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PRESENTATION OF INFORMATION REGARDING A PRECISE ROAD PLAN APPLICATION FOR THE MINER AVENUE COMPLETE STREETS PROJECT
RECOMMENDATION
This item has been scheduled to provide information to the Planning Commission regarding a pending Precise Road Plan (PRP) application for the Miner Avenue Complete Streets Project and the project’s anticipated Draft Initial Study/Proposed Mitigated Negative Declaration (DIS/PMND). This is not a noticed public hearing, and the Planning Commission will not take public testimony on the applications, and no action will be taken on these matters at this meeting. The Planning Commission may take public comment and input. This item is before the commission for its review, comment and input.
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DISCUSSION
The Miner Avenue corridor, with its vacant and underutilized parcels, varied building stock, and proximity to downtown and adjacent neighborhoods, offers redevelopment potential to attract new residents, employees, and visitors. Significant downtown investments have been constructed in the past decade. These investments include the renovation of the historic Cabral Station at the east end of the corridor and the Weber Point Events Center, Stockton Ballpark, and Stockton Arena at the west end of the corridor. Connecting Cabral station with Weber Point will unify these significant downtown investments and revitalize the current distressed Miner Avenue corridor.
Council approved a conceptual Streetscape Plan for Miner Avenue on March 13, 2012, by Motion 2012-03-13-1501. The plan provided a new vision for the Miner Avenue corridor. Miner Avenue is an auto-dominated environment with minimal amenities for pedestrians and bicyclists. The conceptual streetscape plan for Miner Avenue incorporates a “complete streets” approach which gives equal priority to pedestrians, motorized vehicles, bicycles, and transit.
On January 26, 2016, Council authorized the City Manager to execute a Professional Services Contract with Siegfried Engineering, Inc. (Siegfried) of Stockton, CA, to prepare a precise road plan for the Miner Avenue Complete Streets (Project No. PW1439/Federal Project No. CML-5008(145)). The precise road plan, along with its environmental review, is a federally-funded project being managed by the Public Works Department. The project area is located in the greater Downtown area along Miner Avenue, between Center Street and the Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) tracks (Attachment A - Miner Avenue Existing Conditions).
The project consists of a lane reduction from four to two lanes (road diet), and the addition of Class II bicycle lanes throughout the project area, median islands with landscaping, a potential round-about at the intersection of Miner Avenue and San Joaquin Street, traffic signal modifications at the signalized intersections, the installation of streetlights, pedestrian and bicycle amenities and “parklets” (small landscaped amenity areas) as well as the addition of bulb-out round corners to provide compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), compliant street crossings, and bollards (Attachment B - Proposed Miner Avenue Precise Road Plan).
The project was submitted to the Community Development Department by the Public Works Department on October 6, 2016. The PRP application has been referred to City departments for comment and the project’s environmental document will be available for public review and comment in the near future. A public meeting was held previously by the Public Works Department, and staff is scheduling an additional public meeting in the near future to provide an update on the project status and solicit public comment.
Due to the economic downturn, PRP and PRP amendment applications have not been submitted for processing since 2006. Staff has, therefore, scheduled this meeting for the purpose of describing to the Planning Commission the procedures for processing a PRP application, to introduce the project, and to respond to general questions and receive input from the Commission related to the processing of a PRP application.
CONCLUSION
The project will be scheduled for consideration by the Planning Commission in January or February of 2017 for its required public hearing. At that time the Commission is expected to make a formal recommendation on the project and its environmental document to the City Council.
Attachment A - Miner Avenue Existing Conditions
Attachment B - Proposed Miner Avenue Precise Road Plan