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CITY OF EL CERRITO ACCESSIBILITY IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PUBLIC RIGHT OF WAY 1st Meeting of ADA Advisory Group Monday, March 8, 2010, 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM Hillside Conference Room, City Hall (10890 San Pablo Avenue) Meeting Summary 1. Introductions – Six attendees plus one City staff member introduced themselves. 2. Review of ADA Transition Plan – City staff reviewed the elements of the ADA Transition Plan, which was adopted by City Council in September 2009. The ADA Transition is available for review at http://www.el-cerrito.org/news/article.html?aid=389. The ADA Transition Plan prioritizes the removal of physical barriers at City facilities (both buildings and parks) based on program function. The four highest ranked facilities include the Community Center, Public Safety Building, Senior Center and Civic Theater. The physical barriers along major pedestrian routes leading to those facilities where prioritized for mitigation in accordance with the facility ranking. As such, the ADA Transition Plan identifies Ashbury Avenue, Moeser Lane and Stockton Avenue adjacent to these facilities as the highest-ranked public right-of-way (PROW) areas. The ADA Transition Plan also calls for requests from persons with disabilities to take the highest priority for mitigation. The role of the ADA Advisory Group is to assist the City Engineer with the planning and prioritization of accessibility-related improvements in the PROW. Improvements include providing compliant curb ramps and accessible crosswalks, removing obstacles that narrow the pathway, removing abrupt changes in level and excessive cross slopes, and providing detectable warning for overhead obstructions. See attached meeting presentation for additional information. Attendees had the following observations and comments: • The ultimate funding and location of a new Senior Center have not been determined to date. • City should provide accessible bus stops, including benches whenever possible. Specifically, the bench in front of the Guitar Center on San Pablo Avenue should be replaced. • Easy Ride Transportation Service, which is run though the El Cerrito Open House Senior Center, provides a lower-cost alternative to paratransit services. Easy Ride provides door-to-door service within the City of El Cerrito on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday for $1.50 each way. Call (510) 559-7677 for application and scheduling. The service is limited to El Cerrito residents only. • City should consider adding a webpage focused on ADA and accessibility issues that serves as an “access guide” for El Cerrito residents and visitors. This effort should be coordinated with the regional 511.org effort already underway. ---PAGE BREAK--- 3. Review of Recently Completed and Upcoming Improvements – City staff reviewed the work completed between 2007 and 2009 and planned capital improvement projects for the next two to three years. Approximately 360 ramps have been installed in the last few years mostly as part of pavement resurfacing projects. Upcoming projects to install or upgrade curb ramps include the San Pablo Avenue Streetscape Project, Measure A pavement resurfacing projects, and several federally-funded safety improvement and transportation enhancement projects. The extent of curb ramp improvements as part of the upcoming Measure A projects are still to be determined. See attached meeting presentation for additional information. Also, refer to attached map illustrating the completed and planned curb ramp locations. 4. Discussion of Specific Requests from the Public – City staff presented pending requests from the public. The outstanding requests in the PROW are as follows: 1. Potrero/Everett – Need curb ramps 2. Waldo/Kearney – Need curb ramp at SW corner. 3. Carlson/San Diego – Need curb ramps 4. Shevlin/Earl – Need curb ramps Previous requests for curb ramps at Potrero/S. 56th St and Ashbury/C St are being addressed as part of the aforementioned capital improvement projects. See attached meeting presentation for additional information. Attendees, and others not able to attend the meeting but forwarding their comments, submitted the following additional requests: 5. Richmond/Blake/Elm – Traffic islands at this intersection need curb ramps. 6. Blake/Norvell – Need curb ramps 7. Hagen/Mira Vista/Canyon Trail – Need curb ramps on uphill side 8. Eureka between Liberty and Kearney – Need level sidewalk and street surface. Also need detectable warning domes at southern corners of Eureka/Lexington. 9. Blake between San Pablo and Lexington – Need to remove various obstructions including poles that narrow the sidewalk on south side. Refer to attached map illustrating the requests received to date. Other comments from attendees include the following: • City needs to address transition between elevated sidewalks and curb ramps at intersections along streets such as Potrero. • City needs to improve enforcement of private construction activity when it blocks sidewalks • Vehicles blocking sidewalk are a problem. City needs to o determine appropriate enforcement along Terrace Drive where vehicles park up on curb due to narrow roadway. o determine appropriate enforcement along Richmond St between Fairmount and Moeser where vehicles park in driveway, and block sidewalk. ---PAGE BREAK--- o determine appropriate enforcement for car sales lot across from Dennys. • City should consider a wayfinding program that includes accessible information. UC Berkeley and Contra Costa College have existing programs. 5. Review of Funding and Cost of Improvements – City staff reviewed the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Budget for Fiscal Years 2009-2010 and 2010-2011. The budget provides $35,000 per year for access improvements from Measure C/J Funds. The City is seeking to prioritize improvements in the amount of $70,000 to construct this Spring/Summer. See attached presentation for typical unit costs for curb ramp, sidewalk and audible signal improvements as well as estimated improvement costs for prioritized streets segments identified in the ADA Transition Plan. For discussion purposes, given a budget of $70,000, the following improvements could be constructed this Summer: a. 17 curb ramps to address requests at 4 to 5 intersections. b. 560 feet of 5-foot-wide sidewalk to address requests for uneven sidewalks caused by street trees (uneven sidewalks due to other causes are the responsibility of the fronting property owner). c. sidewalk improvements on the north side of Moeser between Navellier and Community Center as scheduled in the ADA Transition Plan for Fiscal Years 2009/10 and 2010/11 d. Curb ramps and sidewalk improvements on the south side of Stockton between San Pablo Avenue and Senior Center as scheduled in the ADA Transition Plan for Fiscal Years 2011/12 and 2012/13. e. Any combination of the above. 6. Prioritization of Improvements – The ADA Transition Plan allows for the City to change the schedule for improvements in the ADA Transition Plan to accommodate requests from persons with disabilities and the general public, changes in City programs and funding availability. The ADA Advisory Group will help the City Engineer prioritize requests received to date in coordination with those improvements identified in the ADA Transition Plan. Attendees requested that City staff prepare a map, which has been referenced above, showing all completed curb ramps, planned curb ramps, pending requests and ADA Transition Plan priorities to assist in this effort. 7. Discussion of Next Steps and Meeting Schedule – City staff will email/mail this Meeting Summary and Curb Ramp-Sidewalk Map to meeting attendees for their review. Meeting attendees will provide final comments addressing prioritization of requests and ADA Transition Plan to City staff. City staff requests comments be submitted by March 31, 2010. Improvements are anticipated to be constructed this Spring/Summer as part of the construction effort for the Measure A pavement resurfacing projects. The next ADA Advisory Group meeting is anticipated in June/July 2010. The Group will meet a minimum of four times annually. Prepared by Yvetteh Ortiz, City of El Cerrito Engineering Manager on March 16, 2010 Send Comments to Yvetteh Ortiz at [EMAIL REDACTED] or City of El Cerrito Public Works Dept., 10890 San Pablo Avenue, El Cerrito, CA 94530