1 STAFF REPORT
DATE: October 4, 2022
TO: Justin Hess, City Manager
FROM: Ken Berkman, Public Works Director
VIA: Dan Rynn, Chief Assistant Public Works Director/City Engineer BY: Edward Yu, Traffic Engineering Manager
SUBJECT: Adoption of a Resolution Adopting a Revised Speed Hump Policy
RECOMMENDATION
Adopt A RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BURBANK A DOPTING A REVISED SPEED HUMP POLICY (Attachment 1).
BACKGROUND
The Burbank Municipal Code (BMC) Chapter 7 -3 generally assigns street improvement responsibilities to the Public Works Department and the City Council has previously addressed certain street improvement and roadway desi gn features , such as speed humps, by resolution.
The current Speed Hump Policy (Policy) was adopted by City Council on July 16, 1996, and revised on October 13, 1998, via Resolution 25,384 (Attachment 2). There have been recent community requests to expand the existing criteria to allow more residential roadways to be considered for potential installations of speed humps. Current traffic planning and engineering practices and industry standards have been revised to the point that staff reviewed the current Policy and believes poten tial changes could be made to the current Policy that would provide opportunities for more residential roadways to be eligible for speed humps without concerns of other safety issues being created.
The Traffic Section of the Public Works Department’s Engi neering Division reviewed the policy and criteria of other municipalit ies, including Pasadena, Glendale, Santa Clarita, the City and County of Los Angeles, and the Institute of Transportation Engineers . The survey (Attachment 3) examined different speed hump criteria , such as street classification and composition, roadway
2 characteristics (block length, width, grades, horizontal and vertical alignment ), traffic volume, speed threshold, transit routes, emergency routes, and the petition process. The i nformation obtained from the survey results , input from residents, and knowledge and experience from the current speed hump process provided a platform to develop the criteria for the revised Policy .
In accordance with BMC Section 2 -1-426, a draft version of the revised Policy was presented to the Infrastructure Oversight Board (IOB) for their recommendation on March 24, 2022. The IOB considered the revised Policy acceptable and also recommended noting the potential street sweeping challenges and providing images of the different types of speed humps that could be installed. Staff revised the Policy to include these recommendations and presented the updates to the IOB on May 26, 2022 . The IOB unanimously recommend ed the revised Policy to the City Council.
DISCUSSION
The revised Policy better defines the application and petition process and more appropriately addresses issues such as emergency routes, hilly streets , and roadway surface requirements (Attachment 5).
Attachment 4 compares the current and proposed Polic ies. Significant changes in the revised Policy include :
• Identifying the “Advantages” and Disadvantages” of speed humps • Allow ing speed humps to be installed on concrete streets • Introduces speed tables for use on streets with grades over 5% and emergency routes
• Further defining the criteria and eligibility parameters • Further defining the request and approval process
• Providing diagrams and images of speed humps
• Updat ing the petition package and better defining the petition process
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
Under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the CEQA Guidelines, administrative activities of governments that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment are exempt from CEQA (See 14 CCR § 15378(b)(5).) The revised Policy is an internal policy concerning potential speed hump roadway features. Moreover, such activities involve the operation, maintenance, or alteration of existing streets that do not result in any expansion of use and, even if the resolution was a project, the underlying activities would also be exempt from CEQA. (14 CCR § 15301(c).) As such, staff recommends that the City Council find that the activity is exempt from CEQA and that no further environmental review is n ecessary.
FISCAL IMPACT
The short -term fiscal impact associated with approving a revised Policy is minimal.
However, because more streets will be eligible to receive speed humps under the 3 revised Policy , there is expected to be additional long -term maintenance and capital costs.
Public Works construct s speed hump s with in budget at a cost of approximately $2,000 per speed hump , including labor, materials, equipment, signage, and striping . Each installation typically consists of 2 -3 speed humps within a street segment (block) . Public Works can install approximately 15-20 individual speed humps (or five to ten blocks) per year without additional funding.
Speed humps are removed and re -installed as part of the City’s residential paving program by a contractor and cost approximately $3,000 per speed hump . They are included in the scope of work for the annual residential paving rehabilitation project .
CONCLUSION
The revised Policy will update the existing criteria to current standards , provide more information and certainty about eligibility requirements , and allow the opportunity for more residential roadways to be eligible for the program.
Staff respectfully recommends the City Council approve the revised Policy by adopting the attached resolution .
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment 1 – Resolution
Attachment 2 – Current Speed Hump Installation Criteria Attachment 3 – City Comparison Survey
Attachment 4 – Speed Hump Criteria & Eligibility Comparison Attachment 5 – Revised Speed Hump Policy