From: Namit S
To: x-City Clerk"s Office; Carlos de Melo
Subject: Public Comment | Dec 3 2024 Agenda Item 5.B
Date: Monday, December 2, 2024 9:29:47 AM
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Hello, my name is Namit Saksena and my family and I live on North Road.
I am very excited to see the Signage & Wayfinding Program being presented to the city council on Dec 3rd 2024.
The designs created by city staff and Hunt Design are indeed great and they will certainly help bring a sense of community and belonging for the residents.
As a resident of North Rd, I request staff to consider changing the style (to banner) OR height of the sign close to Wheel Works @120 El Camino Real.
The height of the current sign creates a blind spot for cars making a left turn to enter Ruth Ave rather "exhilarating", see photos attached.
The median monuments on Pg.17/18 will need proper alignment so as to not create a similar blind spot as the current sign.
Given the speed of vehicles travelling on El Camino Real, the current sign temporarily hides the south bound cars closest to the median.
As those cars get close to the junction, they suddenly appear to the cars turning left on Ruth Ave. This makes that left turn onto Ruth Ave a bit dangerous.
Any of the recommended changes to the existing sign as part of the CIP related to this project would greatly alleviate this dangerous blind spot.
Wishing staff and the council, happy holidays!
With kind regards,
Namit
From: Joanne Adamkewicz
To: City Council
Cc: x-community development
Subject: public comment on agenda item 5B, Signage & Wayfinding Program Date: Monday, December 2, 2024 8:02:04 AM
Dear City Council and staff,
I am submitting these comments as a resident of Belmont, rather than from my position as a Planning Commissioner.
I have two suggestions regarding the Signage and Wayfinding Program as presented in the PDF file presentation.
1) The Draft sign location plan (slide 10) is missing three Key Destinations that are listed on slide 9:
Cipriani Park, Hallmark Park, McDougal Park
It is not clear why these Key Destinations are excluded from the draft signage location plan.
These 3 parks are on the larger side for Belmont (4.5-6 acres) and represent important recreational resources. The off-leash dog park at Cipriani is the only such location in Belmont. And the tennis/pickleball courts at Hallmark are 1 of only 2 such courts available to residents. Clearly, easy navigation to these parks is exactly what the signage & wayfinding plan is meant to support! So I urge you to include all 3 of these larger parks in the signage plan.
2) It would be great if additional styles for the directional signs could be created, to allow for signs that will look better in a purely residential area. The examples shown on slides 11, 12, etc are blue and metallic/shiny, with bright colors. They look great for a high-traffic civic or commercial area like downtown on Ralston Avenue. But these signs will NOT look good stuck in someone's front yard on a quiet residential street.
I refer specifically to Sign V10-S-030 for Alexander Park, which will be right in front of the homes at either 507 or 509 Marine View Avenue. And if additional signage is added for the 3 parks I mentioned above, that would presumably also result in signs being placed in other residential areas. The shiny blue metal will stick out like a sore thumb.
Please direct the designers and staff to develop a modified style that would look less "industrial" and blend in better, while still having a unified sense of place. The natural color palettes shown on slide 16, for example, would look much better in someone's front yard than shiny blue metal.
Thank you for your consideration.
Regards,
Joanne Adamkewicz
Yorkshire Way