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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1994-214E:\UPDOCS\ORD\ROADHUMP ORDINANCE NO. CH- a 14 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS, PROVIDING FOR THE ADOPTION OF A POLICY FOR THE INSTALLATION OF DEVICES TO SAFELY REDUCE VEHICLE SPEEDS ON CERTAIN TYPES OF STREETS; PROVIDING FOR A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Denton, Texas, is of the opinion that the installation of certain devices on streets will promote a safe reduction of vehicle speeds; and WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Denton, Texas, desires to adopt a policy for the installation of these devices in conjunc- tion with citizen participation; NOW, THEREFORE, THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS HEREBY ORDAINS: SECTION I. That the City of Denton hereby adopts a policy for the installation of road humps on certain residential streets, a copy of said policy is attached hereto as Exhibit A and incor- porated by reference herein. SECTION II. That pursuant to the authority provided in DENTON TEX. REV. ORDINANCES, sec. 18-3 (1991), the City Engineer is directed to implement this policy and is authorized to install road hump devices on certain City streets pursuant to the provisions contained in said policy. SECTION III. That the provisions of this ordinance are separable, and the invalidity of any phrase or part of this ordinance shall not affect the validity or effectiveness of the remainder of the ordinance. SECTION IV. That this ordinance shall be effective immediately upon its passage. PASSED AND APPROVED this the ISM day of 1VOUG.-.+lac r , 1993. ATTEST: JENNIFER WALTERS, CITY APPROVED AS TO LEGAL FORM: DEBRA A. DRAYOVITCH, CITY ATTORNEY BY: PAGE 2 ROAD HUMP INSTALLATION POLICY A. GENERAL Page 1 Road humps are an effective and appropriate device for safely reducing vehicle speeds on certain types of streets when installed in accordance with the provisions of this policy. In order for road hump installations to be effective, they should be located selectively in accordance with defined transportation engineering criteria for the purpose of ameliorating documented speeding problems. Proper installation will also minimize driver frustration and encourage safe driving practices. This policy promotes reasonable opportunities for residents and property owners most affected by a proposed road hump to participate together in the process that leads to its installation. It also provides for a sharing of the road hump installation cost between the city and the neighborhood under certain conditions. S. DEFINITIONS For the context of this policy only: APPLICATION for road humps include the petition; LOW. DENSITY RESIDENTIAL DWELLINGS include single-family houses, townhouses, duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes; ROAD BUMP is a geometric design feature of a roadway, consisting of a raised area in the roadway pavement surface extending transversely across the travel way, whose primary purpose is to reduce the speed of vehicles traveling along that roadway; SPEEDS are 85th percentile speeds; STREET refers to the street length that must be petitioned. It is a 1,000 foot segment generally centered on the location of the humps, or the length of the block, whichever is greater. If the 1,000 foot segment extends into any part of an adjacent block, it includes the entire length of the adjacent block, unless separated by an intervening thoroughfare, traffic signal or offset intersection. C. ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS All of the following criteria must be satisfied for a street to be considered eligible for road hump installation. 1. Petition A petition that documents that a minimum of two-thirds of the households in low density residential dwellings on the street support Its installation. The uses on the street where the road hump is proposed must be composed primarily of low density residential dwellings. AAA01817 Page 2 3. operational Characteristics Of The Street a. The street must be used to provide access to abutting low density residential properties (local residential street) and/or to collect traffic for such streets (residential collector). b. There must be no more than one moving lane of traffic in each direction. . C. Traffic volumes must be more than 500 vehicles per day but less than 8,000 vehicles per day. d. Vehicle speeds must equal or exceed the speed of 35 miles per hour (mph). e. The street must not be an identified primary route for emergency vehicles; this refers to a route that is heavily used due to the proximity of the emergency vehicle facility. These routes are subject to change. f. The street must have a speed limit of 30 mph as determined in accordance with State Law. 4. Geometric Characteristics Of The Street a. The street must have adequate sight distances to safely accommodate the hump as determined by the Department of Engineering and Transportation. b. The street must not have curves or grades that prevent safe placement of the humps. Humps may be located on streets that contain curves and/or grades, but the hump itself must not be located within a horizontal curve, on a vertical grade greater than 8% or on their immediate approaches. c. The street must be paved. If there are no curbs, a special design must be used to prevent vehicle run-arounds. d. The elevation of property adjacent to a hump location must be above top of curb, as determined by the Department of Engineering and Transportation, to minimize potential flooding due to the presence of the hump in the roadway. D. COST RESPONSIBILITY The cost for the road hump installation (including signs, pavement markings and, if necessary, special design features such as curbing or guard rail) may be shared between the City and residents according to how much the measured speed on the street exceeds the Speed Criteria as defined in Section C.3.d. This cost sharing is defined as followss COST SHARING TABLE 85th PERCENTILE SPEED RESIDENT'S COST SHARE 35 mph 100% 36 mph SO% 37 mph 60% 38 mph 40% 39 mph 20% >39 mph Oi AAA01817 Page 3 For a street located in a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) area, the cost responsibility of the residents is o%, regardless of the measured speed. The cost for transportation engineering studies and maintenance of the road hump is the responsibility of the City. The term resident, when used in cost sharing, does not necessarily refer to the petitioners. It is used to define the share of the cost that ie not the responsibility of the City and could be paid by one or more of the r Notwithstanding esidents or from other private sources. ng the provisions of the foregoing cost table, residents may be able to expedite hump sharing installation by voluntarily paying tTie full installation cost. ROAD HUMP REMOVAL AND ALTERATION The process for road hump removal or alteration by residents is the same as the process for installation, except that there is no City participation in cost sharing. F, ROAD HUMP LOCATION A road hump must not be located in front of a property if the occupant objects to its placement or, in the case of a property containing low density multiple dwellings, if a majority of the households on the property object to its placement. Fulfillment of this requirement responsibility of the applicant(e). is the G. DESIGN STANDARDS AND PROCEDURES The City Engineer shall prepare and maintain current design standards and installation procedures for road humps in accordance with this policy. H. REASSESSMENT The City staff will reassess this Policy on an annual basis for three years. The first reassessment is due one year after the installation of the first road hump under provisions of this Policy. The Traffic Safety commission and City Council will review and reassess road humps annually. AAA01817 Page 4 PROCEDURES FOR ROAD HUMP INSTALLATION The initial request for the installation of road humps must originate from the residents living on the street. A request in writing from a resident or representative must be forwarded to: Road Hump Program Department Of Engineering and Transportation City Hall, 215 E. McKinney Denton, Texas 76201 . A preliminary determination of eligibility based on available traffic data will be made in a timely manner. A. If the street Is determined not to be eligible the applicant(s) will be notified in writing giving the reason. B. The decision may be appealed in writing to the Director of Engineering and Transportation within 15 days of the notification date. The Director will review the determination and respond to the applicant(s) within 30 days of the appeal request. C. If the street in determined to be eligible for consideration, a meeting will be arranged between the applicant(s) and staff to define the petition area, the approximate road hump location range and whether the location(s) would be in a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) area. The applicant(s) will be instructed to submit a petition indicating that a minimum of two-thirds of the low density dwelling households on the street support the installation of road humps as provided in the Road Hump Policy.. only petition forms supplied by the Department of Engineering and Transportation or exact duplicates may be used for this purpose. 3. After verification of the petitions, the Department will conduct the necessary transportation engineering studies and solicit comments and recommendatLone of other agencies. A determination of the street's eligibility for road hump installation will be made in a timely manner, based on the Road Hump Policy. A. If the street is determined not to be eligible for road hump installation, the applicant(s) will be notified in writing giving the reason. B. The decision may be appealed in the game manner as in Section 2. C. If the street is determined to be eligible, the street will be placed on a list of streets eligible for road humv nstallat on 4. The Department of Engineering and Transportation will make a determination of the total installation cost and the cost sharing responsibility of the residents, is ,pplicable, according to the Road Hump Policy. S. once eligible,,for road hump installation, owners of real property lying within the notification area will be notified of the action by the Department of Engineering and Transportation. The notification area consists of the area within 200 feet of the boundary of the street. The measurement of the 200 feet includes streets and alleys. The notice will include a return form to indicate support or objection to the proposed installation. 6. If owners of 20 percent or more of the real property within the notification area object to the installation within 30 days of the notice, then the street will be removed from the list of streets a , ibl fo road hump installation and a public hearing will be scheduled at the City council. Notification of the hearing will include the applicant(s) and owners of real property within the notification area. In addition, a reasonable effort AAA01817 Page 5 will be made to notify each low density residential household along the street and area neighborhood associations of the public hearing. If owners of lees than 20 percent of the real property within the notification area object to the installation or the City Council approves the installation after a public hearing, then the Department of Engineering and Transportation will place the street on a list of streets approved for road hump installation Depending on the method used to pay for the cost of the road hump installation, either Section BA. or Section 8B will apply. Section 8A will apply if there is no City participation in the coat (i.e. the cost will be fully paid with voluntary private funding). Section 8B will apply if the residents request any City participation in paying for the cost of the road hump installation, if that option is available under Section D of the Road Hump Policy. A. Once a street is placed on the list of streets approved for road hump installation, the City will submit a statement to the representative of the residents for the cost of the road hump installation. Upon receipt of payment of the cost, the humps will be installed as scheduling permits. if full payment has not been received within one year from the statement date, the street will be removed from the list of streets aipTproved for road hump installation and all monies received, if any, returned to the payor. -OR B. (1) The City Engineer will submit a report on an annual basis containing a list of streets approved for road hump installation that require City funding, either in whole or part, in a request for funding to the City Council. The report will rank the 'requests in an order of priority determined by the following calculations RANKING ITEM VALUE 1 i vehicles exceeding Speed Criteria X daily traffic volume 2 number of schools, parks, churches or institutions on street (maximum of 2) X 50 3 i of petitioning households on street requesting humps X 15 4 number of reported accidents in previous 12 month period X 100 RANKING SUM (1+2+3+4) (2) The street yieldii.y the highest numerical value from the above summation will be considered to have the highest priority. The street with the earliest application date will have the highest priority among streets with the same summation value. The report will contain the above ranked list of streets aporoved for road hump installation, together with the speed, vehicles per day, ranking sum, whether the location is in CDBG area, estimated installation costs, city's cost share, residents' cost share, application date, payment due date and cumulative City cost share. The report will additionally list all road hump requests subsequently denied by the Director of Engineering and Transportation under provisions of Section 2B and 38, in addition to pending requests. A street that does not receive road hump installation funding approval will automatically be considered in the following years, for a maximum of 3.additional years. After that time period, a new request and petition are required. (3) When a budget amount for road hump installations has been approved by the City Council, the Department of Engineering and Transportation will, AAA01817 Page 6 starting at the top of the ranking list and proceeding in descending order, determine which installations will be funded from the budgeted amount. Representatives of the applicants for all approved road hump installations year. will be notified of which requests have been funded for the coming fiscal (4) Installations not included in the group to be funded can be approved if their full installation cost (including the City's share) is voluntarily paid, as provided in Section 8A. (6) If City funds remain after the determination of which installations will be funded from the budgeted amount, or if allocated City funds become available by non-payment of invoiced amounts under provisions of section 8, these funds can be applied towards the highest ranked non -funded Installation on the ranking list. Should these funds be insufficient to cover the City•s portion of that installation, and the applicant(s) do not want to voluntarily pay the difference, these funds can then be made available towards the second highest ranked non -funded installation on the ranked list] then the third highest; and so forth. (6) The City will submit a statement to the representative of the residents for any cost based on the provisions of the Road Hump Policy. It will list the total coot, portion to be paid by residents and the portion to be paid by the City. Upon funding approval and receipt of payment of the residents, share, the humps will be installed as scheduling permits. If payment of the residents' share, if any is required, has not been received within one year from the statement date, the street will be removed from the list of street approved for road hump tU tallation and all monies received, if any, returned to the payor. AAA01817 tht� OHY N V IY Rl �J M la O rm M a Vi z v 0 Z tv OKz M w to K zHH r z og xro� H z Nno � 2 m ova � rt rt m m m rt WM m K OJ 0 a o ro . a M rt w IUD mm �m m 0 7 ay m r* rt A a m Ap �yAt. 0 a m rt 0 H M KrtCh Nro aKMN N 0 W rt r a �M mMax a o� C O rt O S rm nO m m rt 7 w a W m a ft 0 rt m a x P. 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