AGENDA #4c
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Response to Petition regarding Street Barricades in Meadowmont
DATE: February 24, 2003
The attached Resolution would direct the Manager to post additional temporary signage in the vicinity of two temporary barricades in the Meadowmont development to assist drivers in locating detour routes.
BACKGROUND
On January 13, 2003, the Council received and referred a petition from two citizens asking the Town to look into issues related to the placement of two barricades on residential streets in Meadowmont. Attachment A is a copy of that petition. The two barricades are located as shown on the enclosed map (Attachment B).
The two barricades were installed as part of a Settlement Agreement reached among the Developers of Meadowmont, the Oaks II Homeowners Association and several individual Chapel Hill residents. The Agreement was part of a settlement of legal proceedings challenging the Town Council’s approvals of special use permits for the Meadowmont Infrastructure and Meadowmont Village Center. Although the Town was a respondent in both of those lawsuits, it was not a party to the Settlement Agreement. The Agreement states that it is “fully enforceable by and between the parties regardless of any action taken by the Town or Town Council.”
According to the terms of that Settlement Agreement, two segments of streets identified on an exhibit to that Agreement are to remain closed to through traffic until July 24, 2003. The barricades in question in the Petition are in place to meet the terms of this provision of the Agreement.
DISCUSSION
We have carefully considered the status of these barricades as to how they might affect provision of emergency service. The current barriers at Old Barn Lane and on Faison Road in Meadowmont are designed to permit fire apparatus access through by the cutting of a padlock and the movement of light-weight wooden traffic barriers. We estimate that fire personnel could open this access in approximately 15 seconds or less. The Fire Department periodically checks the barricades and sees that any construction equipment or debris does not block the intended access lane. The barriers are noted on each fire department response map that is carried in each fire unit and kept in the Orange County 911 Center in order to direct response units. All emergency agencies were informed of the barricades when they were installed and were recently reminded of the location and status.
In the case of the barricade at Old Barn Lane, emergency vehicles can actually go around using Spaight Alley or Oval Park Place more quickly than cutting and moving the barriers. The barrier at Faison Road requires a longer detour using Pinehurst Drive when not cutting the barrier open. The Fire Department does not believe the potential delays are excessive nor would they cause the Department to fail to meet its goal of a response time of less than 5 minutes. Ambulances and police units will need to use the detours as they do not generally carry tools necessary to cut the barriers. We have asked the Orange County Emergency Medical Services Director to review an October 27 incident in which an ambulance driver was not familiar with the exit route from Pinehurst Drive.
Of course, the removal of the barriers in July 2003, will facilitate emergency access in the affected areas, but we do not believe there is an excessive problem posed by the current situation. Emergency services always prefer at least two access routes in and out of every neighborhood but can work around situations when that is not feasible.
We will again notify all emergency service providers about the locations of the barricades, and include a current map of the area street network with suggested routes to those areas of Meadowmont that are affected by the street closures.
The streets where the barricades are in place have not yet been completed or accepted by the Town for maintenance. We will not accept them until the barricades have been removed and appropriate warranty bonds are in place. However, we believe that the developer cannot offer the streets to the Town for acceptance so that the barricades are removed before July 24, 2003, because to do so would violate the terms of the Settlement Agreement. We understand that some preliminary discussions were attempted to reach an agreement that would allow removal of the barricades prior to July, but that these discussions did not result in an agreement to do so.
Legal action initiated by the Town to remove the barricades prior to that date without the consent of the parties to the Settlement Agreement would not be likely to result in the removal of the barricades substantially earlier than the date when they would be removable by the Developer.
RECOMMENDATION
We recommend that the Council adopt the attached Resolution directing the Manager to install additional signs in the vicinity of the barricades directing traffic to the shortest detour route around the barricades and to re-notify emergency service providers about the locations of the barricades.
ATTACHMENT
1. Letter from Meadowmont Community Association (p. 4).
A RESOLUTION DIRECTING THE TOWN MANAGER TO INSTALL TEMPORARY ADDITIONAL SIGNAGE IN MEADOWMONT AND TO NOTIFY EMERGENCY SERVICES REGARDING THE LOCATION OF TRAFFIC BARRICADES (2003-02-24/R-3)
BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill that the Town Manager is hereby directed to install additional traffic information signs in Meadowmont to assist drivers in the vicinity of two barricades described in the Manager’s report to the Town Council of February 24, 2003, said signs to remain until the barricades are removed in July, 2003.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Manager is directed to re-notify emergency services providers regarding the location of these barricades and information on how to access neighborhoods in the vicinity of the barricades.
This the 24th day of February, 2003.