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HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolution 2005-011 N.C.S. 01/03/2005 Res®lutlon No. 2005-Oiirj,~,s, of the City of Petaluma, California RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PETALUMA REITERATING ITS SUPPORT FOR'THE RELOCATION OF THE AT-GRADE CROSSING OF THE SMART RAILROAD TRACKS FROM HOPPER STREET TO CAULFIELD LANE IN THE CITY OF PETALUMA WHEREAS, currently pending before the California Public Utilities Commission is Application No. 04-06-030 of the City of Petaluma requesting approval of the relocation of an existing at-grade street crossing of the Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit ("SMART") Authority railroad tracks from the existing Hopper Street location in the City of Petaluma to a nearby location at Caulfield Lane; and, WHEREAS, this application has previously received unanimous recommendations for approval from both the Petaluma City Council and the SMART Board of Directors; and, WHEREAS, this application is being opposed before the CPUC by David Schonbrunn of Transportation Solutions Defense and Education Funds ("TRANSDEF"), a transit advocate who is not a resident of Petaluma and who did not appear before the Petaluma City Council when it took up this matter; and, WHEREAS, TRANSDEF is advocating for agrade-separated crossing, rather than an at- grade crossing, of the SMART railroad tracks at Caulfield Lane; and, WHEREAS, from the perspective of the City ofPetaluma, agrade-separated crossing at Caulfield Lane would be fraught with serious problems, including the practicability of constructing such a structure in the limited distance between Lakeville .Street and the railroad tracks, sightline difficulties implicating AASHTO road safety standards and thereby further rendering such agrade-separated crossing infeasible, and. traffic and circulation challenges arising from the inability to readily connect Caulfield Lane with Hopper Street, particularly given the close proximity of the newly-opened multimillion dollar Mary Isaak homeless shelter and those portions of the existing sewer treatment plant that must remain even after the rest of the plant is dismantled in or after 2008; and, WHEREAS, because of the above-mentioned problems with the practicability of a grade-separated crossing at Caulfield Lane, if the application for an at-grade crossing were to be Resolution No. 2005-0.11 N.C.S. denied by the CPUC, the City of Petaluma would have to analyze carefully whether it would be preferable to upgrade the existing Hopper Street at-grade crossing to achieve the goals of the City rather than attempt to proceed with a likely impracticable grade-separated crossing at Caulfield Lane; and, WHEREAS, a decision to upgrade the existing Hopper Street at-grade crossing would be unfortunate from a rail safety perspective because the geometrics of that crossing are inherently and substantially inferior to those at Caulfield Lane; and, WHEREAS, a decision to upgrade the existing Hopper Street at-grade crossing rather than construct a Caulfield crossing would be doubly unfortunate from a rail safety perspective because a Caulfield crossing would better accommodate a future "southern crossing" of the Petaluma River to Petaluma Boulevard South, which has been in the City of Petaluma's General Plan since at least 1987, providing another linkage between the eastern and western halves of the city and thereby significantly reducing traffic volumes on the heavily congested East D Street and East Washington Street corridors, both of which have existing at-grade crossings of the SMART railroad tracks that would benefit from a safety perspective from the reduced traffic volumes created by a new and effective "southern crossing"; and, WHEREAS, the agreement between Basin Street Properties and SMART for an at-grade crossing at Caulfield Lane would also allow SMART to relocate two rail spurs off of its property adjoining the Petaluma rail depot, which in turn would (1) allow the removal of two spur crossings of East D Street, both of which lack any automatic crossing protection, and (2) allow high density mixed use development of the depot site in a manner conducive to promoting rail transit ridership, and these important benefits could be lost if the application for an at-grade crossing at Caulfield Lane were to be denied; and, WHEREAS, the best current estimate of SMART rail traffic is provided by SMART's preliminary administrative draft Environmental Impact Report, issued in July 2004, which indicates that there would be 22 SMART crossings of Caulfield Lane per weekday (11 round trips times 2) once service begins, hopefully in 2009, which does not appear excessive from a safety perspective for a properly engineered at-grade crossing; and, WHEREAS, the same preliminary administrative draft EIR indicates that there are approximately 100 existing at-grade crossings of the SMART rail corridor; and, Resolution No. 2005-O1 l N.C.S. Page 2 WHEREAS, approximately nine of the aforementioned 100 existing at-grade crossings are located within the City of Petaluma, and the City of Petaluma is committed to supporting appropriate safety improvements to those crossings in cooperation with SMART; and, WHEREAS, City Council of the City of Petaluma supports rail service along the SMART corridor, which is an integral part of the success of the. Central Petaluma Specific Plan; and, WHEREAS, for the aforementioned reasons the City Council of the City of Petaluma wishes to underscore its commitment to rail safety issues in general and to a safely engineered at- grade crossing at Caulfield Lane in particular. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Petaluma that the City reiterates its support for an at-grade crossing of the SMART railroad tracks at Caulfield Lane located in the City of Petaluma. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City Council of the City of Petaluma respectfully requests that the California Public Utilities Commission approve. the pending application for an at-grade crossing of the SMART railroad tracks at Caulfield Lane located in the City of Petaluma, conditioned on the closure of the existing and less safe at-grade crossing at Hopper Street. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City Clerk is directed to forward a copy of this Resolution to the California Public Utilities Commission. Under the power and authority conferred upon this Council by the Charter of said City. REFERENCE: Thereby certify the foregoing Resolution was introduced and adopted by the Approv Council of the City of Petaluma at a (Regular) (Adjourned) (Special) meeting on the .........3:a............ day of ........lanvazy 20..t)5, by the following vote: City Attorney AYES: Canevaro, Mayor Glass, Vice Mayor Harris, Healy, Nau, O'Brien, Torliatt NOES: None ABSENT: None ATTEST: City Clerk ayor Council File Res. No.........2005-O.LI........N.C.S.