TO: Board of Supervisors
FROM: Steven Lederer, Director, Public Works
REPORT BY: Steven Lederer, Director, Public Works
SUBJECT: Evaluation of Deferred Left Turn Lanes on Private Projects
RECOMMENDATION
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Director of Public Works will report on Left Turn Lanes (LTL) that have been required by previous Board or Planning Commission actions but have not yet been installed.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Board of Supervisors requested a review of previously approved development projects that might have been required to install a left turn lane (LTL), but had not yet done so. Planning Building Environmental Services (PBES) and Public Works jointly undertook this review and identified a small of number of projects that fall into this category. After analyzing each, staff does not recommend calling for the installation of these LTLs at this time, but does recommend each be reviewed should any of these projects submit for a major modification of its use permit.
FISCAL & STRATEGIC PLAN IMPACT
Is there a Fiscal Impact? No
County Strategic Plan pillar addressed: Livable Economy for All
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION: ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION: General Rule. It can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility the proposed action may have a significant effect on the environment and therefore CEQA is not applicable. [See Guidelines for the Implementation of the California Environmental Quality Act, 14 CCR 15061(b)(3)].
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
Action item 8.E of the Napa County Strategic Plan directed staff to review previously approved development projects and determine how many, if any, projects were approved with the requirement to install a left turn lane (LTL), but had of yet failed to do so. PBES commenced this review, and ultimately identified 112 projects that could possibly have failed to install some sort of required infrastructure improvements. (See attachment #1).
Public Works reviewed that list, eliminating projects that clearly did not have LTL requirements, were never built, or were otherwise not relevant to this search. This smaller list, now 29 projects, was reviewed in additional detail. (See attachment 2).
After reviewing the files for each of these projects, we found no project where an owner failed to install a LTL that the County required to be installed before the project was allowed to open. We did identify three projects where the standards for a LTL were met, but the Use Permit did not require the LTL at opening. Instead the County reserved the right to request the LTL in the future. These 3 projects are:
• Sutter Home Winery facility at 105 Zinfandel Lane
• Groth Vineyards at 750 Oakville Cross
• Silverado Pet Hospital at 2035 Silverado Trail
To be clear, the County has never requested these LTLs, so these projects are not out of compliance with their use permits. Each of these projects has been in place for decades, and there is no unusual accident history at any of them. As such, County staff is recommending that we do not call for these LTLs at this time, but instead wait for any proposed modification or expansion of those projects, and then reevaluate the need for a LTL based on the proposed project using the LTL standards in place at that time.
We did identify a few projects (Revana Winery on SR 29 and Kiever Winery on Solano Ave. as examples) where the use permit stated that a LTL wasn’t required for the project, but the County nonetheless reserved the right to ask for one in the future. This is somewhat unusual as there was no specific standard or triggering event stated in the use permit that defined when the county might ask for the LTL to be built. For these, similar to above, County staff is recommending that we do not call for these LTLs at this time, but instead wait for any proposed modification or expansion of those projects, and then reevaluate the need for a LTL based on the proposed project using the LTL standards in place at that time.
Staff welcomes comments or any additional direction from the Board. Absent that, staff considers this Strategic Plan action item complete.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS
See below
CEO Recommendation: Approve