Monday, January 7, 2002
7:30 PM
Village of Lombard
Village Hall - Community Room
Transportation & Safety Committee
Trustee Rick Soderstrom, Chairperson |
Trustee Steven D.Sebby, Vice Chairperson |
Greg Gron, Thomas Gibbons, John Schwarz |
Arthur Kuehl and William Lepins,Thomas Murphy |
Staff Liaisons: Deputy Chief Dane Cuny, Patrol Division, Police, |
Justine Gembala, Civil Engineer, Public Works |
Meeting Minutes
Transportation & Safety Committee
Meeting Minutes
January 7, 2002
1.0
Call to Order and Roll Call
Meeting called to order by Chairperson Soderstrom at 7:30 pm.
Chairperson Trustee Rick Soderstrom, Greg Gron, Ed Bedard, William Pool, |
John Schwarz, Arthur Kuehl and William Lepins |
Present:
Vice Chairperson Trustee Steven D. Sebby
Absent:
2.0
Public Participation
Trustee Joan DeStephano.
3.0
Approval of Minutes
It was moved by Gron, seconded by Bedard, to approve. The motion carried by |
the following vote: |
Aye:
Gron, Bedard, Pool, Schwarz, Kuehl and Lepins
6 -
Absent:
Sebby
1 -
4.0
Unfinished Business
5.0
New Business
030835
Residential Traffic Speed and Enforcement |
Soderstrom: reviewed the memo by Tom Bayer. Various trustees at several board |
meetings expressed an interest in lowering the speed limit to 25mph through out town. |
Johnson: called the state and got their input on this also. If you have an area where |
everything is the same (ie, houses, drives, etc.) we could do a survey of that subdivision |
or those blocks and then lower speed limit if warranted. Kuehl: like a trustee's district? |
Johnson: no, there are too many variables in that large of an area. Lepins: cannot do |
the whole town, carte blanche. We need to address certain areas. Pool: need to post |
every 1200 feet, correct? Johnson: yes. Pool: what is the cost? Johnson: approx. |
40-60,000$ just for signage and that needs to be replaced every 10 years. Pool: why |
did the state go up to 30 mph in the first place? Cuny: gathering information on this for |
next meeting. For every 5 miles speed limit is reduced, the average drop in speed in 1 |
mph. Puts a lot of unnecessary pressure on our officers. Makes speeders out of lawful |
drivers. Soderstrom: the premise is that if the speed limit is 30 mph the driver can go |
40 mph without worrying about getting pulled over. So if dropped to 25mph they would |
travel 35 mph. Cuny: most drivers drive at the speed that they are comfortable with in |
the specific area. Majority of drivers do drive safely. Gron: this puts the police in a bad |
light having to enforce this. Bedard: most of the issue is with enforcement. |
Soderstrom: intent is to get this committee's opinion. Lepins: what is the cost of doing |
a traffic study on the main streets and thorough fares? And side streets also? Johnson: |
cost of study is my time to do traffic studies, put out analyzers, check out streets for |
specifics, etc. |
Schwarz: this committee needs to zero in on what we want John to study, what we want |
to use as perimeters, so that we apply the same standards throughout the Village. |
Volume of traffic, time of day, weather conditions, no school zones. Possibly look at |
IDOT's standards before we do any speed studies. If you do not have realistic |
standards, it is hard to make it stand up in court. Soderstrom: point well taken. Should |
we proceed, the Village board needs to follow these standards when approving speed |
limits. Naperville did something along the lines that the attorney suggested here, and |
maybe we could check with them on how their study was done. Gron: would like to ask |
the board what they are looking to accomplish by doing this reduction? We don't have a |
rash of fatal injuries out there, etc. Cuny: they have actually been reduced. |
Soderstrom: there are enough problems with some individuals on the board and they |
feel that by lessening the speed limit we will reduce some of the violations. |
DeStephano: I believe the object was to look at a comprehensive Village wide study. |
Soderstrom: will probably be looking at total picture such as signage, etc. Lepins: a |
street that is under construction should not be included in study. Gron: how would |
enforcement be easier if we cannot enforce now? Soderstrom: I think the intention was |
to reduce in order to decrease total speeds. DeStephano: intention of board was to do |
more of a comprehensive traffic study of the Village. Schwarz: speed limits when they |
are posted are absolute. There is no leeway that should be provided by the police. |
IDOT gets periodic requests to lower speed limits by local communities. Reduced |
speed overall is never accomplished. Signage should not be used as the enforcement. |
It creates an imbalance. Bedard: will only create more problems for the PD. |
Soderstrom: get copy of Naperville study and report from Dane for next meeting. |
Tabled to uncertain date. |
It was moved by Pool, seconded by Schwarz, that this matter be tabled. The |
motion carried by the following vote: |
Aye:
Gron, Bedard, Pool, Schwarz, Kuehl and Lepins
6 -
Absent:
Sebby
1 -
010909
Johnson: reviewed item with the committee.
It was moved by Pool, seconded by Bedard, that this matter be recommended to |
the Board of Trustees for approval. The motion carried by the following vote: |
Aye:
Gron, Bedard, Pool, Schwarz, Kuehl and Lepins
6 -
Absent:
Sebby
1 -
Enactment No: Ordinance 5071 "No P |
010910
Johnson: reviewed this item with the committee. Gron: asked for more information |
regarding this parking situation. |
It was moved by Bedard, seconded by Pool, that this matter be recommended to |
the Board of Trustees for approval. The motion carried by the following vote: |
Aye:
Gron, Bedard, Pool, Schwarz, Kuehl and Lepins
6 -
Absent:
Sebby
1 -
Enactment No: "No Parking" Signage |
010911
Johnson: this is a follow up to direction of board to post all of these streets 25 mph. |
Reviewed speed counts with committee members of both prior to and after posting. |
Even with posting of 25 mph., speeds are still within the 30 mph. speed. |
Soderstrom: this was the Village Board response to a request for stop sign posting. It |
was a test. I would recommend in the future when there are items such as this, that the |
committee members physically drive the area so that they are familiar with the situation |
being discussed. Bedard: with regards to this, obviously these people are looking for |
some relief and I would be in favor of posting 25 mph. There is going to be increased |
traffic in that area when the health care center goes up. They are looking for some help |
from us and we are not giving them the stop signs. Let's leave this at 25 mph. Gron: |
would like to see study done again in a year to see what the results are. Committee |
agreed to review in one year. |
It was moved by Bedard, seconded by Pool, that this matter be recommended to |
the Board of Trustees for denial. The motion carried by the following vote: |
Aye:
Gron, Bedard, Pool, Kuehl and Lepins
5 -
Nay:
Schwarz
1 -
Absent:
Sebby
1 -
Enactment No: Ordinance 5071 17th |
010912
Johnson: went over traffic studies with the committee. |
Soderstrom: am I reading this correct, that after speed reduction speeds went up? |
Cuny: yes. Pool: I do not think the problem here is the speed, it is providing a safe |
crossing for kids going to Pleasant Lane School. DeStephano: I do feel this is a time of |
day issue, not necessarily a speed issue but looking for safe crossing. Johnson: it was |
related to me that the children are making bad judgments about crossing the streets. |
Kuehl: what about a crossing guard being put there? Cuny: not within the budget. |
Bedard: what about putting in a cross walk? Gron: these are middle school kids, not |
kids going to Pleasant Lane. What about changing the bus stop location? Johnson: |
traffic volumes and lack of complaints in the past shows this does not present a |
problem. Soderstrom: Trustee DeStephano is looking for an alternative, not necessarily |
a stop sign. Johnson: possibly a school crossing sign or school advance sign. |
DeStephano: could this be tabled until residents can be in attendance at the next |
meeting? |
It was moved by Kuehl, seconded by Pool, that this matter be tabled. The |
motion carried by the following vote: |
Aye:
Gron, Bedard, Pool, Schwarz, Kuehl and Lepins
6 -
Absent:
Sebby
1 -
6.0
Other Business
Pool: would like to compliment staff on getting the agendas out so early.
7.0
Information Only
8.0
Adjournment
It was moved by Pool, seconded by Gron, to adjourn the meeting at 8:31 pm. |
The motion carried by the following vote: |
Aye:
Gron, Bedard, Pool, Schwarz, Kuehl and Lepins
6 -
Absent:
Sebby
1 -