COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

Inter-Departmental Correspondence

Department of Public Works

 

DATE:

December 24, 2004

BOARD MEETING DATE:

January 11, 2005

SPECIAL NOTICE/HEARING:

None

VOTE REQUIRED:

Majority

 

TO:

Honorable Board of Supervisors

FROM:

Neil R. Cullen, Director of Public Works

SUBJECT:

Consideration of Private Financing of Speed Humps on Sharon Road - Menlo Park Area

 

Recommendation

1.

Determine if your Board will authorize privately financed speed humps to be constructed on Sharon Road between the Alameda de las Pulgas and Cloud Avenue; and

 

2.

If your Board determines that privately financed speed humps can be constructed on Sharon Road as described above, then adopt a resolution authorizing the Director of Public Works to:

 
 

a)

construct speed humps on Sharon Road in conformance with your Board’s adopted Procedures for the Installation of Speed Humps/Dips on County Maintained Roads (Procedures); and

 
 

b)

notify the contact person for the property owners on Sharon Road of the amount that will have to be deposited with the County prior to any work being done.

 

Vision Alignment

Commitment: responsive, effective and collaborative government.

Goal(s): Government decisions are based on careful consideration of future impact, rather than temporary relief or gain.

 

Your Board’s consideration of allowing the private financing of speed humps on Sharon Road may lead to revisions of your adopted Procedures which in turn, may help to expedite the installation of speed humps/dips on other roads to help control the speed of traffic commensurate with the prima facie speed limit provisions of the California Vehicle Code.

 

Background

Previous Board Action

Adopted the current Procedures for Installing Speed Humps/Dips on County Maintained Roads (“Procedures”) on October 21, 2003.

 

Approved an appropriation in the Road Fund of $50,000 to finance the installation of speed humps/dips.

 

Adopted resolutions authorizing the Director of Public Works to install speed humps on various County maintained roads.

 

History

We contacted all known homeowners associations, municipal advisory agencies and property owners that had previously contacted the Department requesting traffic control devices, and notified them 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 pursuant to your adopted Procedures.

 

We and Supervisor Gordon’s staff were subsequently contacted by Mr. Ram Velaga, a property owner who resides at the corner of Sharon Road and the Alameda de las Pulgas, regarding the speed and amount of traffic on Sharon Road.

 

We conducted speed and traffic volume studies on the portion of Sharon Road between the Alameda de las Pulgas and the Menlo Park city limits near Cloud Avenue and determined that this section of the road would have qualified for speed humps if the property owners had submitted a petition pursuant to your Board’s adopted Procedures. We related this information to Mr. Velaga as the representative of the residents for this section of Sharon Road, and explained the funds appropriated for the installation of speed humps was being expended to construct these devices on those streets that qualified pursuant to your adopted Procedures.

 

Mr. Velaga has asked if the installation of speed humps on their street can be expedited if the property owners paid for the construction of the devices.

 

We are asking your Board for direction as the adopted Procedures do not provide for the private financing of speed control devices.

 

Discussion

We are not opposed to receiving outside funding to finance the construction of what we consider aids in enforcing the provisions of the California Vehicle Code. However, we believe that this is a significant policy question that should be considered by your Board, as it could lead to future objections by the public that private financing is “buying” public services that should be available to all on a fair and impartial basis.

 

Your Board may want to consider Sharon Road a “test case” to see if property owners are willing to finance the construction of speed control devices that meet the requirements of your adopted Procedures, and you could also direct staff to recommend modifications to the Procedures to take private financing into consideration As an example, we could develop a second tier criteria that would be implemented after roads are considered on a competitive basis, which would allow property owners to finance the speed control devices for roads where funding was not available, if the property owners did not want to wait and compete in subsequent fiscal years.

 

A copy of our report has been sent to Mr. Velaga as the representative of the property owners on Sharon Road and we will report any comments that we receive.

 

A resolution has been approved as to form by County Counsel.

 

Fiscal Impact

The estimated cost per speed hump is $2,400 and includes the $400 administrative fee previously approved by your Board. We estimate that three speed humps will have to be installed on this section of Sharon Road if they are to be effective in reducing the speed of traffic in this area. However, we cannot guarantee that traffic speeds will be reduced and have included “no guarantee” language in a proposed form of resolution that your Board may wish to consider.

 

The estimated cost of installing the three speed humps is $7,200 and we recommend that we accept payment only as a single check or money order, in order to avoid being involved in the neighborhood’s method of sharing or collecting funds to finance the work. Funds received will be deposited in the Road Fund and the work expensed out of the Road Fund. There is no impact to the General Fund.