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Minutes
TRANSPORTATION SAFETY COMMISSION
April 29, 2009
The Vienna Transportation Safety Commission (TSC) met in regular session on April 29, 2009, in the Council Chamber at Vienna Town Hall, 127 Center St., S., Vienna, Virginia. Chairman Kenney opened the meeting at 8:00 p.m. with the following members present: J. Leonard Ignatowski, Jill Decker, Sharon Baum, Howard Springsteen, Frank Johnson and Tara Voigt. Absent was Andrew Meren. Also present were Matthew Randall, engineer for the Department of Public Works (DPW), Sergeant Mike Reeves of Vienna Police Department (VPD) and TSC Clerk April Masters.
Before the first agenda item Mayor Jane Seeman addressed the TSC. About a year ago the Mayor’s Advisory Commission invited the chairmen of the various boards and commissions to talk to the citizens about their functions along with the Town Manager, Town Attorney, Town Council and Town Clerk. The Town is so proud of the work that the boards and commissions do that this year they are giving them their own meeting. Invitations have been mailed to each of the TSC members and the meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 12th at 7:30pm in the Council Chamber at Vienna Town Hall. The Town is looking for a short presentation on what the TSC does with a sample agenda. It is important for people to know that the citizens serving on the boards and commissions are their neighbors.
Approval of the Minutes
Chairman Kenney, Commissioner Decker and Commissioner Springsteen all had corrections to the March 31, 2009 minutes. After the corrections were noted Commissioner Springsteen made a motion to approve the minutes as amended, Commissioner Decker seconded the motion and it was unanimously approved by the TSC.
Proposal to Make Dominion Rd from Church St to Ayrhill Ave One-way to Make Room for Street Parking
Dr. Jerry Covel of 224 Walnut La, NW said that one night he went to Evolution Fitness and began hunting for a parking spot; there was no parking along the bike path and none in the train depot. He thought, why not make the road one way from Church St to Ayrhill Ave and open up the other side for parking? There could be an additional 25 – 30 parking spaces. It seemed like an inexpensive way to solve the parking problem.
Chairman Kenney addressed the business owners present to let them know that this proposal will not happen without their support. However, please give it a fair shot before deciding against the idea.
When studying the road to make a schematic of possible parking alternatives, Chairman Kenney reported that he learned the further north you travel the more the road pinches together. The road in front of Posh! is somewhere in the neighborhood of 42ft from curb line to curb line. The road on the business side of the double yellow line stays fairly constant at about 22ft. The other side goes from about 17ft down to about 12ft as you head north. He used a laser to shoot the field dimensions to make a drawing which has been provided to the business owners along with a drawing of the existing conditions. The TSC does not currently have traffic counts for the area but have requested them from VPD.
Mark Lander, owner of Evolution Fitness explained that he, along with other businesses in his building, pay the Northern VA Park Authority to lease the parking spaces that are currently available to them. However, there is no way to patrol who parks there. People visiting the Farmer’s Market, Wheat’s Landscaping or Eastern Computer often park there. He does not choose to tow people because he does not want to create ill will towards his business. It can be very frustrating. Any opportunity to create more parking should be discussed. There are many businesses in the area and not enough parking. When he first heard the proposal he was very open to the idea. He guesses that the Northern VA Park Authority will want to have a say in the matter as they are currently leasing out some of their parking spaces.
Chairman Kenney responded that the area Mr. Lander is referring to is a 100ft area along the W&OD trail that several businesses lease parking spaces from. He was not aware until recently that it belonged to the Northern VA Park Authority.
Mr. Lander wondered if the lot that is after you cross over Ayrhill Ave and holds junk cars is leased.
Chairman Kenney said that it is his understanding that some of the businesses in that area are leasing the lot from the Northern VA Park Authority on which to store vehicles.
Chairman Kenney asked Mr. Lander what time of day he thought was the worst for parking.
Mr. Lander answered that it is hard to say as he can be just as busy at 11:00am as he is at 6:00pm. If you take into account all of the employees of the local businesses, that alone can fill up the parking spots.
Chairman Kenney reported that the Planning Commission did a parking study for the Church St corridor. There are supposed to be 5 parking spaces per 1,000 square footage or 1 parking spot per every 200 square footage for standard retail locations. He believes it is 1 parking space per 4 seats for restaurants.
Mr. Lander pointed out that while he has a number of handicapped members, there is no handicap parking on the street.
Chairman Kenney agreed that is an issue and said the street could also use some sidewalk improvements in terms of wheelchair accessibility. As it is now, every entrance is at a different elevation.
Susan Pierce of Commonwealth Home & Remodelers said she is in favor of sidewalk improvements. In the winter the different levels of sidewalk tend to cause pools of ice to form. She contacted the Town about it 2 years ago but was told there was nothing that could be done at that time.
Vienna Floors, which is the co owner of the building she is in, has a loading dock that would be severely impacted by making Dominion Rd one-way which does not seem fair since they have been in that location for 30 years.
Chairman Kenney explained to the other TSC commissioners that most of the businesses along Dominion Rd have no alleyway available to them. Their deliveries have to come through the front door so the delivery trucks unload in the street.
Ms. Pierce added that it is a good idea to add parking to the area but she wants to make sure the businesses will be able to operate as efficiently as they do now.
Oscar Aragon of Vienna Floors said his company has been on Dominion Rd since 1984. More businesses have moved in and businesses have improved so the area needs more parking. However, making Dominion Rd one-way will leave him in a very difficult situation in regards to deliveries.
Chairman Kenney asked how often Vienna Floors gets deliveries and Mr. Aragon answered every day. Sometimes the deliveries come on 18-wheelers because they might have 25 different businesses to which they are delivering that day.
Chairman Kenney wondered if there is any way to focus these deliveries to a specific time periods. Oscar responded that the deliveries are coming from all over the United States of America and it is not for him to tell them what time they can deliver to his store.
Commissioner Springsteen agreed that commercial truckers would not be agreeable to time restrictions for deliveries.
Chairman Kenney said the only reason he brought it up is because he heard there is a similar situation over in the area of Bazin’s restaurant on Church St. There is an area that is a loading zone during certain times of the day and parallel parking at all other times.
Commissioner Springsteen said that if the Town puts in head in parking on Dominion Rd a tractor trailer will shut down the street.
Steve Townsend of Frame Factory agreed with Oscar in that making Dominion Rd one-way would make deliveries impossible. It takes about 30min to unload a shipment and that is too long to have the road completely blocked. Right now there is parallel parking in front of every business from Posh! to Evolution Fitness but for the most part people use those spots to pull in and out quickly. He believes the current situation is as good as it is going to get. He is opposed to making Dominion Rd one-way.
Chairman Kenney expressed the option of putting in head first parking but leaving out some spaces for deliveries which could also double as handicap parking access ways to the stores.
Mr. Townsend said that there are a lot of kids coming out of Mountain Kim’s Martial Arts. If there is head in parking it is going to create a situation where the kids have to walk through a bunch of parking spaces.
Chairman Kenney pointed out that the same situation already exists with the current parallel parking.
Mr. Townsend argued that it is not the same thing because the parallel parking is only used for drop off parking.
Chairman Kenney asked where that it is posted as drop off parking only and Mr. Townsend replied that it says ‘No Parking’ all along the street.
Chairman Kenney asked why people are parking there if it is posted as no parking.
Mr. Townsend said that the businesses allow people to pull up and drop off their kids or to make a quick stop. They do not let people park there all day.
Chairman Kenney said that if the parallel parking is not legitimate parking then it should not be counted towards the current existing parking counts.
Commissioner Johnson said it may not be legitimate but it is used for parking. He drove by the area today and saw 4 or 5 cars parked around Mountain Kim’s that were picking up children. It should be counted towards the current parking.
Chairman Kenney replied that if t hat is the case then how is it any different than having head in parking as both create a visual obstruction to traveling vehicles to the pedestrians?
The owner of the building at Ayrhill Ave and Dominion Rd said he wanted to comment on the previous discussion of deliveries. There is no way that delivery people are going to follow time restrictions. He also said that if this proposal goes through, people are still going to pull up in front of Mountain Kim’s to drop off their children but now they will be blocking traffic.
John Spina of Out of Site Wines said that he wanted to emphasize what the other businesses are saying is that it would be a great hardship in regards to deliveries if Dominion Rd was one-way. The possibility of leaving some spaces out for deliveries had been mentioned but at that point is the number of spaces being gained really worth the hassel? It is hard enough to get businesses noticed in Vienna as it is but if you have a bunch of cars blocking the view of the store it is going to hurt business.
Pete Sherman of 416 Creek Crossing Rd said he is not a business owner but he does frequent 2 of the businesses and he also uses the W&OD trail so he is familiar with the area. He agrees that the current situation is inadequate. People parallel park along the road to make the best of what is available. For the most part, people do realize it is unauthorized parking and do tend to get in and out quickly. He also agrees that making Dominion Rd one-way would result in delivery trucks blocking traffic which will just make a bad situation worse. Adding head in parking will also reduce visibility which is not a positive situation considering all the children because of Mountain Kim’s and all the pedestrian and bicyclists because of the W&OD Trail.
Chairman Kenney asked Mr. Sherman if he thought that a lot of parents were pulling up and dropping their kids off at Mountain Kim’s without getting out of the car and Mr. Sherman said yes.
Chairman Kenney asked if, at least in front of Mountain Kim’s, Mr. Sherman agrees that the area is used primarily as a drop off zone and Mr. Sherman said he does.
Susan Pierce of Commonwealth Home Remodelers added that some of the things being unloaded for Vienna Floors and the Frame Factory are up to 16ft long and need some maneuvering room. One left out parking space would not be enough. Also, the new plan is showing 8 – 10 new parking spaces in front of Posh! but they already have about 7 on their private property.
Chairman Kenney asked where exactly these spaces are and Ms. Pierce said that on their private property which is textured asphalt or brick, there are currently about 7 parking spaces available.
Mr. Townsend interjected that there are not 7 parking spaces there. When people park in the spot Ms. Pierce is referring to the back end of their car blocks the sidewalk. There are 1 or 2 parallel spaces on the street but that is it.
Chairman Kenney said it looks like what is currently in front of Posh! is brick sidewalk. He asked if people are parking there?
Ms. Peirce said that yes, they do.
Mr. Townsend added that the police do ticket people who park there due to the issue of blocked public sidewalks.
Mr. Lander said that it is obvious that everyone would like more parking but there are concerns about delivery truck access. There is a parking lot in between the train station and the mural wall which belongs to the Park Authority. It could be extended into the Centennial Park area. Where the parking lot currently ends, the ground is low. There are some flower beds about 10 – 15ft from the boundary. If the Town was willing to give up one flower bed the parking lot could be extended by 15 – 20ft; with parking on both sides you might be able to get another 10 spots.
Chairman Kenney said he is not sure that the area is wide enough but that is one option to consider.
An employee of Vienna Floors said that if you could pave the area on Ayrhill Ave which is now grass in rocks, in a way that would still allow for drainage, that would be a great place to add some parking.
Chairman Kenney agreed but that is an expensive plan.
Commissioner Springsteen said he would like to see the traffic counts before making any decisions. Perhaps, in the future, the effected people should be surveyed before the TSC holds a hearing. He cannot support this issue at the current time because the local businesses do not support it.
Chairman Kenney said he feels that the whole point of a hearing is to hear from the public.
Commissioner Ignatowski said that his experience with areas where there are a lot of cars and only head in parking is that there are a lot of accidents due to people backing out. His is concerned that if you narrow the street and add a bunch of head in parking accidents are going to increase.
Chairman Kenney countered that as the situation stands most people are probably backing out and they currently have 2 lanes of traffic to look out for.
Commissioner Ignatowski asked if the 9ft parking slots that show on Chairman Kenney’s schematic are standard.
Chairman Kenney answered that his understanding is that the Town uses 9ft x 20ft parking spaces. He suggests that the TSC table this issue until next meeting when the traffic counts are available. All of the people in attendance are welcome to attend. He hopes everyone understands that the TSC will not pass an issue that is not supported by the people most affected.
Commissioner Johnson asked if the Park Authority planned to comment and Chairman Kenney responded that he thought a representative was supposed to attend the meeting but it doesn’t seem anyone showed up. Their only concern was losing parking along the trail; it is revenue to them.
Proposed Revisions to The Citizens’ Guide to Traffic Calming in Vienna
Chairman Kenney explained that while the proposed revisions to The Citizens’ Guide to Traffic Calming in Vienna was approved last month, he received some comments from Mr. Matthew DiFiore that he thinks are valid enough to discuss. The Town Council is currently planning to review the proposed changes June 8th.
Commissioner Springsteen suggested that Chairman Kenney has been doing most of the work on this issue. Some of Mr. DiFiore’s comments do make sense. He feels it is up to Chairman Kenney on whether he wishes to include them.
Chairman Kenney agreed that Mr. DiFiore made some good points. He especially agrees with his point that the TSC needs to define the methodology of how to survey cut through traffic. It is something the TSC needs to explore with the DPW but he does not think it is can be determined right now. His feelings are that this is a living document that can be revised at any time. He would like everyone to review Mr. DiFiore’s comments and over the next few months the TSC can explore some of these issues. For now he thinks the document should be left as is. He will mention to the Town Council that there are a few items in Mr. DiFiore’s notes that the TSC intends to explore in the near future.
Reports of the Commissioners
Commissioner Springsteen complemented Chairman Kenney in that he did a good job ushering this politically sensitive issue through the Town process. Clearly the businesses did not seem in favor.
Chairman Kenney agreed and said it is important to provide an opportunity in which these type of issues can be vetted.
Commissioner Springsteen said that he and Commissioner Voigt have been following up on some of the Marshall Rd issues. VDOT has placed a new Metro directional sign on Nutley St.
Chairman Kenney asked where?
Commissioner Voigt explained that if you are on Rt. 66 coming onto Nutley St, there did not used to be a Metro directional sign. Now there is a sign, in addition to the signs pointing towards Fairfax City and Vienna that directs people onto an access road which leads to the Metro station.
Commissioner Springsteen added that they also placed a sign in the medium of Nutley St intended for people coming towards Vienna which indicates that the Metro station is on the left.
Report of the Chairman
Chairman Kenney stated that he issued a memo regarding Marshall Rd. As previously decided upon, he did not make a request for an in-depth traffic study. Mr. Randall is going to look into how quickly DPW can get the ‘No Left Turn’ sign up on Dellwood Dr at Marshall Rd. Most of the items discussed in the memo are already in process in one form or another. He would especially like to see the ‘No Left Turn’ sign go up at least a month or so before school ends. He also issued a memo in regards to the foliage issue on Marshall Rd but it will be up to the property owner whether or not to comply. He has also been working on a schedule for the quadrant by quadrant meetings which have been previously discussed. He is going to go through the old studies to see which suggestions they created and review them with the citizens. He would like to have a 1 hour work session next month before the meeting to review bus routes. A consultant from Fairfax County has asked for input.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:33p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Emily L. Allen
TSC Clerk