COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

Inter-Departmental Correspondence

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS

 

DATE:

October 3, 2003

   

BOARD MEETING DATE:

October 21, 2003

 

TO:

Honorable Board of Supervisors

   

FROM:

Neil R. Cullen, Director of Public Works

   

SUBJECT:

Procedures for the Installation of Speed Humps/Dips

 

Recommendation

1.

Adopt a resolution:

 

a)

adopting procedures that will govern the installation of speed humps/dips on County maintained roads;

 

b)

authorizing the Director of Public Works to collect $400 from applicants prior to the installation of the hump/dip; and

 

c)

directing the Director of Public Works to initiate the procedures by notifying the advisory councils (Fair Oaks, MidCoast and Pescadero), homeowners groups, and property owners that have expressed interest in the installation of humps/dips on their street, of the date when requests for speed humps/dips must be submitted for consideration by the California Highway Patrol and the Department of Public Works.

 

Previous Board Action

1.

Determined to consider procedures for the Installation of Speed Humps/Dips on County Maintained Roads (Procedures) after reviewing the results of test speed humps/dips that were installed on two streets in the unincorporated area (Blenheim Avenue in Fair Oaks and Hillside Drive in Burlingame Hills), and hearing testimony from the public.

2.

Directed the Department of Public Works to solicit input from individuals, homeowner associations and advisory councils on the Procedures.

 

Key Facts

1.

We revised the Procedures based on the responses that we received.

2.

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) has reviewed the revised Procedures and is agreeable to being the "gatekeeper" for requests for speed control devices as the devices are traffic enforcement tools, and traffic enforcement on streets in the unincorporated area is primarily the responsibility of the CHP.

 

Discussion

Enclosed is a copy of the revised Procedures with the following being an explanation of the revisions made:

 
 

Timing of Requests

 

The CHP and staff were concerned on how requests would be prioritized. We therefore added that the Department would contact municipal advisory councils and known homeowners associations once a year and request that they submit by a date certain, a priority list of locations where they or residents believe that speed humps/dips are warranted.

   
 

Procedures to be Followed

 

Advisory councils requested that they be allowed to review the requests for speed humps/dips in those areas covered by the advisory councils. We have revised the Procedures which provides a hierarchy of how we will accept requests for devices - i.e. from advisory councils for their area (North Fair Oaks, MidCoast, South Coast area); homeowners associations; and from individual property owners from areas not represented by an advisory council or a homeowners association.

   
 

Review of Requested Sites by the CHP

 

We have limited resources for evaluating and constructing speed humps/dips. Therefore we revised the Procedures in order to consolidate and to compare proposed sites rather than reviewing sites on an "ad hoc" basis.

   
 

Number of Devices to be Installed in any Given Year

 

We have also limited the number of sites to be surveyed each year to ten (10), as the cost of a device can range from $5,000 to $10,000 depending on the particular configuration of a street and the time that may be involved in surveying the property owners and responding to questions.

   
 

Cost of the Review

 

Your Board also directed the Department to consider a fee structure to reimburse the County for some of the costs involved in evaluating requests for devices. Advisory councils were also concerned if residents had to pay to have a location investigated with no guarantee that a hump/dip would be installed. We also checked with the Planning Division to determine if there were possible implications regarding the Local Coastal Plan (LCP) or other permits as may be required before a hump/dip could be installed; and Planning determined that a hump/dip can be considered "construction" as defined by the LCP, and at least an exemption from a Coastal Development Permit would be required for the installation of humps/dips in the coastal zone.

   
 

We are recommending that residents not pay a fee until after it is determined if a hump/dip is warranted, to address the concerns of the advisory councils; and that a fee be set at the equivalent cost of the Local Coastal Plan exemption review together with an administrative charge to cover a portion of the cost of reviewing proposed installations. We understand that not all requests will be for streets in the coastal zone, but believe that this is an equitable way of addressing some of the costs associated with the County investigating and constructing humps/dips that are primarily for the enforcement of the Vehicle Code. The current cost of coastal zone review is $210 and we believe that an additional $180 is appropriate to cover some of the administrative costs, for a total of $400 per location.

   
 

Resolving Controversial Speed Control Device Locations

 

Speed humps/dips can be controversial if there is not a consensus of opinion that the hump/dip is warranted and should be installed. Our intent is to provide a uniform methodology to determine if a hump/dip is warranted. The Department has limited staff that it can dedicate to mediating differences of opinion among neighbors as to the need for a hump/dip. Therefore, the Procedures provide for staff review of a proposed location, but the responsibility for bringing consensus still rests with the residents.

   
 

Input from Emergency Service Providers

 

One resident expressed concern that a hump/dip could delay emergency service providers. We did not receive any complaints from the emergency service providers when the test humps/dips were installed, but have added a requirement that the emergency service providers be contacted as part of the consideration of the installation of a hump/dip.

   

Vision Alignment

We believe our recommendation is consistent with Shared Vision Commitment of a "responsive, effective and collaborative government," as the Procedures were a collaborative effort of both the County and the CHP.

 

Fiscal Impact

We estimate that the cost of the a speed hump/dip program will be approximately $50,000 per year for the review and installation of ten (10) devices. We also believe if your Board approves the Procedures, that there may initially be a large number of requests for the humps/dips based on past correspondence that the CHP and we have received. We are also recommending that this cost be offset by an applicant fee of $400 as discussed above. We believe that the fee is justifiable as the property owners then have a vested interest in retaining the requested hump/dip that is intended to reduce the speed of all the users on the street - including that of the property owners.

 

The County costs associated with evaluating or constructing additional speed control devices is proposed to be paid for with Road Funds. There is no impact to the General Fund.

 

A form of resolution has been approved by County Counsel, and a copy of this report has been sent to the three advisory councils, the known homeowners associations, the residents that have previously requested speed control devices, the Burlingame City Council as they had previously expressed interest in the test devices, and to the public works departments of the cities in the County as almost all cities are adjacent to an unincorporated area where a device could be installed.

 

We will report any comments that we may receive on the proposed Procedures when this item is considered by your Board.