Transportation Safety Commission - Regular Meeting

all right and then we will call this uh tuesday september 8th 2026 meeting of the transportation safety commission to order um And we will start out with a, we'll do a land acknowledgement. The land that Eureka rests on is known as the Wiyot language as Jarujiji. Past actions by local, state, and federal governments removed the Wiyot and other indigenous peoples from the land and threatened to destroy their cultural practices. The city of Eureka acknowledges the Wiyot community, their elders, both past and present, as well as future generations. This acknowledgement demonstrates the city's commitment to dismantle the ongoing legacies of settler colonialism. And we will have a roll call.

Commissioner Edgerton.

Present.

Commissioner Wagner.

Present.

Commissioner Griffith.

Present.

Commissioner Beaudry. Commissioner Meyer. Present. Commissioner Marcellin.

Here.

And Commissioner Gonzalez is absent. Thank you.

all right and next we have approval of the minutes from last month's meeting the august whenever august 11th meeting anyone want to make a motion motion all right do we have a second to approve the minutes i'll second cool um any all those in favor Aye. And I wasn't here, so I'll abstain. Any opposed? All right. Minutes approved. Then we will move into public comments. This section of the meeting provides the public an opportunity to address the Commission on any subject not appearing on the agenda. Pursuant to the Brown Act, the Transportation Safety Commission cannot take action on items that are not on the agenda. And members of the public will have three minutes for each item. Is there anybody here in person who would like to do a general public comment? Nope. All right. Do we have anybody on Zoom?

We have a whole bunch of people on Zoom, and we do have Colin Fisk with his hand raised right now. So if you want to go ahead, Colin.

Okay.

I think I'm unmuted now. Great. Hi, everyone. This is Colin Fisk with CRTP. Just wanted to make sure you all know that this is transit month in September, and there are a number of events going on, including this Thursday in McKinleyville. We have a talk that's co-sponsored by a bunch of other organizations about protecting the role of public transit in multiracial inclusive democracy. That's going to be a good talk. On Monday, we have a meet and greet with Humboldt Transit Authority bus drivers being held at Humber's in Arcata. So those are among the transit month events that we're having. I hope that you can attend those and check out the rest of what's going on. Thanks.

All right, thank you. Do we have anybody else on Zoom? All right, and we'll close the general public comment period. And we don't have any old business, so we can move on to new business. Our first item is the installation of a 20-foot red curb at Dolbier and Rust Streets in accordance to AB 413. I think we have a presentation.

A report. Good afternoon. The Transportation Safety Commission will consider a request to install approximately 20 foot of red curbs at the intersection of Dobeer and Ross Streets. The request has been submitted by a neighbor to provide additional site clearance at the southwest corner and northeast corners of the intersection. Staff reviewed the location and determined that the proposed red curb installation would restrict parking within the designated areas and improve visibility for motorists and other roadway users approaching and entering the intersection. The notification letter identifies the proposed installation of 20-foot right curbs, no parking zones at these locations. Staff is recommending that the Transportation Safety Commission approve the proposed request for right curb installation.

All right. Does anybody have any questions about this? No? Yeah.

Go ahead. Just looking at this, why is it 5 foot on one side and 20 on the others?

The 20 foot is for the Assembly Bill 413, daylighting law, and the 5 foot was the request for the site clearance. When we went through a view and multiple reviews of this location, there were vehicles that would park right up to the sidewalk, and so at this spot needed additional site clearance for 5 foot red curb.

Thank you.

And this is close to Sequoia Park, right?

Correct.

I'm just going to have a general question about AB 413. Is that something where people need to make, like a request needs to be made in order for that to happen? I understand we have a lot of intersections, right? And it might be difficult to go out and do all of them, but if there are others, intersections in the community that people have concerns about, do we have to make sure you all know about it before this whole process gets started?

yeah thank you for the question um we yeah so i think you're what you're alluding to is correct we have um as far as uh staffing the ability to go out and do every intersection within the city um to the to the um what the AB 413 would allow is not really possible. So we are looking as requests come in, we take a look at these and go out and do that. We try to incorporate anytime we do a project, we're looking at all the intersections within the project footprint whenever we do our pavement maintenance projects or other transportation related projects, we definitely look at that when we're doing those. Or if for whatever reason there's a safety concern that comes to our attention, you know that might not come through a neighbor Requesting it we would definitely take a look at that and see if it you know It would make sense to move that forward as far as like getting those curbs painted So yeah right now if somebody has an interest or has a concern out there certainly reach out and let us know about it and we can Take a look at it.

Thank you additionally a b413 and the sudden lighting law is enforceable whether the intersection is painted or not. It's very similar to the parking in front of a fire hydrant. It's a part of the California vehicle code. So it's not required to have the curbs painted. This is more of an enforcement and a visible notifier.

Thank you. Did anybody else up here have any other questions? OK. Do we have any public comment on this item? Anybody here in the audience? I see nobody here. Do we got anybody on Zoom who would like to do public comment?

There are no hands raised yet, but let's give it another minute in case somebody does want to comment.

Nothing? OK, cool. Then we'll close public comment period on it and bring it back. Does anybody have any comments up here, or does anyone want to make a motion? I'll move to approve. Anyone want a second? I'll second. Okay. We have a motion and a second. All those in favor of approving the staff recommendation on the red curb? Aye. Aye.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Okay. All in favor? And then we will move on to item E2, the additional temporary bus stop relocation request at the H Street Transit Hub.

have to apologize there should be a little more imagery that comes along this but uh there we go there we are okay all right the city of eureka transportation safety commission will consider an additional request from the humboldt transit authority to relocate one existing bus stop currently located at the 8th street transit hub between third and fourth streets this record this requested relocation is intended to accommodate the development of the future earth center This requested temporary bus stop location will be on I Street between 3rd and 4th Street directly south of the recently relocated bus stops that were recently approved by the TSC here last month. This request represents an additional bus stop relocation following the recent relocation of other stops in the area. staff received the request and reviewed the location the temporary location will be in place during the construction of the earth center the proposed relocation will also include the removal of a single 25-foot parking stall and establish a 20-foot red curb The proposed configuration is intended to maintain safe turning movements in the area while accommodating relocated transit stops. Staff is recommending the Transportation Safety Commission to approve the additional relocation request. As you can see, the additional on 3rd Street, there is considered to have right curb right there for the turning movements of the bus fleet.

I'm sorry real quick just to clarify that and because we did have as you mentioned a previous approval of red curbs for the bus stops previous meeting this is really I believe what you're alluding to there is like additional red curb because the bus turning movements it was found that they needed more space in order to make that turning movement out of there is that correct

Correct. It was requested by HTA for the additional 20-foot right curb on 3rd Street. And then they were seeking an additional stop just south of the requested locations. previously so there as you can see it's circled where the 25 foot parking stall to be removed it actually has the purple green and black route where where that's going to be located so it's just a single 25 foot stall right to be located okay do we have any questions up here from the Commission

So will the red curb be removed if the bus stop is temporary when it's non temporary morning? Will they but will the red curb then also be removed?

Correct As long as it's no longer needed by HCA there won't be no need for that curb to be there and then how long is the proposal to have the temporary bus stop While the Earth Center is under construction, it should be at, I think I would actually have to refer to the city engineer on further on that development.

Yeah, it'll be a couple years, if not a bit longer. Yeah, it's a long-term process for that construction. They haven't broken, they're breaking ground soon. They're close to breaking ground, but it's going to be a long process, large building. So it'll be a couple years at the least.

And this area, I'm kind of looking at the map there. It looks like it is close to at least one city parking lot, right? Is that a city-owned parking lot that's just a little... I think that would be to the south and across?

You are correct.

Okay, cool. And I know that some configurations down there, when it was changed and bike lanes were added, we went from curbside parking to diagonal parking, so that led to more parking spaces down there as well, too, right? Okay. Does anybody else have questions up here? Oh wait, they're figuring out tech. Then we can open this up for public comment there are folks here in person who'd like to comment come right up Push all right.

I'm Rory Hanson. I'm the owner of 804 3rd Street Which is the building is to pick in the lower photograph and I've owned that building probably for 15 years and I grew up in taking care of that property when I was a young boy so I'm very familiar with that location and I'm not very happy that you put a bus stop right in front of my building that I've owned and cherished for years taking great time and effort to maintain that building and I don't want to see it deteriorate and during the construction phase you'll notice that there are black fences now around the building because it gets terrorized at night by, let's just call them homeless people or third-person transients. And I'm afraid if you put a parking spot next to my building that I take great passion and care of, that it's going to deteriorate over time. And I have a maintenance man today, every Monday, that comes in over the weekend to clean up the area around that building because of the trash and the garbage and the stench and the smell and the urine and the dog crap and whatever. The garbage cans, it's every Monday I have to do that. And I own other properties in the city of Eureka. I own a block down at 305 K Street where my office is, and he's got to maintain that one the same way. And so putting a bus stop sounds very good and compassionate. We're going to have a bus stop there to take care of these people so they've got a place to stop safely. But my concern is you put a structure, and I guess I should pass these out.

There's five of you up there.

I'll give you five of them. You can pass them. And it's kind of a basic diagram of what you guys are proposing. And you want to put a bus stop right on the corner of 3rd and I Street. And if you flip to the back page when you get it, that's your existing structure, glass structure, that you put on the corner of, I guess it's 3rd and 8th Street now to take care of the bus people while they're waiting to hop on a bus. And you're going to propose that that go on my sidewalk right there at 804 3rd Street. And I object to putting that kind of a structure next to my building. And you notice the one that's in the picture on Exhibit 5 or the last page of this document is probably a foot from the curb, right, or a foot from the edge of the parking lot. You're going to put that on my building. That's a foot away from my property line. That is too close. I couldn't. As a private property owner, I couldn't build anything that close to the sidewalk. And why you can put a structure like that there, I don't know. I don't want it there. I ask you not to put such a structure there. That's my first request. The second request I would have is... I don't want a bus stop there at all. As you look at the front diagram, there's a parking lot here, there's a parking lot here, and there's a parking lot here. You could put that bus stop at any of those locations and avoid parking right in front of my building. And it's owned by, these parking lots are owned by the city or the county. Why not put the alleged bus stop at that location? And so I would propose that you do that instead of putting it right there at 804 3rd Street. And then the second thing is... Thank you. That's your time. So I would just ask that you don't put a bus stop there. But if you're going to put a bus stop there, and I can't stop you. Thank you for your comment.

We keep it at three minutes for everybody, for fairness. Anybody else out there?

Hi, good afternoon, everyone. My name is Heidi Wells. I'm a local attorney and part owner of the Zordling Law Firm, which is that building right there where the tenants have been for a couple of years. We love it there, right next to the courthouse. And despite there is a little difficult to park, we do enjoy it. The man who drives the carriage drives by with tourists most days, points to the building and how pretty it is. and get to see that. We are, as far as the bus stop relocation, it will bring a bunch of noise. The bus started this week. We do notice quite a bit of noise right outside. But I was glad to get a call today, actually, from Katie Colander, the general manager of the Humboldt Transit Authority. And I discussed some of our concerns. And I can hand, I only have three copies of this. This is a photo, and I've noted a couple of green markings on there, where someone had come and put where they think that the shelter should be. It's not where the red box is on that bottom picture. It was actually a little closer to my side. And you can see that those dots put that right against the building, which would be a big problem. not only for noise and congregation, but in discussing that with Katie, she understood that also blocking our signage, that sort of a thing, a big structure would do that, to put a shelter if the bus stop is going to continue forward closer to the 101 where the, let's see, what does it say on there? It says... consider moving to parking sign poles so bus mirrors don't clip them where that car is on the red line to be the county owns that parking lot and there's nothing abutting it so that would be if there needs to be a bus stop on this block That would make much more sense. A shelter right next to where those marks are or anywhere near it will disturb our business and create potentially dangerous condition, as it would allow people to kind of hide behind it, right between our building and a bus stop, which we do take great care to try to keep the building nice. We keep lights on in the front so people don't congregate there. and we do kind of self deal with vandalism we clean up the trash that's around the city trash cans a lot so we do try to keep this area as clean and safe as we can and we would appreciate the city assisting us with that and not interfering with the business or the building in moving forward so I appreciate everyone's time

Thank you. Do we have anybody else here in person who would like to speak on this? All right, do we got anybody on Zoom?

We do have Colin Fisk with his hand raised.

All right, go ahead, Colin.

Thanks. I really just want to comment that this is kind of a, obviously, it's the core area of Eureka. This is a central area for transit. We're looking forward to having the Earth Center complete, but as you heard, that's going to take a little while. And so in the meantime, it's just imperative that there be a bus stop, that there be a place for people to get on and off, and also ideally some shelter so folks don't have to wait in the pouring rain and so forth. I just want to encourage you to keep that in mind as you're making your decision about this. And, you know, HTA has the expertise, I think, to determine logistically where the stop can be, bus turning movements and all those kinds of things. And also just to comment that, you know, the folks who ride buses are our friends and neighbors. They're not, you know, people to be afraid of. And really, I think in a lot of ways that putting a bus stop somewhere adds eyes on the street and can make a place safer and more pleasant. Thank you.

All right, thank you. Do we have anybody else on Zoom? OK, great. Jerome, go ahead.

Jerome, did you want to go ahead and speak?

There we go. Sorry, I was navigating the permissions there. Yeah, Jerome Curiazzi with Humboldt Transit Authority. I just wanted to acknowledge what Heidi had mentioned. And we are definitely OK with placing the bus shelter at the location that she had mentioned. Thank you. And thank you for considering this.

Thank you, Jerome. Anybody else on Zoom? No? Okay. Looks like you have been inspired.

Yeah. My name is Rich Dalrymple. I'm also an attorney at this Wardley Law Firm. Oh, I got to hit the button, don't I?

Thank you.

Can you hear me now?

My name is Rich Dalrymple. I'm also an attorney at the Zwierdling Law Firm. And of course, I appreciate and also want to promote public transportation. The buses are going to be noisy. And I don't necessarily have a problem with a bus stop being right there. What troubles me, though, is the shelter. The shelter will literally, if you look at that bottom window, it'll be a foot away from that bottom window. And that's where people are going to congregate. We have a lot of confidential relationships. All of our client relationships are confidential. we can hear everything outside that wall and i presumably it's it's a two-way street and they can hear our conversations we won't be able to occupy probably half of our building if if the shelter is placed there i think the logical conclusion is what the gentleman just said over zoom and that's to put it a little bit closer to the courthouse in front of the parking lot there I want to provide shelter for people, of course, because we live in Humboldt County where it rains three-quarters of the year. But I just ask you to consider that there's an easier way to do this that will work for everybody. Thank you.

Thank you. All right unless there's anybody else who would like to make public comment like we can close the public comment period and bring it back to the commission if anybody has any additional questions comments or if we like to entertain a motion.

I guess I have maybe some questions some comments just regard the whole the city block the neighborhood the business and working community that obviously commutes to and from and correct me if I'm wrong but is there a little bit of a redundancy with the bus stop that's already on 4th Street it's gonna be the blue one that says recently added stop is that for a particular route for westbound commuter traffic. So I'm just following along with the dotted line. So the blue dotted line is for a particular route going westbound on 4th, correct? Correct. And then we have a proposed bus stop and a shelter for northbound I Street, and that is going to be the red and the yellow highlighted indicators there on that east sidewalk, correct?

Yes, I believe that's correct.

thank you for helping me understand the diagram and I appreciate the public comments as well to me it just seems too redundant why have a bus stop or two bus stops rather within maybe 50 yards from each other when I think the routes can just utilize the same bus stop that's already there on 4th Street and not have to impact the businesses with the bus stop with the shelter with the traffic I am familiar with I and 3rd Street and I can't imagine the it just seems like it's very heavily impacted to even ask a bus to make that right-hand turn from northbound I Street on the eastbound 3rd Street considering the cars and the pedestrian pedestrians as it is there so that's my comment I'm not sure if that was a question actually my questions were answered but to me it just seems Again, I'm going to use the word redundant. If we can just use the same bus stop on 4th Street.

Well, I guess I also have a clarifying question, too. Because my understanding from the agenda item is that what we're really talking about is extending the red curb from where the bus stop has been relocated to make it so it is safer for the bus to pull out into traffic and then make that right-hand turn. Is that correct? That's what we're really, the task in front of us is to approve that, correct?

The task in front is to improve the right turn movement where the 20-foot right curve for ATA safe turning movement can occur, and then the additional bus stop where they needed that route for the purple, green route, and I think it's the black route. So they are seeking, because they were just shifting their bus shelters, so they were seeking that additional location just south of the already approved red curb that has been implemented.

And I would add on to that that it sounds so, HTA is not in the room with us right now, but it sounds like they're online. They're on Zoom. Jerome there mentioned that they would be okay with having the shelter located further back where the vehicle, as indicated previously, I guess further to the south on I Street. And that's, I don't know. I haven't been involved with the analysis done here. So I'm not sure if that's something that we can approve at this time as far as like you know typically when these things come in we have a proposal we review it and say okay this is something that you know meets our standards you know we look at the all the you know everything going into it in this case i'm not sure um i'm not sure if jay's more familiar and can speak to that if it's not a big deal to shift the shelter back to that location or if that is going to be a problem so that'd be something that we'd need to work out yeah the shelter is being relocated is

within HCA's experience and we have discussed multiple locations for the shelters. This was the initial installation and then they have seemed to be speaking with business owners and they have reconfigured their shelters. What we're asking is for the safe red curb installation so the buses can make the movements. The shelter location is within HTA's purview, but what we are seeking within the City of Eureka Engineering Department on behalf of HTA, we're seeking for the safe turning movement, the red curb on 3rd Street, and then the additional 25-foot stall south of the recently approved red curb. That is it.

Thank you for that clarification.

Other folks anybody have yeah melody and and to further clarify the Regal located stop will be servicing those three different routes those three different lines Is that correct?

Correct. Thank you And I'm just for clarification the relocation bus stop has already been approved or it hasn't been

Viewing that diagram, the 25-foot parking stall to be removed and with the purple and green and black route has not been approved. There needs to be a parking stall removed, a four-hour parking sign removed, and a 25-foot red curb to be installed. That's what we're requesting.

Anybody have? Yeah.

Can I add? I'm going to clarify. I'm going to have a clarifier now. This is my turn. So we're not, there's no proposed, at this point, looking at the map, there's no proposed shelter against the 804 3rd Street. Or was that part of the previous proposal? approvals that we did the last meeting. I guess that's what I'm trying to understand here.

The shelters are proposed. They have not been determined. We're just seeking red curbs so they can be established. And with HTA, they can further answer the questions on the shelters. But on our behalf, we're just seeking the red curb installations.

Okay, so at this point, the action is on red curb parking removal and red curb on both 3rd and on I Street. Correct. And then the shelter would likely be located actually back further, not in next to 804 3rd, but further back where the white car is shown there closer to 4th Street.

Correct.

And not to speak on behalf of HTA, but to answer your question, Tim, from earlier, I think that the regional transit service goes on the east-west, and then it's Eureka buses that are going to be utilizing the one we're potentially talking about tonight. I think that's the difference.

I think you're right and I think that many of them actually their route takes them down I Street so normally they would have gone down there and taken the left over to where the other bus shelters were so it's just kind of this is the the way to kind of utilize the direction they were heading anyway yeah all right and thanks for the clarification all around and Commissioner Wagner asked us earlier but this is temporary correct correct

Thank you Anybody feel like making a motion I'll move to approve the installation of the red curb and parking spot removal Second All right all those in favor

Aye. Aye.

Aye. Aye. Any opposed? I'm opposed. Opposed. Okay. So we have one, two, three, four in favor, one opposed. Motion passes.

All right.

Thank you, folks. The next thing we got is the item E3, proposed old town and downtown parking districts. And we've got a report on that. Is that also you, Jay?

Correct. okay good afternoon commissioners okay so staff is presenting the proposed old town and downtown parking zones for the commissioners recommendation and forward to the city council there are important transportation considerations associated with this with the presentation including vehicle circulation parking turnover driver behavior and efficient use of the existing roadway The purpose of this presentation is to clearly establish defined parking areas and rules that will help reduce unnecessary vehicular movement within the districts while improving access to on-street parking. Okay, the city is proposing two district distinct parking zones for Old Town and Downtown. Parking zone is specific is a specific area where the city can set tailored parking rules prices and time limits The main goal of this new setup is to create a fair system that works well for everyone balancing the needs of local residents business owners and visitors alike a For the Transportation Safety Commission, the intent for the Old Town Parking District, it extends from C Street to I Street. The boundaries include Waterfront to 4th Street, and 4th Street will be excluded from the Old Town Zone, and the boundaries align with the existing timed on-street parking areas in the district. The purpose, the proposed downtown zone extends from C Street east to K Street from 4th Street south to 6th Street, with 4th Street included in, and 4th Street will be included in these boundaries. Again, the purpose of clearly identifying the boundaries is to make the parking regulations more predictable for drivers and easier to administer. These boundaries are intended to correspond with the existing timed off street parking areas. Once a vehicle reaches the applicable parking limit, it would have to leave the entire parking zone for the established period before returning to park within that zone. The intent is to prevent someone from parking elsewhere. A driver can still park in another zone or outside the restricted area. The intent is specifically to prevent a vehicle from moving from one nearby space to another and effectively restarting its parking period. From a transportation perspective, this encourages actual turnover rather than continued occupancy of a high demand area. The City of Eureka alongside the Old Town businesses are looking to increase turnover, increase unnecessary parking-related circulation, improve access to businesses and services, and better utilize existing off-street parking. The combination of defined parking zones, time limits, and re-parking restrictions, and clearer pavement markings is intended to create a more consistent system for drivers. The City is currently aligning the introduction of these new parking district zones directly with the City's 2026 pavement rehabilitation project. which allows the engineering department to handle infrastructure updates and parking changes simultaneously. As part of this effort, the city is going to extend and standardize the existing Old Town pavement parking markings to ensure everything is uniform. The physical work itself will target a specific grid focusing on 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th streets on the blocks running from A to L streets. Existing free parking and parking resources. The first in 1st Street and D Street parking lot can be can. Truly access the majority of our old town area. The parking lots at 1st and L streets we have. two large lots that are right across from the adorni and we're going to be incorporating shortly after we do some modifications and we're going to change the third and l street lot to a free parking lot as well to incorporate or to help encourage some of the residents and business owners around that district to have another lot that they can use Existing free public parking provides alternative to long-term on-street parking, and paid off-street parking lots provide additional options for employees parking, residential parking, and all-day parking. And our next, we have our ordinance language with on-street parking, 72-040 time parking defined. Parking zones shall be those streets or portions of streets established by resolution of the parking council as zones within which the parking of vehicles shall be controlled and regulated. Street markings, the traffic engineer shall cause white lines or markings to be painted or placed upon the curb or street designated parking spaces. And each vehicle parking in the zone shall park within the lines or markings so established unless the size or shape of such vehicle makes compliance impossible. The parking ticks that are gonna be incorporated are gonna be the same as the existing in Old Town to prevent any type of confusion. and the expected outcomes. We inspect increased turnover of high demand on-street spaces, improve access to local businesses and services, reduce the parking shuffle, promote off-street parking for employees, residents, and all-day parkers, better utilize existing free public parking facilities, provide clear parking space delineation, and support local businesses by prioritizing convenient short-term parking. And staff recommendation, we recommend that the city, to the city council of Eureka, the inclusion of parking zones into the Eureka Municipal Code. And if you have any questions, we'll try to answer them best we can.

All right, any y'all got questions?

At some time. I just wanted to see if I could see the map again.

That's all As soon as Derek pulls it up I have it on the page I

My question was, what is the no moving to another part of the same zone? I guess, how is that communicated to users, to drivers? Is it like in the app? I'm just curious. Yes.

Yeah, it'll be very similar to how the parking is signed currently down there. These zones are over top of the areas that we almost across the board where there's already time parking. so to primarily two hour and four hour in these two areas so the idea would be like where we have those two hours or four hour signs you would also see a sign that you are you know you're in zone you know you're in the old town zone parking zone and then we would you know have some language associated with what that means we're hoping to know we're hoping we will be doing outreach and education as far as like putting information out there as to what this means this is kind of the the first step is um tsc as far as making a recommendation to council and then um if as an ordinance it'll be go through council twice so there's opportunities for people to provide feedback um in the meantime we'd be doing some outreach as far as like trying to help people understand what it means um We want to make sure that it's clear so there's not confusion. I think that's one of the things right now that's challenging from an enforcement standpoint is just cars shifting a little bit within the zone, which really challenges us. to be able to enforce the parking regulation. So this is really a tool to really help that work. The fallback from this not working would probably be to go to something more severe like where we considered paid parking down in Old Town downtown in order to encourage that turnover to happen. So our hope is by going this direction, we can have a less costly way to encourage turnover in the parking zones. And, you know, again, this is really something, you know, business owners in these two zones are hoping, you know, they want to see turnover. They want to have places for people to park near their businesses where they can get in there and they can get access. So that's what we're trying to accomplish with this, but right now we have this issue that we're trying to address with the enforcement side of it. We have the folks who can go out and do the enforcement, but the zones will really help us provide a way to, I guess, put some sidebars on the areas and help with that.

Thank you.

And I guess, yeah, I had a question really about employees and residents of Old Town, really, and how that would be communicated. Because I guess I see that as kind of a lot of the shuffling, you know, people who work in spots and they're like, oh, I got to go move my car now and, you know, just move it to a different location. location. And just Yeah, just how that communication will go through employers or, you know, apartment managers or anything. So people know where there are the spots where they don't have to be moving their cars all the time.

Yeah, the existing condition, you know, we have the two hour and four hour, so they should be moving as it is now. But we've had a program in place when we went to the paid parking in the parking lots where there is an employee and resident parking permit that you can get for our parking lots that are in Old Town. And that that are the paid options, of course the free lots are available as well, but those parking permits are relatively relatively inexpensive There's $70 a year and we've been promoting those for the last year or so and there's been a lot of outreach with business owners and residents we've had it there's a huge amount of usage on those parking permits because it does give you that opportunity of like I know I can go park there anytime and I'm good and I think the business owners, they really push for that because it gives them a place for their employees to go. They're not parking right out in front of their business that they're trying to get people to come into. So that's definitely been a collaboration with the business owners of Old Town and downtown. That program, I think, has been successful, and so that would continue to be an option here for folks. They can elect into that. I think a lot of business owners would buy those permits for their employees, and so that really has been a help to keep them off the streets.

Thank you. And I had another question about, will there be, with this, do you anticipate there being any like maps or like how will people know? I know that was like a big discussion about any of the like moving from free parking to paid parking, just like making sure people know what's going on.

Yeah, we're going to have to do a lot of outreach. I think we got, we were a little bit slow on the uptick on getting the outreach out when it came to the paid parking lots. We got there and it just took longer I think this case we can get out ahead of it further the map you see there on the screen will probably have a version very similar to that that's what we've been working with there that map includes the two zones and it kind of highlights where the what the different hourly parking rates are within those zones so it gives you a pretty good feel for okay here's the two zones and then oh it's two hour here four hour here that will be certainly public information that we'll put out there. And we'll do a lot of social, outside of like our website, we'll do a lot of social media to try to get that out there. So, you know, as many ways as we can get it out in front of people, we will try our best to do that.

You have any other questions up here? Yeah, go ahead.

I just had a question about the free parking that is closest to Dick Chocolates and Jack Seafood, that big dirt lot there. I utilize that parking a lot because, as we know, on Friday Night Markets and Arts Alive, that's like a savior of a place to find, um, you know, the condition of that dirt is, is, can get really bad, you know, it's muddy and there's potholes. Sometimes there's a little bit of a safety issue. I feel like I've experienced on the backside of Dick chocolates where people are just kind of parking maybe permanently back there. And if we're going to rely on that space for, um, free parking or for, you know, employees that maybe just can't swing the 70 bucks one month to buy the full-time parking, Is there any kind of project about putting in some safety lighting, putting in some pavement in that, putting in some lines in there? Because, you know, walking through there at the end of Friday Night Market and you've got, you know, your young child in your hand, you're really looking left and right as people are trying to jet out of that area. So is there anything that's proposed for that area, the free parking? Thank you.

Yeah, we don't currently have anything proposed. I think, and just to clarify real quick, it's not $70 a month, it's $70 a year for the parking pass, so definitely a big difference there. Yeah, that lot, as far as all the city parking lots go, that's not actually designated as a parking lot. It's a lot that the city owns, and we allow that. That's how we're using it as a free parking lot. Some of the other lots were purchased with the intent of using them, and when I say purchases, it's like... decades and decades and decades ago when it comes to the parking lots. So currently, aside from what we cover with traffic and parking, I think there's a lot of other interests in the city as far as that lot and the potential for it in the future. I don't believe there's any plans for it at this time that I'm aware of. So take that with every however you want to as a city engineer, how informed I am on that sort of thing. But yeah, no, we've we've definitely will continue to look for options. We've had it graded in the last I think a year ago we had it graded. It might be time to do a little bit more grading and then and striping on the gravel. It's probably due for some cleanup. And then we can certainly coordinate with our friends in EPD if there's additional patrols or anything back there that could help in the areas maybe that are a little bit out of the way.

And so just to clarify, that possibly is just kind of a temporary free parking right now?

Yeah. Currently, it's being used as free parking until whatever is decided that that will become. Yeah. Thank you.

Any other questions over here? No? No? No? All good. Then we'll open it up for public comment. Is there anybody here in the audience who would like to speak on this agenda item? No? All right. Do we have anyone on Zoom? All right, Colin. Come on down.

Thank you. Colin Fisk with CRTP again. Yeah, I want to say first of all that I really appreciate the effort that city staff are putting into more efficiently and effectively managed the parking supply and also to just remind you all that really the most effective way and most fair and flexible way in many ways to manage the parking supply is through metered parking and paid parking. know we've been hearing for a little while now that the city was planning to move towards paid parking on street and at least part of this area and so i'm hoping that that is still the plan would request some clarification on that if possible thanks thank you do we have anybody else on zoom not with our hand raised

OK, then we'll close the public comment period and bring it back to the mission. Anybody have any comments or additional questions?

Is there an update on the status of the paid parking?

Yeah, so currently the paid parking is, you know, we have it on the horizon. It's not a thing that we have scheduled. We've been talking about looking into 2027 as far as that goes. This is really, you know, trying to understand how parking operates as it currently is structured. Without proper enforcement, there's no way to really understand that. So the zones help us actually provide, you know, closed loopholes and really hopefully get that turnover that the business owners and the folks down in Old Town are looking for. And, you know, we've certainly heard we've had a lot of pushback on paid parking in that area down there from a lot of different areas so this is one thing we can do now that's fairly you know like this is we're making a change to municipal code potentially depending on your recommendation what councils to save of course but this is pretty low-hanging fruit i guess it just helps us do better what we're trying to do now and hopefully we'll that'll give us an opportunity to study how that looks and then learn from that and then that'll inform us when we go forward to look hey do we need to continue down this road and is paid parking the way that that it needs to happen and if that's the case then we'll continue down that road

All right, do we have any other comments or anything? Shall we entertain a motion? Anybody wants to make one? And this would be to forward it to the city council so that they could then hear it twice and decide whether to implement this in the municipal code.

I will recommend that.

The motion has been made.

Do we have a second?

I'll second. Okay. All those in favor? Aye.

Aye. Aye.

Aye. Sounds unanimous. Motion passes. Okay. And then it looks like the next thing we've got on our agenda, we don't have any reports or presentations, but we have an update on demonstration projects.

Yeah. Thank you. We wanted to provide an update. The demonstration project has been out in effect since, I believe, in June. Project manager Waterbor has spent a lot of effort in making the demonstration come to life. We have two locations that the demonstration project has been located. There's G and Humboldt, and then what's the other location jay pine street and hawthorne street pine and hawthorne yes um so those two locations were chosen because they are on um two bicycle planned bicycle boulevards and they kind of create intersections that are they there's a number of benefits that i guess that we were trying to achieve with the demonstration projects um first i would say we haven't had um this type of installation in the city of Eureka. So it was an attempt to determine, you know, is a mini traffic circle something that we can put in our tool belt and that we could apply out into certain types of streets that are really best for low volume, low speed residential type areas. So that was what we were. That was one thing that we wanted to accomplish here, locating them on G Street and Humboldt and Hawthorne, which Humboldt-Hawthorne is one of our east-west routes, while G Street will be a north-south route. It provided an opportunity to have node points that kind of signify you're on a bicycle boulevard, slow traffic down to a certain degree on those bicycle boulevards to create a more safe and attractive place for cyclists to use. The update though is we're getting ready to take the two locations down. The reason for that, because we don't really, we wouldn't need to necessarily take them down. unless we had, like, we have had some maintenance issues with them where signs were stolen and different things were taken out of the installation, which has been a challenge for staff to have to go out and, you know, put new signs up, put other, you know, delineators, whatever was impacted, you know, by people who were, I guess we call it vandalism, you know, stealing signs and vandalizing those. We are taking them down because this is a project that was funded by a Vision Zero project that is being administered by HCOG, City of Eureka. We're a partner in that Vision Zero plan. This was an opportunity to get funding through that Vision Zero grant. to do these installations and to test them out. Since we've had them installed, we've had the Curix traffic cameras on one of the locations, recording data to see how it operates. And the, Now we need to get how it operates without the traffic circle in place so we can have that comparison. That information is going to be incorporated into the report. So we need to get that information so that we can get it back to the consultants and allow them to get that incorporated in before the project comes to a halt. Because I believe we're in the last few months of the Vision Zero plan. They're trying to put that finalize the plan, this is some of the data that they need to get back in there to close it out. But I would say, I would actually ask Jay if he has, maybe he could provide some insight as to kind of your experience that you've had out there on the ground with folks working around the installations, you know, the community, and then maybe a little bit of feedback on how you felt they were actually, how they performed.

The initial community's response was mixed. But after a couple weeks of the installation and watching how it was performing and then also seeing how the data was being collected, we went from mixed reviews to pretty much 95% positive reviews and actually receiving ideas for how it could be incorporated or how it can be implemented. So overall, The initial phase of the data collection has been a success and we just need to move forward to get the post data so we can incorporate it all into one package and then have the Smith group and finalize that data, process that data and put it into the report so we could bring back to this body and share it with this group. So we're really looking forward to that. Hopefully I can get that removed this week, capture the data next week with in-school traffic and just full. The best part about capturing data in September compared to August and July is that you're capturing full volume. You have all modes of everybody who is on the streets, they're out. School traffic is in you know, so, you know, all services are acting no summer vacationers Everybody's back in town. So it's it's really great to capture that data to get the full effects of how all users will be Utilizing that intersection and I would add to that we have a

Both projects, the G Street Bike Boulevard and the Humboldt and Hawthorne Bike Boulevard are funded, grant funded projects that we have that will likely be going, one of G Street construction next summer and then Humboldt Hawthorne next summer or shortly after that, the summer after that. So these are two opportunities we have to look at this and say, hey, are these things that we want to provide like a permanent installation in those locations? So Um, that's something that's on the horizon there, but very, very near horizon, um, as we're in September now and construction season's right around the corner for next year.

Also it gave a great opportunity for our emergency service providers to utilize and see how it impacted their times and response times and what vehicles they can use on that route and how they would manage response calls if a device was that caliber was implemented. So it worked out well.

All right. Anybody got questions up here? And I guess, and I think that you mentioned this before, because the cameras that you're using only collect what vehicles go through, right? So there wouldn't be any, like, way to catch who's vandalizing the pop-ups? Yeah.

No, you train, they're trained images. It's not pixels. You train images to be captured. And so... It might capture the individual in that moment, but it wouldn't recognize what it was capturing, so it doesn't store anything. It's not a near miss. It's not anything that is related to that specific type of detection or data needed to be collected.

And I know you're still waiting to collect some of the data without them but I guess like what is your immediate reaction as the you know the engineers of the city like do you feel like this was a was successful and that these will be utilized in a more permanent way.

I find that they were extremely successful. The great thing about demonstration projects, it gives us a chance to modify the design if we like, so it wasn't hardscape. So we can take that data back and go and see how turning movements were actually performed And if we want to, you know, modify that design to make it more suitable for what we actually, the data that was collected, that is the benefit of it. But level of service improved. Speeds lowered. There was no near misses. Overall, the report's going to highlight some very positive data that was collected.

Cool.

All right. Well, I believe we're just receiving that report. We got nothing to vote on?

So thank you. And then next we just have subcommittee updates.

Anything to report, Allison?

No, last I think some of the next step was with Brittany. Brittany's got, yeah.

Brittany's court, okay. And then future agenda items. Is there anything that you, either of you two want to report on those?

Yeah, I'm trying to do the one month confirmation with Caltrans. So when I hear back, the last I checked with them, they were on for the 13th. So hopefully we'll have at least these two items, an update on the middle couplet on Broadway. So that's on Broadway between Wabash and South Bayshore Mall entrance, that zone through there. then the fourth and fifth feasibility study we might likely see if there's anything else we want to add from projects that they have going on within the city limits that we would want to have an update on as well there but yeah hopefully we're shooting for October on that I don't know if it's within city limits where it is but they'd be cool to hear about the what's happening on the bridge the Eureka Sloot bridge yeah that's in city limits and I think we can I think that'd be a fair ask

All right.

We've reached the end of the agenda. Does anybody have anything else they want to discuss?

All right. Then we can adjourn. We'll be back in October. Thank you.