Staff Open Record Memo - Laserfiche WebLink

Direct Access The appellant asserts that two additional intersections need to be studied because they provide "direct access" to the subject property. These intersections are East 32nd Avenue and Alder Street (located east of the subject property), and East 33rd Avenue and Hilyard Street/East Amazon Drive (located south of the subject property). According to Public Works staff, "direct access" is interpreted as site driveways and access aisles or roadways that provide access to the development site. In certain cases, a street or intersection does not need to directly abut a subject property to provide "direct access." An example of this includes commercial shopping centers with shared access agreements where individual structures are located on individual parcels or lease pads; the development generating the traffic impacts may not abut any adjacent roadway but those shared access points provide direct access and warrant evaluation. Another example is a large isolated development at the end of a dead end road; the intersection where the dead end road begins would warrant evaluation regardless of the traffic volume generated. In this case the subject development is proposed on a C-2 property that is adjacent to two developed City streets - there are no unique circumstances like those discussed in the above examples. In other words, the intersection of East 32nd and Alder Street, and the intersection of East 33rd and Hilyard Street, do not provide "direct access" to the subject property. Instead, the 50-trip threshold for warranting off-site level of service performance analyses would be most appropriate in this case to determine whether or not these intersections should be analyzed. Because the 50-trip threshold was not exceeded for these intersections, they were purposely excluded from the study area. Bus Bump-Out The appellant asserts that a LTD bus bump-out should be installed on Hilyard Street to serve the existing bus stop adjacent to the subject property. This issue was addressed in Attachment A of the Planning Director's decision: Bump-outs allow City buses to pull off the travel lane to drop off or pick up passengers. While bump-outs can provide traffic operation benefits on certain streets, a bump-out is not currently feasible at this location. The first issue is that the Hilyard Street right-of-way is not wide enough to accommodate a bus bump-out (the right-of-way is already consumed by four travel lanes, sidewalks, and a center median). The second issue is that LTD would need to support the request and also be involved with the planning and construction process. From experience, Public Works staff note that LTD generally support bump-outs only when they are absolutely necessary for safety or operational reasons because they degrade bus operations (once a bus pulls off the road it is common for people not to yield and let them back on). In other words, bump-outs are not preferred by the transit provider, so they are only installed on higher classification roadways (i.e. major arterials) where there are higher speed limits, a higher frequency of stops, and potential safety issues. Attachment A: Pedestrian Crossing - Conceptual Detail 4