The City Council approved giving the Planning Commission the additional duties of examining traffic and parking. Mayor Pro Tem Basile and I pushed for a separate Commission, but this was the best we could get from our colleagues (Voigts-Hamilton-Robinson) who have historically campaigned for a Traffic Commission but always voted against it.
Here are my suggestions for the traffic and parking issues for the Planning Commission to study -
- Portola Pkwy extension
- How much traffic will it divert away from Lake Forest streets?
- How much new traffic will come from Irvine to Lake Forest and how much in retail sales will this generate?
- What are the costs?
- Are there any issues with Irvine and/or the County and/or TCA?
- Converting Ridge Rte. Extension
- Best uses (e.g., parking, dog park, passive park)
- Issues involved in getting it done
- What are the costs?
- Street sweeping
- How many streets are having problems getting swept?
- Can we implement sign and enforcement program?
- Costs and issues?
- Parking hotspots
- How many streets are having problems with parking?
- What kinds of programs can we implement?
- Costs and issues?
- Parking enforcement officer? What is the ROI?
- Accident/injury database
- What more has to be done to get this operational?
- Once operational, analysis of most dangerous intersections.
- Great Park impacts
- Once it opens, what will be the major thoroughfares to get to the Great Park and how and where will that impact Lake Forest?
- Individual problems
- Saddleback Ranch Rd – any problems?
- Removing 1 street parking sport on Raymond near library
- Speed bumps on Overlake and Killy
- Adding crosswalk at Rockfield and Dune Mear
- Adding left hand turn on Bake above Portola
- Traffic circulation around Town Center Drive near Bake and Alton
- Parking/traffic on Osterman (consider parking lot for Regency soccer that could also help here).
Do you have some areas to suggest? Please go to Lake Forest Town Square where you can take a poll and express your concerns.
Find out what's happening in Lake Forestfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
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.
Find out what's happening in Lake Forestfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
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 in May.
