AGENDA #4f
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Request – New Median Opening on Meadowmont Lane
DATE: May 10, 2004
This report provides information about a request for a new median opening proposed on Meadowmont Lane near The Cedars Development. We recommend that the Council adopt the attached resolution to authorize this work.
The Meadowmont Master Land Use Plan was approved by the Town Council in 1995. A Special Use Permit authorizing the road network was approved by the Town Council in 1997. Meadowmont Lane was approved by the Town Council, including particular median cuts, with the July 3, 1997 approval. Subsequently, Meadowmont Lane has been constructed and accepted by the Town for maintenance. The Cedars Retirement Center Development was approved May 15, 2000.
The Cedars’ Special Use Permit approval included the following condition:
“Northernmost Entrance Off Meadowmont Lane: The main upper entrance off Meadowmont Lane, leading to the health care facility, shall be a right-in, right-out only access point.”
THE REQUEST
On the behalf of The Cedars of Chapel Hill we have received a request from The John R. McAdams Company, Inc. to adjust the median on Meadowmont Lane. At this time there is no opening in the median of Meadowmont Lane adjacent to the driveway for The Cedars healthcare facility. Therefore vehicles now exiting the driveway can only make right turns (northbound) onto the public street. Drivers wanting to travel southbound must now make a U-turn where the median terminates near the Rizzo Center driveway. Attachment 1 shows this current configuration.
The requested modification would provide a new opening in the median across from the driveway for The Cedars Heath Care Building. The new median opening would be designed to prevent left turns into the driveway but would allow left turns out of the driveway and into the southbound lane of Meadowmont Lane. Please see the attached sketch (Attachment 2). Necessary construction work would be contracted by the owner of The Cedars of Chapel Hill, following approval of an Engineering Construction Permit, with inspection by the Town Engineering Department.
DISCUSSION
The original Master Plan for Meadowmont, approved in 1995, did not show a median cut in this location. For this reason, the driveway that is the subject of this proposal was designated “right-in, right-out” when the Cedars Special Use Permit was approved.
Further design work, coupled with operational experience in the functioning of Meadowmont Lane, has yielded an unanticipated result: large trucks needing to access The Cedars and exiting this northern driveway turn right onto Meadowmont Lane and attempt a U-turn where the median ends. We agree with the petitioner that this is not desirable.
We believe that a median cut can be designed which will accomplish the original objective (prohibiting left turns from Meadowmont Lane into the site), while still allowing left out of the site. As we have studied the proposal by the petitioner, we conclude that this is a reasonable and workable solution: preserving the traffic-carrying capacity of Meadowmont Lane, while allowing more and better flexibility for trucks leaving The Cedars. We believe that this change, to allow left turns out, could be considered to be a minor change to the Cedars’ Special Use Permit.
Because Meadowmont Lane is a public street (currently under the Town’s control), we believe that the proposal to cut the median needs to be approved by the Town Council (in a manner similar to other Council decisions regarding the configuration of public streets. We recommend that the Council approve the median cut.
We recommend that the Council adopt the attached resolution, authorizing the median cut as proposed. Following this Council action, we would administratively approve a minor change to the Special Use Permit for The Cedars, to adjust the right-in-right-out restriction for the northernmost driveway, to allow left turns out of the site.
Alternatively, the Council could conclude that the median should remain intact in its current configuration, and take no action.
We believe that the request for a median cut is reasonable because the proposed median opening would provide an effective means for vehicles to leave The Cedars healthcare facilities and proceed southbound to NC 54. The median opening would eliminate the necessity of making a u-turn that now exists.
We recommend that the Council adopt the attached resolution, approving the request.
ATTACHMENTS
A RESOLUTION APPROVING A MEDIAN CUT FOR MEADOWMONT LANE IN CHAPEL HILL (2004-05-10/R-7)
WHEREAS, the Town Council has approved a Master Plan and Infrastructure Special Use Permit for the Meadowmont development in Chapel Hill; and
WHEREAS, both of those approvals indicated a configuration for Meadowmont Lane through the development as a public street, with a median shown as continuous except for specific breaks; and
WHEREAS, Meadowmont Lane was constructed and dedicated as a public Town street; and
WHEREAS, the developer of The Cedars, a component of the Meadowmont development, has requested permission to construct an additional break in the median to accommodate left turns out of the site at its northernmost driveway, as shown in the attached Figure 2; and
WHEREAS, the Town Manager has recommended that this additional median break would be reasonable and desirable.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill that the Council approves the request to add another median break to Meadowmont Lane as shown in Figure 1, with the understanding that the developer of The Cedars will assume all costs of design and construction for the change to the median.
This the 10th day of May, 2004.