City Council - Regular Meeting

down the street. Speed tables too, an option. And because the sidewalk is so close to the street, if it would be okay with the residents, maybe put some big boulders along through there. So that would prevent cars going up onto the sidewalk. I also like the idea of Burl's um European concept that she posted on Facebook a couple of weeks ago. I forget what it's called, but if you're going to redo the street itself, these maybe could be incorporated in with the paving because the it's level with the sidewalk, but it goes humps up like this and then it's level with the sidewalk to to walk across the street itself. So, I kind of liked um that idea and I I really think that this street must stay open to the public and to um out oftowners that come in to enjoy um everything that we offer on the Riverwalk. Um I I just I just think it needs to needs to stay open and I don't want to see a gate or a barricade there. Thank you. Thanks Lis Kim Louie and Riverside. I'm not going to repeat. Many people made some great statements. Um had a couple alternate thoughts. Um if if some of the congestion on Hudson is why people are cutting through. Has it been looked at to see maybe raising the speed limit on Hudson to 30 miles an hour? There's there's a street over in Ionia. I can't believe it. It's the speed limit is 45 and it's a residential street. I'm not saying to do something like that. That one's at least three lanes with the turn lanes. Maybe just bumping up that helps a little bit.

Um so one thing to think of. Um also I saw just saw a uh I think a camera with a solar panel um at the corner of Hudson and um um and Hunt. Um, does anybody know what that is? Is that Is that for keeping track of traffic or something like that? I think it's block camera. Yeah, I believe that's our block. I'm looking at Okay.

Okay. I don't know if that is anything that used, but we do have to do something. Um, whether it's the barricade or stop signs themselves won't do it. Um, we have to have some speed bumps as well, especially in what we're calling the parking lot. So, thanks for your time. Thank you. I just want to relate that the flop camera is used for license plate uh recognition. If there's an amber alert or if a car is reported stolen that can recognize that plate, contact police immediately, then we can take action. That's what the purpose of that particular block came for. And I think we have what four of them in town, Mike? Four. Yes.

But the laws now changed too, right? Where to give somebody a speed ting, you actually not under that program. There's other I did hear that law just changed though. Okay. Okay. All right.

Hi, I'm uh Paula Lawrence. I live at 158 Bahala Drive uh in Virgin Township. Um I've lived here my whole life, but I don't live in the city limits right now. Um but I am just up here to offer additional suggestions. I do agree with some of the other comments so far that I think a combination of things when you go to redesign this road. Um I'm a landscape architect by profession, so I'm familiar with planning and road design and working with civil engineers. Um I'm just wondering if you're looking for alternative ideas if there's any thoughts on when you do go to redesign the road if there's other things that you can implement in addition to I think it could be a combination of things. Maybe stop signs at every road. um possibly b uh sorry road table bumps, but I know that's an issue with uh snow melt and snow removal. Um I don't know how wide the rideway is along Riverside. I don't know if there's a way that you can redesign the road diet when you look at the width of everything. If it is going to stay a one-way road with parallel parking on one side, is there a way that you can narrow it with other traffic calming measures where usually a narrower road, if you do make it even narrower, I don't know how wide, like I said, I don't know how wide the rideway is that you can work with right now. Um, but if you can narrow the lanes, that is typically considered a traffic calming measure. And if there is the width to do that with what you have, can there be an additional green medium added into the road diet that will separate the sidewalk from the road better than it is now with just the straight raised curb right next to the road right now. Um, just other things to think about how to look at the entire road diet when you look at the redesign of that road, not just repaving it and stop signs. I think it could be a number of things in conjunction together to slow everybody down. Thank you.

Thank you.

Susan Stevens, 610 North Jefferson. I actually see this as two different problems from Elm to Foreman. I like the idea of speed tables or stop signs or a combination of the two. um something to because basically people are using it to avoid the light, the traffic at the light and people driving slower than they want to drive off Hudson. That's what the problem is. You need to make Hudson more attractive than Riverside. You can do that by adding stop signs on Riverside. You can do that by increasing the speed limit on Hudson to 30 miles an hour. You can do that by putting in speed tables. Um I prefer speed tables to speed bumps. I think they're more effective. Um I don't think any of that and and I think that would all be great for Riverside keeping the beautiful one lane road that it is. I don't think that any of that will fully address the safety issues in the first block between Maine and Elk. I don't think it we I think we need to have an engineer look at that area and see if they have any idea for what we can do to make that safer. You can't put a speed table in there because the parking the way the parking comes in. Cars will be parking all cattywampus on half on and half off speed tables. How does that work? You know, I I don't think that's a practical solution. So, I I think you've got two problems and I they both are important. They both need to be solved. So, good luck. Thanks.

Uh Gina Lightner, 1451 Bose. Um I don't live anywhere near uh Riverwalk, but when I am in that area, the barricades, I'm sorry, they're ugly. They're an eyesore. We talk about the beauty of the river, the beauty of the street, but then there's this ugly barricade. I do think we need a barricade. I just think we need one that's not as much of an eyesore. And I do like the idea of the stop signs. I myself, if I'm looking to get someplace quick, I'm going to avoid those streets with stop signs. Um, and that's all I have to say. Short and sweet. Thank you.

My name is Tom Grim. I live at 316 Spring, which is on the corner of Spring and Hudson. Since the barricade was installed two years ago, uh the traffic on Spring Street has increased like tenfold. Uh and when they come around that corner and go to the stop sign, there's maybe three cars a week that stop for that stop sign. And the only other thing that stops there is a bus. Um, so the there's a lot of problems with the the increased traffic on our street and I watched this the sign that you were talking about is just outside of my house and I can see that and traffic on Hudson is is going 40 m an hour, 50 m an hour. Um, you know, and so they haven't slowed that down either. So, um, but whenever you try to go either turn right or turn left onto Hudson, now it's it's like a longer wait because there's so much extra traffic on Hudson. So, we do have more traffic on Hudson, more traffic on Spring, and I don't know, we haven't seen the statistics of how many are actually going down Hudson now that the uh that the barrier's been there. Um, which if there was 4,000 cars going through there, it, you know, has it really dropped any? That's my question for you. Um, so, but it's it's been uh interesting with the extra traffic on our street, you know, and we, you know, we have a lot of people that go that come from the neighborhoods that are heading over to Richard's Park. So, and that's always a concern. You know, you have all that tra extra traffic on

Hudson driving faster and you know, he's got the the grandma's got the grand babies going over the park. So, um that would be my concerns. Thank you. Thank you,

Jody Horton, 514 North Monroe. Somebody stole my thunder because I was going to talk about how ugly that barricade is and how that just does not need to be a part of. But what was interesting to me too because I never heard of a ballard before, but I looked it up on my smartphone and those are ugly too. Let's not do okay. The area between Maine and Elm is really a serious problem and my heart goes out to anybody that has to walk in that area and I don't know who it was that mentioned but Rita Rita anyway um the the um example that Earl came up with of raising the sidewalk down Main Street that would prevent cars from just zipping over to that area uh by Sabor Mexico. I think that is a superb idea and maybe could even be implemented in other places uh in Lowel, but I think that would for for sure slow down people that would get into that area. And then whatever else you do down Riverside, I don't have a dog in that fight. I have walked down Riverside. I've driven down Riverside. It's beautiful. I I hope it stays beautiful and stays safe for all the people that that want to use it. But I just think aesthetically we need to do something and keep keep aesthetics in mind.

Thank you, Shy. I'm Dale.

Dale 94 Riverside Drive. Um first of all, I think you know I've said it before, the barricades got to go. No gate, no barricade. Absolutely not. I I can't stand it. Um number one. Number two, um I think uh speed bumps and I even I even looked at a map of Riverside Drive and thought about every three blocks like first of all coming up from Main Street when you get to Elm either a stop sign there or a speed bump. And I I don't know what would be better because you know I know the traffic by Sabore Mexico is is an issue and the parking lot too but either a stop sign or a speed bump there the first one then every three blocks after that a speed bump like at Elizabeth. All right. Uh after Elm, Elizabeth, uh and then um Foreman every three blocks, a speed bump, and that would slow the traffic down because I even went up to the high school before I came to the meeting tonight cuz they have speed bumps that go around the high school. And I think most of them are about the same. There might be one or two that are a little bit more drastic or radical than the others, but most of those speed bumps, they're not terrible as far as um you know, like uh even if you slow down, you're going to wreck your car. But if you don't slow down, you're going to wreck your car. And I think those speed bumps that they have up there would be very appropriate for Riverside Drive. And as far as stop signs go, um I've sat at my friend's house at Monroe when they put the stop when you guys put the stop signs down at Monroe. And I'm telling you right now that people slow down at that stop sign, but they don't stop. And and if that's what you want to do, stop signs, at least slow them down. And I think the goal is slow the traffic down. Let's let's let people travel Riverside Drive if they've got to get get home or whatever. But let's slow it down and that's fine. But I tell you what, I moved here in 1978. Since 1978, the traffic in this town has multiplied immensely. There's a ton more traffic.

Even in the last 10 years, it's increased tremendously. That's not going to get any better. So, we just have to make it reasonable and slow the traffic down, especially on some of these streets like Riverside Drive. Thanks for listening.

Thanks, sir. Dale Dustin, I actually live on Forest River Drive, directly north going out of town on Riverside. And you're darn right I drive it for the convenience. Wouldn't you? I mean, but I'm not your problem. I'm 20 m hour. I have friends that live on that road. Sure, we got to slow people down. We got to come up with something safer. Stop signs, something. I don't know how many people here drive Hudson, but that thing's a mess. You jumping all these people over on Hudson and there's cars running up and down the left turn lane where they're not supposed to. There's cars that stop like they're supposed to at intersections. Other cars are coming down the left turn lane. Somebody's going to get clipped there any time. And if you do like the idea of the barricade, I agree. Move it up the road because you're dumping us right in the rough curves and I'd come around that corner with a crowd of people there. Come around that corner with cars pulling out from my funeral and you're kind of stuck there. And also that's also close to the traffic light when you get there. You know, it's pretty congested area. I think if you're going to do a barricade, move it up the road. But I'd much rather see stop sign something different. I'd love to see a c roundabout somewhere. That would keep keep people away, right?

Uh Dale Cra, 4235 Broadway Drive. Uh first of all before I say I'd like to thank uh whoever is doing the visual here for hearing because I've come to the meetings and I said and I don't hear or understand anything. So uh I really appreciate that being here. Uh I just like to I grew up uh on 404 Riverside Drive the first 20 years of my life uh riding my bike up with Mickey Manel rookie cards on my spoke so it sound like a motorcycle. I would run up uh to the tire swing and swing off in the Plat River. I would uh showboat week was the highlight of my summer with all the courses and everything coming up Riverside Drive and the boat coming down. So I have a lot of memories on that. Um I hopefully you can keep it open some stop signs or speed bumps because uh that's my little sanctuary of history for me. And as I drive out of the hall, that's just a nice little piece of uh remembering and brings back a lot of memories to me. So hopefully we can keep do something to keep it open. Thanks.

You're supposed to use the utility players in your bicycle, not the good baseball cards. Yeah. Like I said, my Mickey Man cards, rookie cards probably, I'd probably burn through 10 or 20 of them. be a multi well multi00.

Hi, my name is Ritzma and I live at 525 North Hudson Street back up to Riverside Drive. And is it possible for me to ask a general question of the council? Do you notice an improvement in the traffic speed when people know that they can't book up by way of Riverside? Has the have the barricade slowed things down by Seabor by those dumpsters? Yes. The traffic is significantly better in that area. It's slower and there's less.

So, there's a a very inexpensive solution to a critical problem that I think many of you have identified that is a a very much a safety. you had a person that was struck by a car. And so it served two purposes. It has reduced speed on the north side of it, but it's improved the safety um and therefore the speed in your area as well. So that's a benefit that um at a very low cost. The speed bumps have a cost. And here's the thing that I'm concerned about with um stop signs. Visual noise, clutter, a sign. Like I I tell you, if you come by my house, I'm on the corner of Elizabeth and and Riverside, we planted a great big Norwegian pine just to cover the stop sign because I have issues with something red in my face. And so we even and now that that um tree is declining a bit. I'm concerned. So we bought another one in front of it because if that one goes, I got an air and a spare. I need to cover I need to cover that red sign. So I'm just thinking what would Riverside be looking like if it's a a series of signs going up. And the reason that I like the flow restricted is everybody can use it. In my mind, I'm thinking, you know, we have rails to trails and all these things that we develop and we have Riverwalk, which is our claim to fame. We love it. But Riverwalk East, what about Riverwalk West? Everybody can come. It's not an exclusive gated community. And I hear that come through. But you know, it's not. It's inclusive. You come and bring your dog. Bring your grandkids. Bring your bikes. This is a safe place for you to be. There's so few cars that you can hear them coming and your kids can be out. You can come off that tiny little sidewalk with no

border to the road,

8 in. And you can walk in the road and you can hear them coming. You can get out of the way when they come. I say it's an inclusive, welcoming place. And I I I went door to door for all my neighbors. Out of 23 in my original time, I got 20 of them. Three of them were gone. Well, two of them were gone, one of them said no, and the other 21 to have what we have now. I went yesterday and did the same thing. And the vote is the same. one no and now we've got 22 out of 23 that want to keep it as it is. It's a safe thing and the key thing that was brought up in the conversation is you want safety over convenience and we understand convenience but what are you going to put your values on safety or convenience? Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Dennis Scott 1700 Faith Drive roll. Um I don't live on Riverside Drive, but um being that I'm more elderly than I used to be. Hopefully, whatever you do to Riverside, it does not create a situation where emergency vehicles um cannot get through. I've seen road diets occur in a lot of communities that have are well intended, but they're not um they affect uh the ability for emergency vehicles to get through. Other than that, that's all I have. Thank you. Rob Newman, 928 Riverside Drive. I want to thank you. Um, thank you for listening. Um, I think you see there's some interest here. Uh, I've lived there 35 years. Thank God my kids are all gone and graduated and uh, but the grandkids do come over and safety is an issue and uh, I don't disagree with that at all. You want to do stop signs, do stop signs. And I quit going through by Sabora because it's not safe in there to my for me. So, I quit going through that way. There was too many people stepping out in front of cars. It just was crazy. So, whatever you decide to do is up to you guys. But I think that you did the right thing by listening to everybody and have what they have to say. I do like it that it's not a road race anymore. And I can actually safely walk out into the street and not have to do a double take to make sure I'm not getting run down. So, um, it was that bad. But, thank you, the city council. I appreciate it.

Thanks. Anybody else? Last call. It looks like you have someone on Zoom with their hand up for Yep. We are not doing public comment through Zoom, but Susie, do you have submissions? Um, I know Steve Doyles.

Yes, I do. Yep. Dear city council, we are ready to encourage you to continue with the traffic barrier at the beginning of Riverside Drive. Riverside Drive is a local street that has a traffic count of over 4,000 cars per week with 65% of the cars traveling over the speed limit. This is not acceptable. When the barrier was installed, it immediately and significantly reduced the traffic to around 100 cars per week. The barrier accomplished what it was set out to do by bolstering safety and reducing the volume of cars and the number of speeding cars using Riverside Drive. Riverside Drive is a unique narrow local street with an extremely high traffic count. It is only local through street connected to a major street that exists in the city. It does not have other comparisons in the city and does not represent setting a precedence by installing a barrier. There is a perception and misconception that Riverside Drive is closed. Riverside Drive is not closed and it is fully open except for for one block at Elm Street. Other ideas of removing the barrier and substituting speed bumps, stop signs or reversing the direction are completely counterproductive. These are studies on speed bumps. There are studies on speed bumps lowering traffic volumes by 20%. If a barrier is not used at Elm Street, you are going to allow over 3,000 cars per week driving over speed bumps. Stop sign studies show little to no effect on traffic count, 4,000 a week. And the speed can get even worse with cars speeding up between stop signs. Speed bumps will increase noise and the cars decelerating and accelerating in front of everybody's home. Every speed bump will also have to be accompanied by unsightly signage cluttering the riverbank, front yards, and the view for drivers, bikers,

walkers, and homeowners. Speed bumps are an added cost to the city by virtue of their installation costs, maintenance costs, not to mention the issues associated with snow plowing. With all this mentioned, if speed bumps are used, everyone will now be negatively affected by having to drive over speed bumps. The barrier result is simple and accomp and accomplishes exactly what it is set out to do with no other complicated solutions needed. Everyone can enjoy d driving down Riverside Drive with no speed bumps or stop signs. There is no doubt an aesthetically pleasing barrier design can be achieved at Elm Street for the purpose of diverting cars while allowing city services, pedestrians, and bicycles to pass through. Sincerely, Stephen and Michelle Doyle, 706 Riverside, 37year resident.

Is that the only one, Susie? No, I have several more. Go ahead.

Two city council members regarding Riverside Drive repaving and renovations. Good evening. My name is Bonnie Me and I live at 606 Riverside Drive. I grew up in Lowel and used to walk home every day from school on Riverside Drive. It was always the street I wanted to live on. Since 1986, my husband and children have lived in three different homes on Riverside Drive. In the 300, 400, and now the 600 block, 24 years at our current home in 40 and all. I am very concerned with the decision you will be making about our street and would hate to see the beauty lost, and even more importantly, the loss of safety we have come to enjoy since traffic has been diverted this past year. The decision of the barricade was a great one. When I read that we had 5,700 cars a week that were traveling on our street, I was very surprised, but had all along known it had gotten much busier over time. The speed of most cars was way over the speed limit, and I witnessed many occasions where accidents almost happened. It had gotten quite dangerous, especially as there was no area between the street and the sidewalk, and the street is quite narrow. I have witnessed cars that have gone up on the sidewalk, a motorcyclist who tried to pass two cars on the sidewalk, and a few times when Steve Doyle almost got hit on his bike just trying to cross the street to get to his house as he rides his bike several times a day back and forth to the mill. The street is narrower than most in town, especially if cars are parked alongside homes. There isn't room for sidewalks on the east side because of the river and because it's such a pretty drive along the river. We have many walkers, bicyclists, and pets who love to travel it as well. We have seen an increase in pedestrian travel travel because of the barricade. People are enjoying the street so much more. I for one would like to see it stay this way. And as you know from the petition that was submitted a few months ago, all the residents on Riverside Drive agree and signed that petition excluding just one

resident. Safety is the most important thing to think about. I keep keep I think keeping the traffic limited is a great idea and one we need to keep. The comment that the road is closed is incorrect. We only have to go around one block. Everyone, including those of us who live on this street. So, I have to ask, is this because it's just that some are inconvenience by having to go around one block? We all are. But there that is the cost of having this street to be a safe place for all. We need to ask ourselves why this measure had to be taken. I believe it has happened because we brought it on ourselves. Speeding is the reason people have to slow down on this street. The conversation has led to suggestions of speed signs, stop signs, speed bumps, speed tables, and now even luring raising crosswalks. I plead with you to not entertain any of these ideas. The barricade should be a gate, but it is not as intrusive as speed bumps, tables, and stop signs would be. I think we need to consider the extreme expense of speed bumps and tables. You have to consider that after the initial cost, there would be maintenance costs when they would start to break down. I feel that would be unnecessary addition and too costly. Our street has not been paved in over 50 years. We will have to worry when these bumps start breaking down and they might be in disrepair for a long time. If we want to keep Riverside a scenic drive, we don't want to add signage that blocks the beautiful view or bumps that make the drive uncomfortable. Would it be possible to explore the possibility of keeping the barricade or a gate and lowering the speed limit? I realize that would take some time investigation and contacting the state, but it might be an improvement that keeps our street beautiful and a safe place. Inconvenience is something we can live with when the trade off is a safe street for cars, walkers, pets, cyclists, and our children. Let's keep Riverside Drive

a street everyone wants to travel, especially as warm weather approaches and more people will will be walking around town. Thank you, Bonnie Me, 606 Riverside. Can I make that a comment? No. Sorry. Okay, that was almost four minutes. That's easy.

I live northeast of LOL and go to the post office twice a week. Then I make a loop through the parking lot behind the stores to take Riverside Drive home. I love the view of the river and the various birds along there. I always went the speed limit. I was very disappointed when the barrier went up and now I have to try to merge onto busy Hudson Street and then go out that way or around another block back to Riverside and north. It's very disrupting with having to enter busy Hudson Street. Riverside Drive is safer for bike bike riders than Hudson Street. So, no barrier or gate should be there. If speeding vehicles is problem, then all you need to do is add one or two stop signs in that stretch behind Sabo Mexico up to Hunt Street. This also has the least amount of cost. That will slow all vehicles down, but allow the beautiful view drive. People are heading north and east out of town. Thank you, Jean Vanderloop. Three more. Okay. Um, hi Mike. No, I'm sorry. Excuse me. Dear council, I live at 506 Lafayette. I was born and raised in Lite. My parents built a house on a quiet corner of Hudson in in Hunt. At that time, the road did not continue north. To go north, you use Lake and Lake. We used to play games in the middle of the intersection of Hudson and Hudson. Times changed and we and our little village grew. Someone decided that the traffic needed to be shifted to Hudson. All of a sudden, our quiet street was a drag strip inbound and outbound. With growth comes change, and with the attitude of grow or die, there are something to be said about neighborhood pains. The focus on growing our equation needs to include traffic patterns that are able to accommodate the increased traffic. Funding all the traffic to two roads is

not working. I will not complain without offering help. The speed limit on Riverside Drive between Main Street and Elm needs to be lowered to 10 miles hour. If posted at Main Street, this may deter folks wanting to use it as a fast shortcut, also making the speed safer for pedestrians. Number two, open Riverside to northbound traffic. This is not a private neighborhood or a walking path. It is a road that used to be a two-way road. This road has sidewalks for pedestrians to use. Number three, if using speed bumps, please don't use the ones that act as a ramp if the speed is too high. Although it's a great lesson, ask me, I know, I would be afraid if someone losing control of their vehicle was going into the river. Add officers. One officer per shift is not enough. If the city is going to continue to grow at this rate, we need officers on duty to do the traffic stops needed. Thank you for everything you do. It is appreciated by most. Nancy Raymer. to the Lel City Council. I am ready to express my opinion regarding Riverside Drive and the council's current mandate to close to most all users. Seems to me the speeders have ruined for the majority of the speed complaint driver compliant drivers. I live about one mile north of the city limit side and thoroughly enjoyed the scenic drive along riverside. Now that the past construction is over, resuming the previous drive through is warranted. If the council demands a change, use one or two stop signs versus rerouting all traffic off the most seen road in l is the best way is the best use of funds and manpower. I also believe if a poll were taken for other homeowners or any other street, all would complain of fast drivers on their

roads. I suggest asking anyone that lives in Virgin's Karen Myers. Last one is thank you for letting me express my opinion even though I cannot attend tonight's meeting. We live at 804 Riverside and I have two young kids. Prior to the street being diverted closer to town, I was constantly concerned about my kids being hit by a car. The diversion has helped immensely. If that stayed in place, I would be happy. I think the only thing that kept speed down was how poor the road condition is. So, when it's repaved, I'd expect people would drive even faster. However, I know I'm not the only user and therefore would be open to permanent speed tables. I know they have them in other snowy states, and the annual cost to install and remove them seems like wasted expense. Another idea that has not been offered and I think would be the cheapest is to install stop signs along Riverside rather than the side streets. On a separate topic, I'd like the council to consider installing protected crosswalks at a couple of points on Hudson and downtown on Main Street. I was grateful the council is concerned about public safety and making the city more walkable. Having crosswalks would help families walk, bike to school without having to cross busy roads where people speed excessively already. We have one on G Drive and it'd be great to have a few more. Thank you for your consideration. David Bond.

Good. All right. We will then close the public hearing and we will discuss. We'll start down here.

I would like to be consistent and say that I would like well first of all I very much appreciate everyone's comments. this is outstanding to come and really let us know how you feel. We are we want to make the best decision we can. I'm going to stay consistent and say that I would like to try either speak tables or I would like to try this idea of moving the barrier up closer to Hunt and this started with Kimble early on. This would allow people to travel up Riverside and enjoy that. people that want to quickly move, they can turn on Elm or Mars or any of those, but it would stop that road from being a throughway out of town. So, either those two options, speak tables or just moving the barrier north.

Mark, I want to thank everyone for their comments. I've got a lot of notes. Um, I was in fa I'm in favor of keeping the barrier because I've seen people um almost get hit. Uh, just the other day there was a car that came off of Spring Street cuz I was in my backyard and I saw them going up the street. They started picking up speed and I saw like about the 800 block I saw two kids on the sidewalk and all of a sudden one of them looked like he was falling and the car had to slam its brakes on. You know this is the road is not closed. If you want to enjoy I've got a friend of a couple friends of mine they sit there and they don't mind making the turn. Hey, I want to go up the riverside cuz I want to see if I can see the eagles are flying or something like that. You can do it. Stop signs. I'm a retired law enforcement. Stop signs. Hey, they they sound great, but you're going to see people, and I've seen it at Hunt Street where they come up there and they just blow through. You might slow down, go right through, and if somebody's coming off the side street, you might have an accident. Um, I want to get whatever we can do for safety and not cost the city a ton of money. Um, I still favor keeping a barricade.

I'm still processing. I'm with Mark. I've got two pages of notes and I want to thank you guys for all being here. Thank you for your sense of humor. This is a tough decision for us and we want to do what's right. That being said, I don't have a great answer. I I still like the barricade uh because I see what it's done in the parking lot. it it is so much safer here in in that area. Something needs to be done in that area. Um there were several references to the video that I had sent out. It was something that another resident had shared. It was a raised uh walkway and it's what we experienced in in Central America, honestly, as we were going down the street. It is a a speed table, but it is level with the sidewalk. you're crossing it, so you're not going to drive up it and go on the sidewalk, but it's that height and it's very steep. It does slow you down. The problem with putting speed tables and stop signs on Riverside is you think it's a wonderful little drive right now, but you put those speed tables in there. That wonderful drive isn't going to feel nearly so wonderful anymore because those speed tables are really rough to go over. Uh it would slow people down. Um, I don't gosh, this is a tough decision, but I think safe I think safety is what we have to use for the guidance. I also would I like and then I'm not sure I caught her name, but she mentioned the landscaping and the sidewalk to make that sidewalk better. That sidewalk's awful. So, when the road is done, I'd like to see that road redone or that sidewalk redone in some form to maintain safety there. My my key is safety all the way around in the restaurant area as well as on the whatever we do need to reflect that safety in all of these areas. Jim,

I will agree that barrier is ugly. I know it was only going to be temporary until we got back to making these decisions we have to make. The other thing that I was really looking into were and I understand it's a few more dollars for the city every year to go ahead and maintain it, but but I really wanted to see some type of burm rocks, some landscaping done instead of having even a uh gate or valors or whatever you want to call it. I'd like to box that off completely. Put a 4ft sidewalk down the center of it so that pedestrians could access that part of it. Then adding on what Greg said that and I heard a lot of residents say that people are still speeding down that road. So even though you block this end off, what do we do about those speeders? Again, could do the bumps, you could do other things or you could put up additional stop signs. I live on the corner of Jefferson and North and I can tell you out summertime sitting out on that porch. I don't sit out much this time of year, but I guarantee you probably 70% of those people that come to that stop sign roll through it. They do not come to complete stop. Um there has been no accidents in the 20 years I lived there. Uh there's enough view that people can see whether or not a car is coming down that road. U so I'm not too concerned about the accidents or somebody running through to to cause an accident. So that's kind of the way I'm leaning towards. But again, a lot of information new tonight or I've heard it before. So, I'm going to do some processing before I I can make a decision moving forward.

Okay. All right. Um, yeah. I'm really glad everybody showed up, but I think what we need to acknowledge and understand and accept whether we want to or not is that there's not a perfect solution. There's a solution. Okay. I uh rarely travel riverside. Um but I spend a lot of time on the south end of that and it is vastly improved with that barrier walking from Saber over to Ability Weavers or if I go to Marty's store or if I'm in Charlie's office or the post office. So that's important to me as well. Um, what I didn't hear is something similar to what they did in I think 1978 at Lincoln Lake and

yes,

southwest corner of Richard's Park. It bumps out. It's a curb cut. It'd be way more aesthetically pleasing than that barrier. um it'd be far cheaper to maintain because you could do either regular grass, which is always aesthetic, or um rocks of some sort, something like that. Um so I really don't know what the solution is. Um so I got a lot of notes here. The my issue with stop signs is we already struggle to enforce traffic laws in areas we want to enforce. Bose road um Main Street isn't always 25. Um I've noticed a huge increase and I don't know what it is if it's I don't want to accuse them but if it's Atwood people or whatever but a lineup of people trying to turn left here still with that island. Um, so stop signs do their job if you trust everybody to follow them, which going north on Monroe to that stop sign up there, I do not trust people to follow them cuz I watch people roll through that every single day. So, it's a good solution, but if we don't have a way to enforce it, it's an unfair solution. So, we need more cops. 100%. I agree. So, um I don't know. I appreciate everybody coming. I appreciate I want to address your concern. I do feel like there was a relatively decent grace period over the 3 minutes for everybody who spoke tonight that went over. Um so I know that that reading was a little closer to four minutes, but I know three or four other speakers got a pretty good grace period. Not a hard three minute stop. And that's because we want to gather that information.

No, I I understand that. I just And I didn't even know if that was because the timer is not both. Yeah. So, do the writeins get 3 minutes? They get the exact same amount of time with the exact same amount of grace. Okay.

Okay. So, um, yeah, I'm going to take some time to consider these options as well, and we will keep this right in the old business column where it goes. I would like to see with the engineering those um costs to the various options because ideally it wouldn't factor into the decision, but it's going to it's always going to. So I would like to see um a bump out like at Lincoln Lake and Elm speed tables stop signs we already know the cost of you just put a sign on a pole um and then a decorative gate. I'd like to see engineering based on those four options that we can we can make those alternate bids so when the bids come in you have real information also.

Yeah. So, it seems to me like you want you want obviously want some sort of a diverter barricade, speed bumps, speed tables, um ballard decorative ballards, something along those lines as options correct. I just want to make sure we're getting correct. That makes sense to me. Does everybody else go? Okay, we can. Yeah, like I said, we're about ready to go out for bid on this. So, we can get all that.

It's probably been said 50 times, but I'm going to say it again. That road is not closed. It's not a private drive. I I feel like a I don't want to make a broad accusation here, but I wonder in my head how many of the people complaining that it's a private drive are the ones that wanted to come off of Main Street and get that running start. Because if you're going for the scenic view, if you're going to visit Perry or whoever, it's a block. It's not, you're not traveling through different time zones to get where you need to go. You're going up a block and you're going over. So, if your intention is to visit the scenic use of that property, to take a nice quiet drive out of town, you're going 25 or probably less when the weather's nice, right? And uh I don't feel like that one block would be such a deterrent. However, if you're using it to bypass traffic at a light at Maine and Hudson and you're getting a running start over here by Springrove, I wonder what the intent the intentions of the people who don't want to go that extra block are. So, I don't want to make a broad accusation, but it is something I've thought about. So, yeah, I got a lot of information. I think we all do to process and go ahead.

Mr. Mayor, could I ask uh the council your opinion of moving the barrier, basically making a dead end up, let's say at Hunt at the end of the road, making that a dead end so that it is no longer a throughway, and it still allows people to have their pleasant rides. Is does anyone have any negatives to just temporarily moving that barrier up as a test? I don't have objections to it. Um, my only concern would be what my concern's always been is that you're giving more people more of a running start through your parking lots and your restaurant.

I'm not opposed to it. I would love to do as many different things as we can. I just as tests, but I just think if we as long as we are trying to cut down on the volume, it will help. It it like I said, I'd like to try a few things. Um it would be a quick test for a month to try that barrier north. I'd be I'm all for trying as many different things as we can. Mike, what do you think?

I have no issue with it. Um, we can put it in hot, we can put it in the middle. We can we can move it, we can move those barriers wherever you want. Um, just tell us where you want us to put them and we'll put them there. I think Hunt would be a decent start. That's a good one. I mean, you could even try Hunt for like two weeks. See how it goes with Hunt and then maybe move it down to like uh one of the street was it Suffach right before Foreman? I mean, you could try it there for for 2 weeks and then, you know, we'll have different ideas. So, I think one in the middle would give us a pretty good idea of what the ones in the middle are.

I would make a suggestion on that if you're going to do that. My concern with it up at Hunt is they're still going to be going right. That's and then especially when you repave it, you're at it's going