Saddelback Ranch Rd - Changing Course

Changes in Saddleback Ranch Road have caused a furor among Portola Hills residents (Click Here) who are worried about

• · Safety to bicyclists and pedestrians
• · Inability to evacuate quickly in case of emergencies
• · Inability of emergency vehicles to circumnavigate the turns
• · Inability of vehicles to pull over to make way for emergency vehicles
• · Congestion due to lane narrowing
• · Use of potable water in medians given the severe drought

In response my colleagues on the City Council (Voigts, Robinson, and Hamilton) refused to agendize the topic (Click Here) but the City Manager did spend the past few weeks addressing some of these issues. He reported at this week’s Council meeting that staff

• · Talked to the original designer to “rethink” the plans
• · Talked to a third party planner
• · Plans to meet with the HOAs
• · Will send out a postcard to Portola Hills residents asking them if they want to be kept informed of what’s happening.

That’s about it (Click Here).

Here are some concrete suggestions I am passing on to the City Manager for consideration -

(FWIW – The policy of the City Manager is to listen to Council concerns when 3 or more Council members agree. 3 or more Council members can only agree when the Council is in session, and that can only happen if an item appears on the agenda, which my Council colleagues (Voigts, Robinson, and Hamilton) have refused to allow. Hence my suggestions to the City Manager carry no more weight than anyone else.)

GET THE EVIDENCE

ABILITY TO TURN

Many people are concerned with the ability of emergency vehicles (e.g., large fire trucks) to circumnavigate the narrow streets. Let’s talk to the Fire Department and have them send each of their larger trucks onto the streets and get a report back from them. Maybe we’re right. Maybe we’re wrong. But we need to know now before there is an emergency.

The streets should be wide enough to allow even the largest fire truck to have easy access. Moreover, they should be wide enough not merely to accommodate the trucks, but to accommodate them without significantly slowing them down.

This can be tested. Don’t only test it, but I suggest you videotape the test drives to be able to show everyone the results. The City doesn’t have a lot of credibility right now, so staff assurances that everything is OK will only go so far. A video with a voice over from a Fire Department official will go a long way to lower people’s fears.

ACCESS TO EMERGENCY VEHICLES

While we’re at it, let’s address the problem of ordinary vehicles pulling over if an emergency vehicle has to move up SRR. Have we already had this problem? If not, let’s simulate the conditions and see what happens with a road full of traffic when an emergency vehicle has to make it up SRR. Can it be done easily? How much is the response time going to be delayed? Is that time difference significant?

Once again it’s better to know now than find out later. And once again, a video is worth 1,000 words.

DANGER TO PEDESTRIANS

We can also get the evidence for what will happen on the sidewalks. People have already told us that it’s nearly impossible for people with dogs or a bunch of kids to safely fit on the sidewalk when a large vehicle with large side view mirrors goes past. That’s easy enough to simulate and record to see if this is true. I suspect it is, but let’s establish just how much of a problem it is.

RETHINK THE CHANGES

BIKE LANES

In 2014 the State of California passed a law that gives bicycles the same rights as cars and that a car cannot pass a bicycle without 3 feet between the bike and the car. The construction on SRR began after this law was passed. Why didn’t the staff and the paid Consultant revise the plans to conform with this new law before construction began?

One doesn’t need a video to see that in places a bike and a car will not co-exist. And one doesn’t have to be an engineer to understand that bikes in a lane will significantly slow down traffic, especially in an upgrade. Nor does it take a traffic engineer to know that some people will get mad having to wait behind a bike and they will try to pass, endangering everyone.

In places we’ve created an accident waiting to happen.

Let’s go back and shrink the size of the medians and add a bike lane, at the very least, on the upgrade, but if it’s possible, on the downgrade too.

POTABLE WATER

Landscaped medians with potable water in the middle of the worst drought in the history of the State? Really!? Whose idea was that? When they tried to impose medians on the residents of Lake 1 and Lake 2 a few years ago, the people came out in droves and with few exceptions (I believe it was 1 in 100) people opted out of the medians. The reasons included water use and the creation of visual clutter that increased the risks of accidents. Why are they going in now?

NEGOTIATE WITH THE PARTIES

LEGAL

The City staff is arguing that there are unknown legal and financial considerations at play, which is why they strongly recommend that we “stay the course” and finish up.

Why are these unknown?

Let’s ask our attorney to review the contract and see what we can legally do if we wish to stop construction and put in modifications.

CONSTRUCTION

Let’s sit down with the contractor, admit that we made some mistakes, and find out what the proposed changes will cost. Whatever the changes cost, I suspect it’s less of a problem than a lawsuit from someone who is injured under circumstances in which literally 1,000+ people alerted the City about.

HOAs

During the past two Council meetings, several members of various HOAs claimed they weren’t informed about the workshops or the plans. Initially the City claimed that everyone should have been informed, but as I dig deeper into this thing it looks like only 3 of 6 HOAs were fully informed. Let’s meet with a representative from each of the 6 HOAs and have them reach out to their constituents and see what they want. This type of representation should have been put in place from the very beginning. Of course the City won’t be able to satisfy the needs of everyone, and there may be some conflicting desires at work. But at least we need to have some idea of what can be done to make as many people as possible satisfied.

GOING FORWARD

TAG

Next week on Tuesday the Traffic Advisory Group (TAG) will meet at 7 pm at the City Hall and they have agendized SRR. So here’s a chance to work out, with the City staff, some of these problems. The TAG is advisory only but I for one would welcome their considered opinions.

ONLINE PETITION

There is an online petition with over 700 signatures to date. Please go up and read the petition and if you agree sign and send it on to others. You don’t have to be a Portola Hills resident to sign. Portola Hills is a part of Lake Forest and the Council represents the entire City. (Click Here)

CITY COUNCIL

The Council will meet again on Tuesday, Nov 3 at 7 pm. So far my colleagues (with the exception of Councilman Nick) have refused to bring this issue up. The numbers of people who showed up and spoke has put pressure on them to act, and I recommend keeping up the pressure.

SUMMARY

The City has started to address the concerns of the residents, and they should step it up and take very seriously the many issues being raised.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook and you can share your thoughts about the City at Lake Forest Town Square on Facebook. His comments are not meant to reflect official City Policy.

Dr. Gardner has office hours every Tuesday from 4 pm to 6 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a Town Hall meeting every quarter. The next meeting will be on Dec 12 at 2 pm at the Foothill Ranch Public Library.