Speaker 0: Thank you. We're going to do the two hearings and then go on to the regular agenda. I know it's been a long meeting. So what have you hearing? Number 2/1, then hearing number one. Then we have public comment and the agenda. So hearing item number two. Actually public comment. I think I've only got one member of the public, but we'll do that one right after the two hearings. Hearing item number two, please.
Speaker 1: Madam Court report from Public Works and Police Department recommendation to receive supporting documentation into the record, conclude the hearing, adopt resolution and authorize the city manager to execute an agreement with Bixby Village Homeowners Association providing for enforcement of traffic regulations on private streets in Bixby Village with easements for public access for the following three streets North Greenway , South Greenway and Avenida de Castillo, District three.
Speaker 0: Thank you. I'm going to turn this over now to staff.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Members of the council, the staff report will be given by our Malloy and our.
Speaker 4: Director of.
Speaker 7: Public Works, Honorable Mayor and Council Members. Basically, the item before you is a hearing to allow a private homeowners association with private streets to come and have a contract with the city for us to enforce truck traffic enforcement on those private streets. The homeowners association had a meeting in in September of 2014, and they concluded that they wanted to get into this contract with the city of Long Beach. They contacted us in October of 2014. And we have conducted our studies. And we came to the conclusion that it's feasible to allow streets that are contiguous with other public streets, and they don't have gated gates that distinguish the private street from the public streets. To have this this provision. So the item before you has that the staff has has concluded and has three provisions in there that for this to go forward, the homeowner association has to agree that all traffic control devices shall comply with California vehicle code and will be reviewed and approved by our city traffic engineer. The cost of these new signs and striping changes will be borne by the Bixby Village Community Community Association. And the second item is any speed limit lower than 25 miles an hour on narrow streets that are not exceeding 25 feet shall require an engineering and traffic survey conducted every five years, and any cost associated with surveys shall be borne by the Bixby Village Community Association, and finally, that the city shall enforce traffic and parking regulations with approximately the same regularity as provided in public streets. So those are the three conditions that will be in the agreement, and that concludes my report.
Speaker 0: Thank you. With that, I'm going to go and do public comment and we'll take it behind the rail as part of the hearing. So please, public comment, please come forward.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and key members of the city council. My name is Daniel Zoon, and I am president of the Bixby Village Homeowners Association and like to start by saying that Susie Price, his office, has been absolutely wonderful to work with and so thank you. As has the city traffic engineer, they have really cooperated and helped us know what we needed to do. The issue really is that because we have private streets, we are required to maintain both the streets, the sidewalks, the curves, the other three of those streets. There was a condition place that they be, have public access. Bixby Village is off seventh Street, just below Cal State University at Long Beach. And and there's traffic around the school as well as the VA. We are experiencing problems with speeding and people running through stop signs. So we are hopeful that the Council will support this resolution and let us move forward to make our neighborhood safer for our residents. So, you know, this is not done in the dark ever since last August, when the issue came up before the board in all the newsletters and at every meeting, we have reported on the progress and what we need to do at the end of August. Today, yeah, October in August we had a special meeting at which about 70 residents attended, which is a bit we're a neighborhood of 374 homes. And there was there were some concerns raised. But the board, after taking into consideration the pros and the cons, voted unanimously to make this request. We've done everything we can to reach out to the public, let them know and and follow all the rules that we've signed up for. We've already replaced the stop signs and done most of the things that are required. So I urge you to vote yes on the resolution. Thank you.
Speaker 0: Thank you very much. Any other public comment as sir, please confirm.
Speaker 3: Actually.
Speaker 2: I don't get in an arm wrestling with Bob. I know he's going to win. Good evening. Thank you. Mayor and city council people for your time and energy and service to the community. And we all appreciate, regardless of what district we live in, we all appreciate your service and time. My name is David Balloon. I live at five 4102 Stoneham Court in Bixby Village have lived there for 24 years. I've been a former board member with the association and now I'm just a regular homeowner. I'm not going to go into a great amount of detail on this subject. You all have the paperwork and reports in front of you, but I do want to make several points in opposition of this. First and foremost, while presence of law enforcement who will be mitigating and siting for moving violations within the community may offer a temporary solution to a problem that is perceived not necessarily a realistic problem, but is perceived. I want to think that that's a temporary solution, not going to be a permanent solution. Two Driver Habits. Point number two Removing an officer from the normal tactical duties in their day to day operations will just to monitor traffic control in Bixby Village, I think is a poor use of resource for that police officer. There is clear consensus in the Bixby Village community from a independent survey that I conducted myself where there is opposition of this particular motion before you. And final note, several townhomes in our community have front doors that face the traffic areas that are being affected by this motion. Some of those homes have front doors within ten feet of the curb and the traffic where moving vehicles would be driving by. So with that, I hope these statements are taken into consideration. I can offer a copy of the results from the independent survey that was conducted to get that to the city clerk, if that's helpful. And I conclude my statement. Thank you very much.
Speaker 0: Thank you very much, sir. Singh any other any other public comment? Yes, sir. Please come forward.
Speaker 2: Thank you for the opportunity. I'm Harry Ivey, and I live at 480-101 Cactus Drive. I lived in Bixby Village now for. 27 years. We when we first built this community, I was a member and I participated in the Neighborhood Watch and security discussions over those numerous years. I think this is an excellent move to have the Long Beach police provide the same service they provide to the balance of Long Beach. I can't understand why our some of our neighbors don't understand what the octagonal red sign says stop means. But we've had problems with people running the stop signs. And we had a couple that got a ticket and they decided to fight it. And that's how this all came to be as a discussion item. I urge you to consider that we, like the rest of Long Beach, deserve traffic control, especially our stop signs. And I thank you for your time.
Speaker 0: Thank you very much, sir. Any other public comment? Yes, sir.
Speaker 2: Yes. I'm Bob Bennett and I live at Chelsea Court Village. And I walked the community probably six mornings a week. And most of the time it's right during rush hour. And I personally witness many cars driving through those stop signs when I say driving through there, not doing these California slow rolling stops, they're driving through the sides like they're not even there. And it's time for it to come to a stop. And we need Long Beach police in there, if that's what it takes to issue a few summons a few days a week until we get this under control. If that's what it takes, then I'm for it. Thank you.
Speaker 0: Thank you, sir. See no other public comment? I will take it behind the rail for deliberations that I'm in. Turn this over to Councilman Price.
Speaker 6: Thank you. I want to thank staff for working very closely with the Bixby Village Homeowner's Association to work through this item. This is an item that Jan Hall brought to our attention about August of last year. So we've been working on it for over a year in trying to figure out how best to meet the needs of the community. I understand that this is one of those issues where not everyone in the community is going to be 100% on board. That happens all of the time. But I also do appreciate and respect that the outreach that was conducted by your organization. I know having served in my position over three decades ago, Jan Hall knows the importance of community outreach and making sure that people have information. And I appreciate your homeowners association informing the residents of the proposed changes, and that was very important to us before we decided to move forward on this. Now, the area that we're talking about, I just want to make sure that my colleagues are clear. We're talking about patrol and enforcement on three streets and Bixby Village, three private streets that have public access easements. These streets are major thoroughfares through the Bixby Village community and some of our major corridors. And the one thing that I am concerned about for the residents, and I would ask that the homeowners association really do a good job of outreach on this is encouraging the residents in your community to actually use the sidewalks because a lot of times they'll walk right in the streets because it's such a small community. If, in fact, there is going to be patrols there and more visibility, then it's important that pedestrians and drivers follow the rules and make sure that they take precautions to be safe. Beyond that, I'd ask my colleagues to support this motion and support the will of this homeowner's association in the work that they've done. Thank you.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilwoman Mongo.
Speaker 1: I have a couple of quick questions. I'm always supportive of a neighborhood association coming together to find a solution. Councilman Price. Is the vision of this that the normal amount of service provided in traffic enforcement to normal communities would be available in this area? Or would this be more like a contract services model?
Speaker 6: To answer that question in terms of what the the model is going to be.
Speaker 0: Mr. West.
Speaker 2: Will answer that.
Speaker 7: Honorable mayor and honorable councilmembers. I believe this is going to be a regular patrol. So if there is a complaint and it will be like anywhere else in the city if somebody is running through a stop sign. PD If you call the PD, they're going to respond the same way. It's not going to be anything special. That was the third condition that I read. They're not going to do anything special. And beyond that, they do throughout the city. We want to be very clear that it's not going to be 24 hours patrol for this neighborhood association. That was one of the conditions that the PD wanted us to have. So they're going to provide the same level of service that they will provide on any other street within the city. So if if you have in District nine, somebody is running a stop sign, we will provide the same level of service that we would do in District three or five or one so and all other one one through nine.
Speaker 1: So I think that that's part of the the resource challenge that I think one of our constituents mentioned. I know within the fifth District we have had emails lately where actual license plate numbers have been provided to PD because the number of people who choose not to follow the laws that we have in place is continuing to grow. And while community associations look for solutions like speed bumps and other things, I think that what we really need to also do is remind people to follow the laws that we have and apply that peer pressure our police forces. It's small but mighty, and traffic enforcement is a sliver of what they do and an important part of what they do. But just to ensure that we're not going to be straining any other resources and that we make sure that the city is equitably serviced. I'll be supporting this motion tonight.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilwoman Gonzalez.
Speaker 6: Yes, I have a couple of questions myself as well. So I understand this will be part of our within PD. How did this come about? I heard, you know, it started with a citation among neighbors. But is there a certain criteria you have to hit to be able to make your private? Area, essentially. Able or accessible to public services. How does that work exactly?
Speaker 7: I think the anomaly is that this this private community doesn't have gates. So it's not distinguishing the outsiders and insiders that this is a privately held community. When a private development occurs, the streets are private. The homeowners association is responsible for maintaining everything the infrastructure, the curbs, gutters, everything that we do for public streets. They provide because they want to have the gates. When you provide the gates, it basically it's not a public street anymore. That's the definition of a public street. I cannot as general public access that street because it's gated. So when in this situation, I don't know how that occurred 20, 30, 40 years ago when this development was proposed that did not install gates. And it's it acts like a private it's a private street. That means the homeowner association is maintaining the street. They're maintaining the integrity of the infrastructure. But it's public because it's not gated and public have access to it. Now, there's a city anymore.
Speaker 2: That as part of the condition of improvement of the movement of this development. They were required to maintain those three streets as accessible to the public. So from the public standpoint, you wouldn't know the difference if you're driving down the street until you turn onto their street. So it is different from a private development in that one of the requirement of the city 27 or 30 years ago was that it remained public access.
Speaker 6: Okay. And I think that's all of my questions. I just wanted to ensure I was clear on that and how that came to be. All right. Well, thank you very much.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilwoman Pryce.
Speaker 6: Thank you. I just want to clarify a couple of the questions that were asked. These these three particular streets that we're talking about have public access easements. And and and when this issue came up, we actually had the homeowners association meet with the city attorney's office to figure out legally what options are available for traffic enforcement. Because, like I said, there major access points for corridors, major corridors in the city. So they are if they don't appear at all to be private roads, if you drive through them, they're very much public roads that are used for public access on a daily basis because they link to major corridors, streets together. So that's how it came about. And it went through the city attorney's office and trying to determine whether or not they were a public access easement. So. Thanks.
Speaker 0: Thank you. There's a motion and a second. Members, please go ahead and cast your votes on hearing item number two.
Speaker 1: Motion carries.
Recommendation to receive supporting documentation into the record, conclude the hearing, adopt resolution; and authorize City Manager to execute an agreement with Bixby Village Homeowners’ Association providing for enforcement of traffic regulations on private streets in Bixby Village with easements for public access for the following three streets: North Greenway, South Greenway and Avenida de Castillo.  (District 3)