Nearly 100 people showed up at the City Council Tuesday night to voice their concerns about the work being done at Saddleback Ranch Road (Click Here for the background). The first speaker, however, had broader concerns. Mr. Eric Erickson was worried that the democratic process was being undermined by the change made in which it now requires 3 Council members to bring an item to the agenda. Previously it required only 2 members to get an item on the agenda. He worried that a voting bloc could stop important issues from being discussed. We’ll see that his worries were not unfounded.
Following Mr. Erickson, more than a dozen spoke, and everyone was opposed to the project. Their objections fell into a number of categories.
EVACUATION
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Monica Aguirre worried that by narrowing the roads and “calming” the traffic, it will make it extremely difficult for 6,000+ people to evacuate in the case of a fire or earthquake. If the people do make it out there, the “obstacle course” makes it difficult for emergency vehicles to enter. Several others shared her concern.
EMERGENCY PULL-OVER
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In a similar vein, if you’re having car problems it will make it difficult and in many places impossible to pull over, meaning a break down will stop traffic. Given the back UP in traffic, it will make it nearly impossible for a tow truck to reach you.
PEDESTRIAN SAFETY
In some places, pedestrians walk perilously close to the traffic, and in cases where people are walking in opposite directions, they may be forced out into the street where the traffic is already too close. This is particularly true for people with dogs, and even more problematic if two sets of people with dogs try to pass each other. Brian Van Dyke noted that his Navigator was so wide that he was worried that his side mirrors were a danger in several narrow spaces.
BICYCLES
Grady Glover noted that many people in Portola Hills ride bikes, and the absence of bike lanes and the narrowing of the street to 13’ in some places and 14’ in other places means that the margin of error for bicycles is extremely tight and ultimately will force bike riders into the one lane of traffic. On a 13 degree slope, this means bike riders will go very slowly and cars will back up behind them. This causes either (a) a big traffic jam or (b) car drivers making the dangerous choice to pass the bike riders. Steve Kuver predicted that “road rage” would result.
PARKING
In some areas the narrowing of the streets results in loss of on-street parking in areas where there is already problems with parking.
CLEARANCE
Gayle Mona worried that the clearance for fire trucks was a problem. Another resident reported seeing garbage trucks having to back up in order to make a turn. Steve Kuver worried that the medians would impede line of sight for people trying to make left turns. In fact, there was universal dislike for the medians, with comments that they were too wide and would use needed water.
While these were the major concerns voiced about the work being done, there were many complaints about the process.
NOTIFICATIONS
City staff claims that everyone in Portola Hills was notified about the issue in 2012 when 3 workshops were held in the fall. But many of the people in attendance said they thought those workshops were focused on the 900+ new homes rather than involving major changes to SRR. And several also said that regardless of the topic, they had no notification.
CHANGE IN THE LAW
Leah Basil (President of Portola Hills 2 HOA) and several others noted that in 2014 the State changed the laws with regard to bicycle safety on the road, and this change in the law was never considered in the plans, which were developed in 2013.
Tomorrow we’ll look at the City’s response.
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.
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