Resolution No. 2022-095.
II. RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
TAKE the following action:
1. WAIVE further reading and ADOPT Resolution No. 22-095, “A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CARSON, CALIFORNIA, ADOPTING COMPLETE STREETS AND GREEN STREETS POLICY.”
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III. ALTERNATIVES
1. DO NOT ADOPT the above recommendation.
2. TAKE another action the City Council deems appropriate consistent with the requirements of the law.
IV. BACKGROUND
The City of Carson has been undertaking the update to the City’s General Plan, providing an excellent opportunity to engage all sectors of the community. The State of California has emphasized the importance of Complete Streets by enacting the California Complete Street Act of 2008 (also known as AB 1358), which requires that when cities or counties revise the general plans, they identify how they will provide for the mobility needs of all users of the roadway, as well as through Deputy Directive 64, in which the California Department of Transportation explained that it “views all transportation improvements as opportunities to improve safety, access, and mobility for all travelers in California and recognizes bicycle, pedestrian, and transit modes as integral elements of the transportation system.”
The fields of transportation planning and design have focused on moving able-bodied adults in automobiles, creating a system that provides reasonably good mobility and convenience. However, the needs of travelers outside that group, including younger or older people, those with disabilities, and those who travel by transit, bicycle, or foot, have been routinely overlooked. Too many neighborhoods lack safe places to walk or bicycle, and access to key community resources such as parks, shops, grocery stores, and schools is now dependent on access to an automobile. Buses move down streets slowly and drivers - when not speeding along neighborhood streets - are caught in traffic jams on major arterials during commute hours, and otherwise can travel with relative ease.
The Complete Streets movement aims to develop integrated, connected networks of streets that are safe and accessible for all people, regardless of age, ability, income, ethnicity, or chosen mode of travel. Complete Streets makes active transportation such as walking and bicycling convenient; provides increased access to employment centers, commerce, and educational institutions; and allows for cost-efficient and potentially more time-efficient travel.
Green streets are an amenity that provides many benefits including water quality improvement, groundwater replenishment, creation of attractive streetscapes, connection of neighborhoods, creation of parks and wildlife habitats, and pedestrian and bicycle accessibility. Green streets are defined as right-of-way areas that incorporate infiltration and/or biofiltration best management practices (BMPs) to collect, retain, or detain stormwater runoff as well as a design element that creates attractive streetscapes. Green street BMPs may include, but are not limited to, dry-wells, curb-cuts, median modifications, street trees, permeable pavement, bioretention areas, and vegetated swales.
The City retained the services of Fehr & Peers to prepare the Complete Streets and Green Streets Policy. Fehr & Peers completed the policy, and it is consistent with staff’s requirements (Exhibit No. 2). A complete Streets and Green Streets Policy can be developed by an internal group of stake holders, which may include representatives from planning, engineering, public works, economic development, health, and/or elected officials. The City Council is requested to adopt the completed Complete Streets and Green Streets Policy as official city policy. Adopting the Complete Streets and Green Streets Policy will further improve the health, safety, welfare, economic vitality, and environmental well-being of the community.
V. FISCAL IMPACT
None.
VI. EXHIBITS
1. Resolution No. 22-095 (pgs. 4-7)
2. Memorandum - Complete Streets and Green Streets Policy (pgs. 8-20)
Prepared by: Gilbert Marquez, City Engineer and Ryan Kim, Traffic Engineer