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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda Bill 7.A-Attch4 06/07/2004f ®r Discussion and Determination of the Location for the Future Interchange (Rainier Avenue Cross Town Connector Interchange or Corona Road Interchange) � �i! Page 1 of 3 Crump, Katie: From: Taffy Crescijtcresci @comcast.net] 'Sent: Friday, June:,04, 2004 4:26 PM To: Ray_Akkawi @dot;ca.gov Cc: Petersen, Gayle, swilford @sonoma- county.org; Tuft, Pamela; redhawks @sonic.net; m mike4pet @aol:co p eta] umamike @aol. com; ptorliatt @aol.com; Bryant @bryantmoynihan.com; Mayor; Rainieraction'group @comcast.net Subject: Petaluma Rainier Future Cross -town Connector or Interchange Importance: High <! - -[if !supportEmptyParas] - => <!-- [endif] - -> Dear Ray Akkawi At Cal -Trans <l - -[if !supportEmptyParas] - -> <l- _[endif] - -> For the past forty years, a marking has appeared on the City planning maps indicating a street in the area where Rainier Avenue was eventually located has always been targeted as a future cross -town connector'. This leads to a major question: 'If it was always intended to make Rainier the cross -town connector and now a potential freeway 'i'nterchange, why were Rai "nier and the adjacent Park Place neighborhood allowed to 'be designed band' built in their present form? <! - -[if !supportEmptyParas]' = -> <!�= [endif] - -> Those early maps always showed the future cross -town connector as a straight street Like East Washington Street, Caulfield Land,, Corona Road and Case Grande Road. Yet Rainier was built as a street with "dog leg" curves that created visibility problems when entering .and exiting driveways and at the intersection of Rainier and Prince Albert Street. And the Park Place neighborhood was built with a double cul -de -sac of 26 single family homes opening directly off Rainier (Prince. Albert and Olympic Courts,) and with 56 single family homes positioned on quad lost along `Raini'er's 'northwestern :length. There home are cluste'red' four to a shared eas6me'nt and each easement's only entrance and exit in directly on Rainier. <! - -[if !supportEmptyParas] - -> <l-- [endif] - -> Potential solution to the many problems created by Rainier's and; Park Place's design just seemed to Lead to other problems. For instance, to eliminate the visibility problems on Rainier, street parking could be prohibited. However, that would' be''imp ' ossible, s'in'ce Rainier provides the only street parking for the 56 single family home's 'off :Rainier. Cars cannot be parked on the smal'I courts that open off Rainier since they are technically easements that. provide the only �g�l 6/4/2004 Page 2 of 3 access to the, quad lot driveways and must always be kept clear for fire lanes <!__[if !supportEmptyParas] - -> <!-- [end'if] - -> Parked cars do not present the only visibility problem. The landscaping on the required :ten -foot setbacks also interferes with visibility. If the landscaping is ordered removed or severely cut back, ,considerable inconsistency is created The City required that particular landscaping be installed by the developer20 years ago when the houses were built, and the residents have tended and nurtured the trees and shrubs ever since. The landscaping provides .tesid.ents With the only visual and sound buffers (besides simple garden fences) between their ; homes and the traffic on Rainier. Also, it seems incongruous eliminate mature greenery an the main street into a larger neighborhood called, after all "'Park Place" And perhaps on of the most completing reason Js that Petaluma's. General Plan laments the lack of greenery and trees on our City's arterial's streets practically begs for them to be added.. [if !supportEmptyParas]-> <1- 4endif] - -> Just -as the freeway divide east and west Petaluma; 'the; Park Place ne'ighborho:od would be divided right,down the middle if Rainier becomes a cross -town connector with a freeway interchange. Neighborhood playmates must cross this street to reach each other. Half the children in Park Place would; have. to cross Rainier to reach th ;eir,ne,ighbo'rhood park, Bond Park, and the other half of the children would have to cross Rainier to reach their neighborhood' school,, Bernard Eldredge,, the Boy',s and Girls Club and Luchessi Park. <r - -[if ! - -> <!-- [endif] =_> If Rainier had truly intended to carry traffic gen=erated by 3000 new- homes, thousands more pre= existing ones,, , a sho in center and a unior college with an pp g 1 g enrollment of 7.000 and plans. to expand, three times why weren't.sound wall required. when home along Rainier and McDowell Blvd were constructed. Why weren't more generous setback chosen like the 25 -35 food setbacks along, Sonoma Mountain Parkway? <! - =[ !supportEmptyParas] - -> <1-- [endif]- > Why were homes allowed to be built with Rainier' as their only street .access? Also,, Why was ,Rainier designed without room for left hand turn .lands.or even a, lane drown the middle to. make left-turns into and out of between broken double yellow lines. Ii'ke the lanes on East Washington and North McDowell? A person exiting from any of , the-56 quad lot homes along'Rainier`Wifl 'have to cross a ten -foot landscape setback, a pedestrian sidewalk. A parking lane, A bike 6/472004 Page 3 of 3 lane,,,a slow lane of traffic, a fast lane of traffic, and', then merge with a fast lane; of traffic going. the opposite way! And this is to be accomplished on a street where traffic often travels 40 to 50 mile per hour round blind curves! <! - -[if !supportEmptyParas] -> <l-- [endif] - -> Rainier Avenue is a short street, only four block long. It connects with Sonoma Mountain Parkway, not at either end of the Parkway, but in the middle. There are no destinations on Rainier except people's homes. This is why Cal -Tans say, "Improvements to an existing over- crossing or ne.w crossing or Route 101 with connecting ramps to the freeway that improves local traffic circulation is not the responsibility of the Department, but rather local agencies such as the City of Petaluma "... If you have any clout with the City of Petaluma; please let them know that the traffic problems that will be created on Rainier Ave for the people that live there will be extreme. We have lived on this street for the past three years, and have already been rear -ended by a car going over the speed limit while we were trying to,, got into our driveway. This will become ia common occurrence especially due to the number of elderly people that live in these 56 single family homes along Rainier Ave. Sincerely , Taffy Cresci Rainier Ave resident 6/4/2004