October 13, 2012 Meeting Summary

Agenda Items:
Preparation
Attendees
Acknowledgments
Meeting

Preparation

E-mail and phone reminders

Attendees

6 members

Acknowledgments

Susan brought home made cookies.

Meeting

Agenda Items:

The meeting began about 11:27 am

    • Kaiser parking construction begins Oct 15
      • The Kaiser Medical Offices on the south west corner of Sierra Madre Villa and Foothill will start construction of their new parking structure on Monday October 15.
      • They have made arrangements for nearby leased space to use for construction parking.
      • The “primary construction working hours” will be Monday through Friday from 7 am to 4 pm.
      • They say they will have occasional weekend work for which they will comply with the city’s noise ordinances.
      • The point of contact for any neighborhood concern is Ernie Teran, Sr. Project Manager, (909) 578-9288
      • Based on the original timeline given of starting construction in July and ending in February, with it starting in October it should finish in May.
      • For more details on the parking structure plan, see the notes from our March and April meetings.
    • Council District 4 meeting on Nov 13
      • Council member Gene Masuda will host a District meeting on
          Tuesday November 13, 6 pm

 

          at A Noise Within! theater (on Foothill just east of south-east corner with Sierra Madre Villa Ave)

 

    • Sierra Madre Villa Corridor Public Art Project
      • “The City is seeking qualifications from artists and artist teams to commission a permanent, exterior public artwork as part of the Sierra Madre Villa Avenue Corridor Improvement Project…”
      • There are two potential locations for the art project.  One is on the side of the hill just north of the eastbound on-ramp.  The other would be some “enhancement” to the five city light poles that are to be installed along the newly widened sidewalk under the freeway overpass on the east side.  (The RFQ says that artwork for the lighting location would require additional Caltrans approvals, which could delay the project timeline.)
      • From the RFQ: “The proposed artwork will have a transportation theme incorporated into its design, as referenced in the project vision statement.  The artwork should be large enough to be seen from a distance by pedestrians and drivers as it will orient travelers and serve as a way finder between the freeway, the light rail, pedestrian path, and nearby bus stop.  The artwork will also endeavor to capture the authentic character of East Pasadena not only as a retail and transportation hub, but also as a neighborhood with an interest in arts, culture and history.  The project will be enjoyed at all hours of the day by commuters, visitors and business owners as well as pedestrians, bikers and runners.”
      • The artwork budget is $50,000, including design, fabrication, and transportation to the site.  Pasadena Public Works will do the installation.  The artwork has to meet Caltrans and City guidelines, and possibly also Metro.
      • The project artist or artist team is expected to be selected in November with completion and installation in Summer 2013.
      • There will be a community meeting to learn more about the art project:
          Tuesday October 16 at 6 pm

 

        Frostig Center, 971 North Altadena Drive
    • Artist/artist team proposals must be submitted no later than 5:00 pm on Wednesday, October 24, 2012.
    • Questions may be referred to the Cultural Affairs division at 626-744-7062.
    • The RFQ can be accessed from this page:
      www.cityofpasadena.net/arts/Public_Art_Program/
  • Electronic Drive traffic signal
    • A meeting with Council member Masuda and the City’s Transportation Engineering Manager has given a bit more information about a potential signal on Sierra Madre Villa Ave at Electronic Drive.
    • The city’s traffic engineering staff has done the necessary studies and the site has been justified as needing a signal.  It is listed as a project in the Capital Improvement Program.
    • As indicated previously, no funding has been identified and it has been expected to eventually be funded as a mitigation measure by some large development occurring on the block to the north.  Otherwise it has to compete with all the other projects for very limited city gas tax funding.  Other possibilities could include applying for a grant from an agency such as Metro.  For Metro, a case would need to be made that it is regionally significant or somehow important to their operations.  Other grant providers would have their own particular requirements.  Many grants require matching funds, and it is often the case that the city’s gas tax funds are used to match grants, since that results in getting more projects done for the same amount of city money.  That can mean that lower priority projects jump ahead of those of higher priority.
    • The reasons given for putting a signal there, in addition to pedestrian safety, involve traffic patterns south on Halstead to Foothill and the freeway and traffic from the shopping center.
    • The current cost for a signal system at a T intersection like that would be in the range of 150 to 180 thousand dollars.
    • In addition to that would be the cost for connecting it to the city’s traffic control system so it could be coordinated with the signals at Foothill and at Orange Grove.  If they have to dig up the street to add new conduit as opposed to just using some already available buried conduit, that would add another 50 to 60 thousand dollars.
    • The transportation engineering manager also mentioned that Sierra Madre Villa has been discussed for the possibility of being put on a “road diet”.  That would reduce it to one vehicle traffic lane in each direction with the outer reaches being converted to a dedicated bicycle lane and parking.   However, while Sierra Madre Villa’s peak traffic numbers are currently below the 1000 peak vehicles per hour that the city considers an upper limit for conversion to a “road diet” street, it is in the 900s.
    • He also mentioned that they were going to consider eliminating the no parking signs on Sierra Madre Villa.  The traffic engineering folks don’t remember why they were put in place.
  • General Plan Update update
    • An information item on the current state of the General Plan Update was presented to the City Council at their October 1 meeting.  For all the detailed materials, see the attachments to item 9 on that www.cityofpasadena.net/councilagendas/2012 agendas/Oct_01_12/agendarecap.asp.
    • The staff working on the plan are pushing to eliminate development caps and instead have projected levels that could be exceeded by developers doing additional environmental report work.
    • The staff is continuing to recommend allowing for 1200+ additional residences in the East Pasadena Specific Plan, with a slight reduction in the large amount of currently allowed additional commercial/office space.
    • They are also recommending changing the boundaries of the Specific Plans to move the area along Colorado from Target to the eastern city boundary from the East Colorado Specific Plan into the East Pasadena Specific Plan.  That is so that the area around the Gold Line station can be planned more as a unified area.  The area west of the freeway crossing Foothill that is currently in the East Pasadena Specific Plan would be moved into the East Colorado Specific Plan.
    • The plan is being presented to a series of commissions through October and November, and then will be brought back to the City Council for approval in December.  Once the Council has given approval, the staff will go off and figure out all the details of changes needed on the city’s documents and also start the process on the Environmental Impact Report.
    • Commission presentations/discussions still to come are:
      • Planning Commission, Wednesday October 24, 6:15 pm, City Council Chambers, City Hall
      • General Plan Update Advisory Committee, Monday November 15, 6:30 pm, Renaissance Plaza, 649 N. Fair Oaks Ave., 2nd Floor Room 203
  • Local crime summary
    • For the last month, from crimemapping.com:
      • Sunday September 23, 9:26 am, Vehicle Burglary, 3300 block Las Lunas St
      • The 24 Fitness area was (very unusually) showing no incidents, but there are an unusual number of residential burglary and petty thefts shown in Upper Hastings and the upper portion of Lower Hastings.  Daisy Villa shows no incidents
  • Other city sponsored local events
    • “Going Solar” Workshop Oct 27
      • Free workshop is to provide “expert advice about rebates, vendor selections, safety and permitting for residential and commercial customers.”
      • Saturday October 27, 9 a.m. – noon
        Shemei America National Center
        2430 East Colorado Blvd.
      • Registration is required.  Go to www.cityofpasadena.net/waterandpower/solar/psiSolarWorkshop.htm
    • Halloween Family Fun Festival at Victory Park
      • Wednesday October 31, 5 – 9 pm, Victory Park, 2575 Paloma Street
      • “Join the City for a safe, exciting night of family fun. There will be live entertainment, hayrides, a haunted house, food booths and games galore.”
      • Event is free and open to all, but there will be a fee for some attractions and the on-site food booth services.
      • All participants are encouraged to come in costume!
      • For more information call the City’s Human Services and Recreation Department at 626 744-7500.
    • Fire Station 32 reopening event Dec 8
      • Fire Station 32, located at 2424 East Villa Street, has been undergoing earthquake safety reconstruction for several months.  In the meantime, the firefighters and paramedics have been operating out of a temporary location on Foothill since July 22nd.
      • There will be a reopening celebration with light refreshments and a holiday drive on
          Saturday December 8 at 2 pm., at the reopened station at 2424 East Villa Street.
  • anything else attendees wish to discuss

Next meeting is November 10, 2012, 11:15 am, at Hastings Branch Library

Adjourned about 12:20 pm