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HomeMy WebLinkAbout13 - OB-1 - Harbor Blvd. Median Enhancement Project - 8/1/2017CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT MEETING DATE: AUGUST 1, 2017 ITEM NUMBER: OB -1 SUBJECT: HARBOR BOULEVARD MEDIAN IMPROVEMENT PROJECT DATE: JULY 24, 2017 FROM: PUBLIC SERVICES DEPARTMENT/TRANSPORTATION SERVICES DIVISION PRESENTATION BY: RAJA SETHURAMAN, PUBLIC SERVICES DIRECTOR FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: RAJA SETHURAMAN, PUBLIC SERVICES DIRECTOR - (714) 754-5343 RECOMMENDATION: Approve the conceptual layout of the proposed Harbor Boulevard Median Improvement Project (Attachment 1); and authorize staff to proceed to final design and advertisement of the project for construction. BACKGROUND: The Harbor Boulevard Median Improvement Project includes implementation of raised landscaped medians along Harbor Boulevard between Wilson Street and 19' Street. Harbor Boulevard currently has a wide painted median within the project limits, and installation of raised medians with landscaping will make this portion of Harbor Boulevard consistent with the remainder of the street to the north while improving overall traffic operations. Public Services staff has secured Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) federal grant funding in the amount of $528,100 toward the design and construction of this project. Of this amount, $423,100 is available for the construction phase. On October 20, 2015, the City Council awarded a contract to Civil Source to prepare design plans for median improvements along Harbor Boulevard between Wilson Street and 19th Street (Attachment 2). ANALYSIS: The need for medians on Harbor Boulevard was established based on review of past accident history as well as review of traffic operations. Following a review of accident patterns over a five- year period between 2008 and 2013, staff solicited grant funding from the Federal Highway Safety Improvement Program. A total of 84 mid -block accidents were recorded during this period, with 17 involving bicycles or pedestrians and 26 being severe broadside, head-on, or overturned type of accidents. Attachment 3 depicts the accident pattern along the corridor. The median project was developed to address these type of severe accidents. Prior to developing conceptual plans, the consultant team conducted extensive traffic data collection, including traffic volume counts at intersections and all project driveways. Several driveways were subsequently recounted based on information obtained at community workshops. Two (2) community meetings were held on this project. The first meeting was held at the Neighborhood Community Center on August 16, 2016. This was attended by over 30 residents and business owners. A second community meeting was held at City Hall on May 31, 2017. This was attended by over 25 residents and business owners. A summary of public comments received at these community meetings and staff responses are included in Attachment 4. In addition, staff made several changes to median layouts based on input received at these meetings. Staff also had several meetings with major business owners, including car dealerships and major retail establishments, and with other interested property owners along the corridor during project development. Attachment 1 provides the conceptual median improvement plan. The proposed median layout plan improves traffic operations by reducing the number of vehicle conflict points while preserving full or partial access to driveways with significant traffic volumes as well as those with established needs due to their operations. Based on staff review of traffic volumes, the volume of diverted cars that will need to make U-turns is very low and could be accommodated at adjacent traffic signals without any impact to their levels of service. Additionally, the proposed median openings have been located to provide adequate access for fire and rescue in this section of Harbor Boulevard. Landscaping of the proposed raised medians, as well as new parkway landscaping where space is available, is included to improve the overall look and provide consistency with the portion of Harbor Boulevard north of this project area. Staff requests City Council's approval of the conceptual layout of the proposed medians on Harbor Boulevard and authorization for staff to proceed to final design and advertisement of the project for construction. Staff will request approval of landscape plans from the Parks & Recreation Commission prior to the final design of plans. ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED: One alternative considered is to not approve the conceptual layout of the project. This will result in cancellation of the project and loss of the awarded grant funding. FISCAL REVIEW: Funding for the project is from the Federal Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) in the amount of $423,100 for the construction phase. Additional funds from other sources, including Gas Tax, Measure M2 Fairshare, or General Fund will be required to complete the project. The amount of additional funds required is anticipated to be approximately $500,000. LEGAL REVIEW: The City Attorney's review is not required for this item. CONCLUSION: The Public Services Department captured grant funding for the Harbor Boulevard Median Improvement Project to implement new landscaped medians on Harbor Boulevard between Wilson Street and 19th Street. This project will improve the streetscape and also the traffic operations along this corridor. The proposed median plans were developed following extensive data collection and based on input received from two (2) community workshops. Staff requests City Council's approval of the project and authorization for staff to proceed to final design and the construction phase. RAJA SETHURAMAN Public Services Director Ir ATTACHMENTS: 1. Conceptual Median Layout Plans 2. Award of Design of Harbor Boulevard Median Project 3. Harbor Boulevard Accident Pattern 4. Public Comments DISTRIBUTION: City Manager Assistant City Manager City Attorney City Clerk v ' r ` �..r' '-r.._...Cl; -..fin .y • E R : � � � !:. -. - .: e:.. `I+RiY.a - .all.► -Yl::. 1#0,r. .� .y,r R �wN■ . ti fI R Pie art Q n A _ . i � e {i Iu I CivllSource k� I L W W Z J J 3 x0 U do Q m W W N I • «" HARBOR BOULEVARD MEDIANIMPROVEMENTS ® GRAPHIC SCALE w o zo .o °w°B�° wH«e gm«s" o""'� EXHIBIT FEET « /za/zan CITY OF COSTA MESA W"20,1 «Ee)m z , s _ _ATTACHMENT 2 CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT MEETING DATE: OCTOBER 20, 2015 ITEM NUMBER: CC -6 SUBJECT: PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING SERVICES FOR THE DESIGN OF THE HARBOR BOULEVARD IMPROVEMENTS DATE: OCTOBER 8, 2015 FROM: PUBLIC SERVICES DEPARTMENT - TRANSPORTATION SERVICES DIVISION PRESENTATION BY: ERNESTO MUNOZ, PUBLIC SERVICES DIRECTOR FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: RAJA SETHURAMAN, TRANSPORTATION SERVICES MANAGER, (714) 754-5343 RECOMMENDATION: 1) Award a Professional Services Agreement (Attachment 1) for the design of the Harbor Boulevard Improvements to CivilSource, Inc., 9930 Research Drive, Suite 200, Irvine, CA 92618, in the amount of $139,850. 2) Authorize the Mayor and the City Clerk to execute the Professional Services Agreement. BACKGROUND: Harbor Boulevard is a six -lane major arterial with commercial development on both sides of the street. Harbor Boulevard, within the project limits of Wilson Street and 19th Street, has a wide - painted median and provides access to major retail centers including several Auto Dealerships. The City believes that the installation of raised medians with landscaping will improve safety and enhance the overall image along the Boulevard. In April 2012, the Public Services Department was successful in capturing a Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) grant for the engineering design and construction of raised median and safety improvements along Harbor Boulevard between Wilson Street and 19th Street. The City Council approved funding for this project through the adoption of the 2014-2015 Capital Improvement Budget. This contract will evaluate vehicular traffic and pedestrian movements on Harbor Boulevard within the project limits to develop a median design plan that serves the need of the adjoining commercial establishments effectively. ANALYSIS: On February 11, 2015, the City issued a Request for Proposals (RFP's) to several consulting firms for civil engineering design services. Eight (8) proposals were received to provide the intended engineering services. Proposals were reviewed for compliance with the City's RFPs, and consultants were evaluated based on project understanding, depth of experience, technical expertise, and associated factors. Based on the proposals, staff selected two (2) consultants for an oral interview. After careful review of the proposals and responses during the interview process, staff finds CivilSource, Inc. well qualified to perform the final engineering design services. The proposal submitted by CivilSource, Inc. and the responses during the interview process represent a thorough understanding of the project, complies with the project specifications, and documents technical ability and experience with similar projects. I f In addition to preparation of the necessary studies, and assessing the needs for access to adjacent businesses along the project limits, staff proposes to conduct extensive outreach with the property owners and commercial establishments to ensure their feedback is taken in full consideration. ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED: One alternative would be to perform the design work in-house. However, the scope of work and demands of the project exceed staff's resources and time. A second alternative would be not to undertake this project. However, this will result in speeding and safety issues to remain along this stretch of Harbor Boulevard and will also result in relinquishing the HSIP Federal grant funds captured for this project. FISCAL REVIEW: The Public Services Department has secured HSIP federal grant funding in the amount of $105,000 for the design phase and $423,100 for the construction of raised medians and safety improvements along Harbor Boulevard between Wilson Street and 191 Street. The grant funds were recognized by City Council in the Fiscal Year 2014-15 Budget. Capital Improvement funds will be utilized for the balance of funds necessary for engineering design. Once the design documents and engineering estimates are completed, staff will request the balance of the construction phase funding through Fiscal Year 16-17 budget process. LEGAL REVIEW: The City Attorney's office has prepared the attached Professional Services Agreement and has approved the document relative to form. CONCLUSION: After careful review of eight (8) proposals submitted for civil engineering design for raised median improvements along Harbor Boulevard between Wilson Street and 19th Street and the subsequent interview process, it is recommended that the City Council award the Professional Services Agreement to CivilSource, Inc.; and authorize the Mayor and the City Clerk to execute the Professional Services Agreement. ERNESTO Public Serti G� %2►eA I� � i -- RAJA SETHURAMAN Transportation Services Manager ATTACHMENT: 1 - Professional Services Agreement DISTRIBUTION: Chief Executive Officer Assistant Chief Executive Officer City Attorney City Clerk Staff File 2 0 Harbor Blvd (D NOT TO SCALE A U_ • •••U o • • IY O LL .. rn m T II fE C N Co • OF • 6 -D -A Legend • Broadside • Vehicle -Ped • Head-on • Overturned • Hit Object Other • Rear -end ® Bicycle Involved Sidewsipe ® Pedestrian Involved ATTACHMENT 4 Harbor Boulevard Medians Questions and Answers Summary of Public comments/questions regarding Harbor Boulevard Median Project: Accidents: 1. How do the numbers of accidents along 17th street before and after installation of the medians compare? A. The goal of the median project on 17th Street was more of a streetscape beautification project than safety project. The medians are very short and were built between driveways. That being said, the average number of accidents per mile on 17th St, 113, was similar to Harbor Blvd's average, 94, over a 5 -year period and there was only one reported accident on 17th St in the first 12 months after the median's construction. 2. What is the breakdown in types of accidents among the 84 cited, whether from turning movement across Harbor, turning into driveways, jay walking, etc.? Where were accidents located? What type of accidents were there? A. Based on the accident data collected and used in the 2013 Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) application, there were 84 total mid -block accidents reported in the 5 -year period between January 2008 and December 2012; 37 of which were determined to be correctable by the construction of a raised median. These accidents were fairly evenly distributed throughout the reach between Wilson St and 19th St with some concentrations near both Wilson St and Victoria St. 26 accidents involved `broadside', `head-on', or 'overturned' and 17 involved bicycles or pedestrians. 3. How has the accident profile changed over time, if at all? Is this typical due to factors such as texting or other distracted driving? A. The cited `Primary Collision Factors' or `accident causes' have remained fairly consistent over time and the two most cited cause continues to be excessive speed and failure to yield. 4. Is the data posted on the web? A. No but you can request the reports. 5. What is length of project area? How does the number of accidents along the Wilson to 19th stretch compare to accidents along a similar stretches of a mile or so over the same time period for other streets with similar traffic volumes? A. The current Harbor Blvd project limits from 19th St to Wilson St are slightly less than 1 mile in length (.89 miles). Over a 5 -year period there were 84 reported mid -block accidents, 29 of which were head-on or broadside types of accidents, in this stretch of Harbor Blvd without a raised median. For comparison, the portion of Harbor Blvd north of Wilson St to Mesa Verde Dr, which has a raised median and is also almost 1 mile (.99 miles), had 109 mid -block accidents, with 15 head-on and broadside. While these two portions of Harbor Blvd have similar lengths, a number of factors such as traffic volumes, number of driveways, and the presence of medians slightly differ on Harbor Blvd north of Wilson St versus south of Wilson St. Taking into account differences in length and traffic volume the average accident rates for these two areas are very similar, 1.3 vs 1.4 accidents per million vehicle miles for south vs north, although the serious types of head-on and broadside accidents were significantly less on that portion of Harbor BI with a raised median. 6. How are left turns more dangerous than U-turns? Still have to negotiate left turns across three lanes. A. Wrong -side of road, improper turning, and right-of-way violation types of accidents accounted for over one third of all accidents on this reach of Harbor Boulevard and they almost all resulted in "broadside" accidents that are typically severe and result in injuries. Construction of new raised medians was chosen to mitigate the identified accidents by physically separating opposing traffic and reducing the number of vehicle conflict points. In general, roadway safety is improved by minimizing the number of conflict points at driveway intersections since more conflicts increase the risk of a crash occurring. Left turning vehicles must avoid conflicts with on -coming vehicles from two directions while u -turning vehicles must avoid conflicts with other vehicles from only one direction. Additionally, a crash due to crossing maneuvers (created by motorists crossing the roadway or making left turns) can lead to more severe crashes then merging or diverging conflicts because of the angle and speed differentials between the vehicles. Federal highway studies show that it is most beneficial from a safety perspective to prohibit left -turning movements. Research suggests that approximately 72 percent of crashes at a driveway involve a left -turning vehicle. Constructing raised medians will physically prevent left -turns and significantly reduce vehicle -vehicle conflicts. Re -directed left -turning traffic will add u -turn traffic to the remaining left turn lanes but these locations will be signed and more obvious to motorists. 7. What type of bicycle accidents were there? A. There were 9 accidents involving bicycles and vehicles over a 5 year period. 8. a. Did you go back more than five years for accidents? 8. b. Were there more accidents five years ago? And less in other median areas? 8. c. You should look at 30 years of data. A. 5 years of accident data for a high volume highway, such as Harbor BI, is sufficient to determine accident patterns and develop potential mitigation measures. The number of accidents on any given roadway naturally tends to vary from year to year based on a wide variety of factors. Accidents on this portion of Harbor BI were slightly above average in 2008 and slightly below average in 2012. 9. There are no "boards" for accidents. A. An exhibit showing the accidents along Harbor BI has been prepared. 10. Did you use same formula as 17th St. Medians? A. 17th St project was primarily a streetscape beautification project rather than a safety improvement project. Access: 11. No access for Red -E -Rentals. How do truck with trailers make U-turns? A. Currently, approximately 6 vehicles make a left -turn into Red -E -Rentals during the peak hour. In addition to Charle St access, sufficient width at Harbor Blvd. and Hamilton St, approximately 320 feet from the Red -E -Rental driveway, is available to re -directed delivery vehicles or passenger vehicles with trailers to make a u -turn. 12. Overlay zone -future high density housing will have no left turn access. A. The proposed future residential project located at the corner of Harbor BI and Hamilton St is designed to have access from Hamilton St and no access to Harbor BI is planned. 13. Have we looked at access to large delivery trucks? Do we anticipate more of these on Charle as a result of the proposed project? Project would make semi -trucks do U turns in a narrow part of Harbor Blvd. or drive down Parsons, Charle or college streets. A. Left turn access has been maintained to the larger businesses and street width and pocket length will accommodate U-turns of large delivery trucks, no additional truck traffic is anticipated on Charle St with this project. Experienced semi -truck drivers would plan their route to approach their destination with a right turn into the driveway. 14. How many businesses would lose left turn access? A. There are a total of 81 driveways of all types on Harbor BI between Wilson St and 19th St, 32 of which currently have restricted left turn access. The initially proposed medians would have restricted an additional 38 driveways. With the currently proposed medians an additional 29 low volume driveways would have restricted access. 15. How many residences, including mobile homes and residences would lose left turn access? Have all of the residents been contacted? Garrett Furniture access affected; access to townhomes will be cut off. A. Some form of access from North and South will remain to all residential properties, including the Apartments and the Mobile Homes. In addition to right turns in/right turns out access from Harbor Blvd to the alley serving as a secondary access to the Vio Apartments near Garrett Furniture, full access is available from Wilson St. Due to the need to mitigate accidents in the vicinity of the Mobil Homes entrance north of 19' Street, access at that location would be restricted to right turns in/out. Secondary alley access to 19'h Street would remain for the mobile homes and businesses. All businesses and residents within 500 feet of the project were notified of the project and invited to the community meeting. 16. 1920 Harbor — existing circulation is enter one side and exit the other. A. Full in and out access will be provided to one driveway serving this center. 17. How will this affect emergency access? In some spots there is alternate access from the rear, such as Charle Street, but in others, there is no such option. What kind of delays would be created and with what consequence to those in need of assistance, especially paramedic assistance? Has CMFD looked at this? How do we handle along Newport Boulevard? A. The longest uninterrupted length of proposed median is approximately 400 feet. Additional delay due to the new medians would be negligible. 18. It was stated at the meeting that all intersections would accommodate the added volume of U turns necessitated by the islands. Is this based on current conditions or general plan buildout? 17th St. left turn lanes are not long enough. Lack of left turn access to a driveway will require doing u -turn at traffic lights. U-turns will increase at many intersections. A long term solution may be waiting for redevelopment ideas to come forward for central district. Disrupting the current flow by installing medians will instead cause a back-up at intersections by drivers waiting to make a U-turn. A. New left turn pocket lengths were determined based on existing turning traffic volumes plus re -distributed U-turn volumes. 19. Is there plans to improve the SB left turn at Harbor/19th.?, long wait for green, backs up, will back up into through lane. It sometimes takes two light cycles to turn left on 19th St. commonly sit through more than one cycle when waiting to turn left at several affected intersections in the middle of the day. These include Harbor and Wilson (west to south), Harbor and Victoria (south to east), and Harbor and Bay (south to east). Does our model need to be updated or is our signal timing off? There is a gap between reality and what the model is apparently saying. A. Based on current traffic volumes and intersection analysis, the intersections on Harbor are operating at a very good level of service. The majority of the traffic signals on Harbor are timed to favor through traffic on Harbor, with the exception of major intersections such as Victoria and Adams. At times, the time provided for left - turn movements must be compromised to accommodate the high through volumes. The timing provided for left -turns will be reviewed after completion of construction and adjusted to ensure efficient operations. 20. Further north on Harbor Blvd. left turns are restricted - what have we learned? A. Generally, the elimination of left -turn movements reduces risk of collisions, which is the intent of this project. When medians are designed, traffic patterns are carefully analyzed considering a number of factors, including actual or planned driveway volumes, alternative available access, highway classification and volumes, and number of intersections per mile, in deciding where left -turn access should be restricted. In some instances, highways are altered from the original design to change access restrictions, either to prevent or allow left turn access to certain driveways, based on a variety of reasons such as changing accidents or volumes, public input or changed land uses. 21. Adams at Mesa Verde Drive East and Piecemakers driveway, motorists tend to opposite direction to access driveway and get around median. A. Median design as well as striping and signing will be used to discourage or prevent unsafe turning movements. 22. Are there tenant lease complications with restricted left turns in project area? A. While no properties will lose access to Harbor BI, the City has no information regarding the details of Landlord/Tenant Agreements. 23. If it's a pain to get to a business, it will make a big difference to their livelihood. A. Sufficient median breaks and intersections are available to allow u -turn access with minimal delay to those properties without direct left -turn access. 24. Median at Harbor and Bernard area is not going to work. A. No change is proposed to the median at the Bernard intersection. 25. Don't get rid of Golden Dragon access. A. The currently proposed median plan allows full access to the Golden Dragon driveway. 26. Can you install barriers by the Baskin Robbins on Harbor Blvd. so you can get an idea of what a median will do to the traffic? It will jam up the area. Can you do this before you decide to install the median? Put barrels out for a week as a trial. What's wrong with barrels? A. The projected impacts and changes to travel patterns are sufficiently predictable to not require a `trial' of the median layouts. Additionally, creating a `temporary' median barrier would be costly and not provide similar results of a fully landscaped project. Traffic Counts: 27. Red -E -Rentals traffic volumes - when were counts taken? A. Traffic counts were conducted at individual driveways along Harbor Blvd. between 19th St and Wilson St. to identify relatively high volume driveway locations and identify those locations with a high percentage of left turning vehicles. These counts were conducted on Friday, December 11, 2015, and on Tuesday, September 20, 2016. Additionally, traffic counts were conducted in October 2015 at various locations on Harbor Blvd to establish northbound and southbound through traffic volumes. 28. When are peak periods of traffic volumes? A. The morning peak period for Harbor Blvd traffic is between 8-9am and the afternoon peak period is 5-6pm. 29. a. Commercial businesses peak between noon and 2 PM. Is there plans to collect more data and on different days and times? Gathering data on Fridays between 12 pm to 4 pm is not ideal. I suggest getting more dates, times and holidays. 29. b. How can data for one afternoon on Friday determine impact for next 30 years? Were the areas that have been rezoned taken into account for this new project? There needs to be traffic counts every day of the week to justify this project. 29. c. Would like to see traffic data that is done on another day other than Friday. There is a lot of activity that is occurs during the hours of 6 to 8 a.m. and 4 to 6 p.m. more than a Friday. A. While traffic volumes vary from day to day, hour to hour and from season to season these variances are typically small and predictable. A single day count for a street such as Harbor Blvd, for which the City has years of comparable data, can yield acceptable data for design purposes. In this specific instance, Harbor Blvd traffic counts collected in 2015 in conjunction with a separate signal analysis study consisted of 7 consecutive days of count data. Driveway count data for this project, utilizing one day of data, was collected simply to identify higher volume locations and those locations with relatively large numbers of left -turning traffic. 30. The traffic on 17th St. increased a lot after the year 2000. Won't this project do the same? A. Traffic generally has remained the same or grown very slowly on all Costa Mesa highways including 17th St and on Harbor BI. The total daily traffic on 17th St has remained virtually the same, near 32,000 vehicles per day, since 2000. A sense of increased traffic can be attributed to a large number of factors, including an increase in the amount of traffic during the peak periods potentially due to an improved economy, upgrades to area business, as well as the City beautification project. As the area along 17th St improved businesses attracted more people resulting in an increase in traffic during peak periods. 31. a. What is the prevailing speed in this stretch of Harbor? It seems to slow noticeably in the area south of Harbor from the stretch north of Harbor. 31. b. What are relative speeds before and after other median projects? A. The prevailing speeds (expressed as 85th percentile) along Harbor BI vary from 39 mph between Victoria and Bay St in the south to 42 mph between Wilson St and Fair Dr. in the north. While the northern portion of Harbor Blvd has a raised median and the southerly portion does not, the number of business and driveways also varies in these two locations. Bus Stops: 32. Do bus stops stay the same? Are bus turnouts part of this project? Move bus stop at Bernard to front of Toyota. We need more bus turnouts on Harbor. There are no turnouts between Bay and Hamilton. A. No changes to bus stops or improvements to bus stops are included with this safety project. Bicycles: 33. Are bicycle lanes in the future possible? Is there plans for something better other than landscaping? Adding bike lanes, walkways for pedestrians or a plan that is more focused on the environment or be more sustainable would be a better option. A. Harbor Blvd is currently included in the City's draft Bicycle Master Plan and, approved, future re -development would include appropriate bicycle facilities. 34. Does having the median take away from ever having a bicycle lane? Harbor Blvd. gets more narrow south of Wilson. A. There is currently insufficient roadway width to accommodate bicycle lanes along Harbor Blvd. Since the proposed medians are located within the current area of the painted medians, the addition of raised medians will not change the overall travel way width of the road. Landscaping & Design: 35. Compare project design against learned problem, benefit cost/ratio of cost/traffic increase. A. The construction of raised medians along Harbor Blvd will be funded via a competitively awarded Federal Grant. Construction costs versus the benefit of reduced accidents was a major part of the selection process. 36. Narrowing the roadway — how does this promote walkability? A. Additional landscaping, especially in the current parking areas, add shade and tend to slightly slow traffic due to the appearance of a narrower street adding to the desirability of walking along Harbor BI. 37. a. Provide canopy trees to provide shade for pedestrians and bus riders. Skinny palm trees provide very little shade. 37. b. What types of trees will be planted? Do the selected trees have root impact? Are the tree roots going to affect the median over time? Need landscape on medians to be low so it does not block business signage. A. Current conceptual landscape plans identify a variety of trees and shrubs. Final design plans will include trees that are low maintenance, sustainable, require less water and are suitable for their specific location. Landscaping, including trees, will be selected to avoid damage to the roadway. A system will be used that will limit the growth and direction of their roots. Certain locations may require slender trees, such as palm trees, due to a narrow planting area or to avoid blocking commercial signage. 38. Will sycamore trees create more trash? A. Sycamore trees' leaves fall a lot less throughout the year, about once a year, than typical evergreen trees. 39. Trees are dying all over the City because of drought. Is irrigation in median possible? Can you use tanker trucks for watering? A. Irrigation will be included with the project. In those few areas where irrigation is not available, water trucks will be used until the drought tolerant trees are established. Community Involvement: 40. a. Have you spoken to small businesses? Need to speak with small business owners. 40. b. Were tenants notified or just owners? Did you notify residents about the meeting and project? Tenants need to be notified for this type of change, not just the property owners. A. The City has contacted and spoken to many affected citizens regarding this median project. All residents, property owners and business owners within the project area were mailed an invitation to the public meeting to discuss the median project. Schedule: 41. What are next steps regarding schedule? A. Input into the median design will be solicited at an additional public meeting as well as at an upcoming Parks and Recreation meeting. Based on the input received, the median design concept will be finalized and construction plans will be prepared. 42. What is drop dead date? A. The Highway Safety Grant requires that the City apply for Authorization to Construct by February 2018. 43. Spoke with Grant, is there two-year window for construction? Is there a timeframe to fund this project? A. We have a year to submit the application for grant funding for construction. 44. Long time construction will hurt tenant business. Will the work be done from 10 pm to 5 am? A. Allowable work hours will be specified in the construction contract documents based on the most recent traffic counts and maintaining an acceptable level of service during the peak periods. 45. a. Is there another meeting after Park and Rec meeting? 45. b. These projects tend to gain momentum further down the road. Do we need two meetings? Two meetings are not enough. A. In addition to the previously held public meeting, the City intends to present the project and solicit additional input at one more public meeting and at a regularly scheduled Parks and Rec meeting.