STAFF REPORT
DATE: January 24, 2023
TO: Justin Hess, City Manager
FROM: Patrick Prescott, Community Development Director VIA: David Kriske, Assistant Community Development Director, Transportation BY: Marcos Fuentes, Senior Transportation Planner
SUBJECT: Adoption of a Resolution Approving the One-way Conceptual Design Alternative for the Downtown Burbank San Fernando B oulevard Reconfiguration Project and Direct Staff to Implement a One Year Pilot
RECOMMENDATION
Adopt A RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BURBANK APPROVING
THE ONE -WAY CONCEPTUAL DESIGN FOR THE D OWNTOWN BURBANK SAN FERNANDO BOULEVARD RECONFIGURATION PROJECT (PHASE 1) AND
DIRECTING STAFF TO PROCEED WITH DEVELOPING THE FINAL ENGINEERING DESIGN (Attachment 1); OR
Adopt A RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BURBANK APPROVING
THE FULL STREET CLOSURE CONCEPTUAL DESIGN FOR THE DOWNTOWN
BURBANK SAN FERNANDO BOULEVARD RECONFIGURATION PROJECT (PHASE 1) AND DIRECTING STAFF TO PROCEED WITH DEVELOPING THE FINAL ENGINEERING DESIGN (Attachment 2).
BACKGROUND
In 2020, City Council adopted the Cit ywide Complete Our Streets Plan, an actionable long-range transportation planning document that aims to improve safety for all road users in the City. The Plan identifie d specific short-term projects for implementation, which were determined by stakeholders’ input and data analysis based on criteria including priority eligibility areas, number of collisions, cost, and ability to implement quickly. The Downtown, San Fernando Boulevard Reconfiguration Project (Phase 1) is
COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT
2 one of the short -term priority projects located in the City’s Downtown, between Olive Avenue and Magnolia Boulevard. (Attachment 3).
The main goal of the project is to enhance vehicular and pedestrian safety in Downtown Burbank, which has the highest amount of pedestrian and vehicular activity in the City 1.
Further, data collected for the Complete Streets Plan revealed that over 80% of pedestrian-vehicle collisions are due to the fault of the motorist, and those collisions predominately occur when vehicles are making turning movements2, highlighting the risk pedestrians face in such a high activity urban area and the impetus behind the Downtown San Fernando Boulevard Reconfiguration Project (Project) being identified in the Plan to improve safety in this part of the City.
The Project would address pedestrian safety on San Fernando Boulevard in Downtown Burbank by reducing the points where a vehicle and pedestrian conflict exist s at intersections and crosswalks, primarily by eliminating one direction of vehicle travel. It would also slow vehicle movements by narrowing the street, reduc ing pedestrian exposure to vehicles by narrowing crossing distances, and widening the sidewalk areas to repurpose more of the street for pedestrians . The o ne-way reconfiguration would provide better access to the angled parking along San Fernando B oulevard because parking aisles on both sides of the street would be accessible to motorists. Finally, the Project supports Burbank's economic recovery by encouraging expanded outdoor dining in Downtown Burbank. This benefit was not initially identified in the Com plete Streets Plan but became readily apparent during the COVID19 P andemic (Pandemic), which emphasized the need for additional outdoor space for dining and expanded public open space.
This project implements the Complete Streets Plan, but also supports other City planning documents and efforts. The project is in line with the Burbank2035 General Plan’s Mobility Element which strives to ensure that “Burbank’s complete streets will meet all mobility needs and improve community health” . The project would also support the upcoming Downtown Burbank Transit Oriented District Specific Plan’s key objectives of creating a pedestrian friendly environment, enhancing multimodal access connections between the Downtown’s major public transit stations and the rest of the City , and ensur ing enough parking availability and accessibilit y by implementing safety treatments that improve safety and facilitate access for all modes of transport to the City’s Downtown commercial attractions and amenities. Additionally, with the proposed Noho to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit System planned stop at Olive Avenue and San Fernando Boulevard expected to open for service in 2024, this project will further improve the appeal and connectivity between Downtown Burbank and the larger region.
1 City of Burbank, Citywide Complete Streets Plan (2020), Figure 2-29, Page 30 2 City of Burbank, Citywide Complete Streets Plan (2020), Figure 2-30, Page 30 3 This project consists of a 12 -month pilot with the objective of testing the benefits and success of the roadway reconfiguration that would be achieved using “quick-build” materials, meant to be low in cost, easily installed, and easily removed. This allows the City to test the project, measure its effects, and modify the improvements in response to observations. The City has implemented this style of improvement in the past as part of the Alameda North and Rancho Providencia Neighborhood Protection Plans, where the City Council implemented temporary measures before permanent improvements were made.
Upon implementation, several data points will be collected to assess the pilot’s performance along the project’s footprint on San Fernando Boulevard and adjacent streets by comparing the results to benchmarks established prior to implementation . If successful, as part of the Complete Streets Plan’s mid-term priority projects list, a second phase could be implemented to construct more long-term improvements with permanent wider sidewalks and other traffic calming measures. Alternatively, treatments installed during the pilot phase could be further modified to improve upon lessons learned during the testing period or removed all together to restore the roadway to its original conditions.
DISCUSSION
The City Council directed staff to pursue the Project when it approved the City’s Fiscal Year 2021-2022 Capital Improvement Program. In May 2022, staff hired one of the City’s on-call consultants, Fehr & Peers, to help define the project scope based on the Complete Streets Plan project for a roadway reconfiguration. This process involved collaboration with the Public Works Department and the Community Development Department’s Housing and Economic Development team to ensure that the project met roadway design engineering standards while incorporating the priorities of the Downtown retail and commercial activities. In June 2022, City Council directed staff to explore a full street closure alternative along with a one-way reconfiguration.
Further meetings with City stakeholders, such as the BurbankFire and Police Departments, were held to ensure that the design options met safe vehicle access standards and addressed any public safety concerns early in the design process.
Existing Conditions and Safety Issues
The existing right-of-way on San Fernando Boulevard between Olive Avenue and Magnolia Boulevard features bidirectional vehicular traffic with one lane in each direction, and the existing speed limit is 25 MPH. T here are 57 angled, head-in parking spaces along both sides of the roadway (including 6 A merican with Disability Act (ADA)-- accessible stalls), additional on-street parking spaces repurposed for outdoor dining, 10- foot-wide sidewalks, midblock crosswalks, and street furniture like benches, trash bins, bicycle racks, planters, and other landscaping.
4 Due to the lack of designated loading space along this segment of San Fernando Boulevard, illegal parking along red curbs and double parking by delivery trucks and food delivery drivers is routinely observed at various times of the day, especially adjacent to mid-block crosswalks. Large delivery trucks that do this obstruct and even completely block the line of sight for pedestrians crossing the streets and vehicles driving through the roadway. In October 2022, the hired transportation planning consultant assembled a summary of data collected under the existing conditions revealing a 51% to 63% yield compliance rate at the three midblock crosswalks included in this project, indicating a high risk for all roadway users, but especially for pedestrians using midblock crosswalks that are frequently obstructed by illegally parked vehicles. Moreover, pedestrian activity counts were higher than average daily traffic figures on San Fernando Boulevard in two of the three blocks of San Fernando Boulevard between Orange Grove Avenue and Magnolia Boulevard (Attachment 4), further supporting the need to enhance safety and walkability for the roadway user group most represented in this part of the City. Other safety issues observed include vehicles double parked waiting for parking stalls to become available and vehicles making illegal U -turns to access angled parking stalls across the street.
Two conceptual design alternatives were identified by staff based on the scope defined by the Complete Streets Plan and the direction of the City Council. The alternatives include a one- way reconfiguration and a full street closure. B oth design alternatives for the pilot program are meant to enhance multi-modal safety by using quick-build materials that are low in cost, would not require any major traffic signal modification ( beyond covering traffic signal heads and potentially modifying signal phase timing diagrams), and are easily removable at the end of the 12- month pilot phase. Examples of quick -build materials include striping, plastic bollards, planters, and k -rails. Both design alternatives maintain existing ar eas for outdoor dining parklets so that the City’s Outdoor Dining Program, as approved and extended by City Council on December 6, 2022, by Resolution No. 22-29,382, may continue along the Project Area for the duration of Phase 1 of the Project.
Design Alternative 1: One-way Reconfiguration
The one-way alternative (Attachment 5) would implement the project identified in the Complete Streets Plan. It involves changing the existing traffic flow from one lane in each direction to only one northbound lane to reduce conflict points between vehicles and pedestrians, eliminate illegal U- turns, and slow vehicular speeds. It features curb extensions at all major intersections and midblock crossings along the roadway segment to shorten pedestrian crossing distances, improve the line of sight between vehicles and pedestrians, and thereby addressing crosswalk yield compliance issues. Curb extensions would be delineated using high- visibility flexible bollards and pavement markings to separate the space between pedestrians and vehicles. This option retains current outdoor 5 dining areas while adding flex spaces at curb extensions that can be used for additional street furniture like bicycle racks or more planters. This design option incorporates a class III bikeway, or shared lane, using sharrow pavement markers to promote bicycling in the northbound direction, which helps to reduce vehicular trips, and improve bicyclist connectivity to the City’s bicycle network.
By removing the southbound traffic lane on the west side of the street, this alternative repurposes that space to create designated parking space meant to address double parking or illegal parking by commercial, delivery, passenger loading, and preserves the existing on-street parking inventory.
Design Alternative 2: Full Street Closure
The full street closure alternative (Attachment 6) consists of closing this segment of San Fernando Boulevard to all but emergency vehicles between Olive Avenue and Magnolia Boulevard. Through traffic would remain available along Orange Grove Avenue but turns onto San Fernando Boulevard would not be permitted. A closure would also be installed on Palm Avenue just east of San Fernando Boulevard to ensure all driveways and parking facilities remain accessible.
Similar to the o ne-way alternative, roadway closures would be accomplished by using quick-build materials, like k -rails, movable barriers, planters, bicycle parking, and street furniture. This alternative offers the maximum potential to make the Downtown more walkable by removing conflict points with vehicles and offers additional space for outdoor dining areas.
This alternative would remove all vehicular access to San Fernando Boulevard. This means no vehicles could travel on the street, and all 57 parking spaces would be removed, including all ADA -accessible spaces . C ommercial and passenger loading would need to be relocated to parking spaces on adjacent streets and alley ways, thereby potentially impacting other parts of the Downtown area with similar issues currently observed along San Fernando Boulevard.
Design Alternative 3: Maintain Status Quo
Alternatively, the City Council could decide to leave this segment of San Fernando Boulevard as is. The existing two- way traffic configuration would remain in place along with currently available on- street parking, and outdoor dining parklets. However, the existing known and observed issues previously mentioned ( i.e., issues with pedestrian light of sight at midblock crossings, midblock crosswalk yield compliance, illegal U-turns, additional points of conflicts between vehicles and pedestrians, no designated loading spaces) would remain in place as well.
6 Community Outreach
In 2019, staff conducted extensive public outreach through collaboration with community and City stakeholders in the development of the Complete Streets Plan. During the Plan’s development, staff led several workshops that captured public feedback and help ed identify areas with high pedestrian activity, safety concerns, and ultimately shape the Downtown San Fernando Boulevard Reconfiguration Project included in the Plan’s short- term projects.
During the Pandemic, the City Council issued an emergency order directing staff to make several short -term changes to San Fernando Boulevard to address public health and safety concerns and a sharp decline in economic activity, primarily by providing more outdoor space for outdoor dining via a temporary street closure of San Fernando Boulevard at first, and then later reopening the street to traffic and parking while providing outdoor dining “parklets” within the street right -of-way. During this period, Economic Development staff conducted four surveys to analyze the impacts and success of the mitigation measures, along with assessing of the extension of a full closure of San Fernando Boulevard, implementing a “hybrid” configuration where traffic and parking were accommodated along with space for dining, or fully reopening the roadway to its original conditions.
The first survey conducted in late August and September of 2020 (Attachment 7) revealed that only 27% of respondents wanted the closure of San Fernando Boulevard to be permanent, 39% preferred to reopen the roadway as soon as Labor Day (September 7, 2020), and the rest opting to reopen the roadway at some point before the end of the 2020 calendar year . Those in favor of reopening the roadway cited the need to allow vehicular traffic due to lower commercial activity, need for curbside accessibility, and noted the benefits of outdoor dining areas.
The second survey was conducted in November 2020 (Attach ment 7) following L os Angeles County’s new public health mandate. According to the results, only 30 % of businesses surveyed preferred to maintain the closure of San Fernando Boulevard , approximately 50% preferred reopening the roadway, and an additional 20% selected a hybrid model, similar to the o ne-way reconfiguration option, to accommodate curbside pickup.
A third intercept style survey was conducted in May 2021 (Attachment 7) targeting Downtown Burbank area residents, City of Burbank residents, and visitors. The results showed that 50% of respondents preferred a hybrid model closure, 23% preferred reopening San Fernando Boulevard to pre-Pandemic conditions, and about 27% opted for a full street closure.
7 The fourth and most recent survey was conducted to businesses and property owners in Downtown Burbank the first week of January 2023 (Attachment 7). Survey results showed that 80% of respondents wanted to maintain the existing street configuration and keep San Fernando Boulevard open to traffic in both directions, 14% were in favor of the one- way reconfiguration, while approximately 6% were in favor of a complete street closure.
Staff carried out a series of public outreach events specifically for the Project in November and early December 2022 to get further input on the Project (Attachment 7). N otices of these events w ere mailed to residents, property owners, and other community stake holders on October 28, 2022. On November 3, 2022, staff presented the two design options to the Downtown Burbank Property Based Business Improvement District (PBID) Board. Board members expressed support for the One-way option and noted the benefits of improving safety and walkability to promote commercial activity . The board members voiced concerns about the impacts of closing the street altogether and removing all on- street parking along San Fernando Boulevard. They expressed the need to maintain accessibility to store fronts to support retail, restaurant, and commercial businesses that rely on vehicle access. Some members identified that instituting a full street closure would impact the ability to attract and retain successful businesses in Downtown.
Two community meetings were held on November 9, 2022, and December 1, 2022 where members of the community were introduced to the project and the two proposed alternatives. While both meetings had low attendance, those present expressed split views about the design options, with some in favor of the one-way option, others in favor of the Full Str eet Closure and some opposed to any changes. Some attendees referenced the City’s Golden Mall, which existed from the late 1960s to the late 1980s. and consisted of a fully closed pedestrian mall along San Fernando. The speakers characterized the Golden Mall as having negative financial impacts on Downtown businesses during that time and suggested that the Full Street Closure option would cause similar negative consequences. Comment cards were collected during both events (Attachment 8).
Staff presented the project to the Transportation Commission (Commission) during their regular meeting of November 14, 2022. The Commission received information on both options and discussed the need to improve pedestrian safety in Downtown and to expand outdoor public open space opportunities. The Commissioners unanimously supported the Full Street Closure option because it provided the highest level of pedestrian safety and maximized the ability for Downtown Burbank to become safer and more walkable.
They also suggested that a two-way protected bicycle cycle track be installed in the center of the closed street to provide better bicycle connectivity. The Commission thought that these safety tradeoffs outweighed the need to maintain parking and loading zones directly adjacent to San Fernando businesses.
8 Two pop-up events were held at the Cultural Market on December 2, 2022, and the Farmer’s Market on December 3, 2022, to provide information and answer questions about the project to the larger community . Each event received approximately 20 attendees, with about 90% expressing interest or support for the Full Street Closure alternative and a small minority choosing the one-way design alternative. No attendees at either pop- up event supported leaving the roadway in its original configuration.
Attendees cited similar reasons mentioned by the Transportation Commission for wanting to close the street to vehicles, and shared concerns about vehicles speeding, double parking, wanting more space to walk safely, and creating a space like the Americana in the City of Glendale or Third Street Promenade in the City of Santa Monica. Comment cards were also collected during both events (Attachment 8).
Staff Recommends One-way Reconfiguration Option
Staff recommends that Council approve the one-way conceptual design for the Downtown Burbank San Fernando Boulevard Reconfiguration Project, Phase 1. This design option provides the City a balanced approach to improving safety in the Downtown Burbank area following Complete Streets principles , balancing the needs of all roadway users , and maintaining access to Downtown Burbank’s retail uses and supporting its economic activity.
The one-way option would streamline vehicular circulation while improving pedestrian safety issues in this part of the City. This option would lower the risk of traffic collisions by removing the existing southbound traffic lane to reduce turning movements onto San Fernando Boulevard, and thereby decreas ing the number of potential conflict points between ped estrians and vehicles . It would also facilitate narrowing the proposed northbound lane, resulting in slower vehicular speeds, eliminating illegal U- turns, shortening pedestrian crossing distances, and improving visibility of pedestrians at mid- block crossings. It would also allow for the repurposing of the newly available space on the public right-of-way for pedestrians. This would help better accommodate pedestrian activity in areas with highest pedestrian activity such as the Palm Paseo, which sees high pedestrian activity on weekends, evenings, and during special events like the Cultural Market held every Friday night.
Another benefit of the new available space would be the opportunity for curb management by creating designated parking spaces for commercial and/or passenger loading. This would mitigate known issues of illegal parking along red curbs or double parking due to the lack of designated loading spaces along this segment. More importantly, it improves accessibility for delivery services, curbside pickup, and passenger drop- off that are essential to supporting a thriving commercial district.
This design option would r etain existing on-street parking availability , which based on feedback received from PBID board members, property owners , and senior members of 9 the community via the Pandemic-era survey results previously described and during this project’s community outreach process, is deemed essential for the commercial success of retail establishments and general accessibility to the Downtown area.
Staff does not recommend implementing the full street closure option. While a full street closure provides the maximum opportunity for pedestrian safety, and walkability it also carries significant tradeoffs that could negatively impact the commercial activity that serves as an attraction to this part of the City. To implement a full street closure and street activation similar to other successful examples, such as the Third Street Promenade in the City of Santa Monica, a programmatic approach that extends beyond the public right- of-way and the scope of this project is needed to preserve and improve the Downtown’s character and urban fabric. Staff believes this additional component is critical for a full closure to prevent additional nuisance issues related to street performers, unhoused individuals, and other issues. Consideration of standards for more permanent installations of outdoor dining, public safety and police presence, additional resources for street furniture and parking management in garages to accommodate loss of on- street parking, along with designated space for commercial and passenger loading in adjacent streets and alley ways, would also be needed for this option. Moreover, the feedback received from local businesses and other stakeholders in the area prior to and during this project’s community outreach underscore the desire and reasons to maintain this segment of San Fernando Boulevard accessible to vehicular traffic or implement a hybrid model. Staff believes that the o ne-way option can provide similar safety, circulat ion, pedestrian, and other benefits of the Full Street Closure option, without the added tradeoffs and negative impacts discussed above.
Beyond proving to be the best compromise, t he one-way design option could provide a starting point for a hybrid model utilization of the roadway where this segment of San Fernando Boulevard would remain open at all times on weekdays but could be closed to vehicular traffic for special events or other times when higher pedestrian volumes can be accommodated.
Next Steps
If the City Council wishes to implement one of the San Fernando Boulevard reconfiguration options , staff recommends the City Council direct staff to work with internal stakeholders and the hired consultant to develop engineering plans to be used for the implementation of the project. Once complete, implementation is estimated to take place in August of 2023. Community stakeholders will receive notifications of any possible impacts to vehicular traffic as a result of temporary road closures, modified traffic patterns, on-street parking, outdoor dining facilities, etc.
After installation, and during the following 12- month period, a traffic analysis will be conducted to assess the performance of the pilot program. During the traffic analysis, the 10 hired consultant will collect the same data point s gathered in the planning phase to compare pre- and post -implementation conditions and determine t he success of the project. At the end of the pilot phase, s taff will analyze the results and make a recommendation to Council to proceed to the second phase of the project or restore the roadway to its original conditions.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
Implementation of the first phase of the Downtown Burbank San Fernando Boulevard Reconfiguration Project is exempt from review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to 14 CCR Section 15301(c), as the action involves maintenance or alteration of existing streets that does not result in any expansion of the use, and the action adds safety or health protection devices in conjunction with existing facilities. The two design alternatives outlined in this document alter the use of traffic and parking along San Fernando Boulevard, between Olive Avenue and Magnolia Boulevard , but do not expand the capacity or use of the streets, nor do they increase the amount of overall vehicle travel. Additionally, the application of the measures previously detailed reduce or eliminate local vehicle traffic and operations in this part of the City, reduce conflict points between vehicles and pedestrians by removing one direction of traffic or entirely prohibiting vehicles from accessing this segment of San Fernando Boulevard .
Furthermore, both design options improve crosswalk yielding compliance, improve pedestrian line of sight when crossing, and reduce vehicle speeds, thereby adding safety features to the existing streets. As such, if Council implements one of the two San Fernando Boulevard reconfiguration options outlines in this report, Staff recommends that the City Council find that the approval of such Resolution is exempt from CEQA.
FISCAL IMPACT
Council has approved Measure R Transportation Local Return funds for this project as part of the City’s Capital Improvement Program. Funds in the amount of $187,000 are available for the design phase, while an additional $358 ,000 has been allocated for the construction phase. Staff believes that either reconfiguration option can be installed with funds previously budgeted for this project, although the additional costs for programming that staff believes are needed for the Full Street Closure Option would not be covered by the City Council’s current funding for this project.
CONCLUSION
Staff respectfully recommends that Council approves the one-way conceptual design for the Downtown Burbank San Fernando Boulevard Reconfiguration Project, Phase 1. This alternative would achieve the Project’s primary goal of improving pedestrian and vehicular safety in the Downtown Burbank area through a 12-month pilot by changing the flow of traffic on San Fernando Boulevard between Magnolia Boulevard and Olive Avenue to a one-way one northbound lane, installing curb extensions, introducing designated loading spaces, a class III bikeway, and retaining existing o n-street parking, including ADA - 11 accessible stalls, and outdoor dining parklets . It would also maintain accessibility to Downtown Burbank’s retail stores, increase walkability, and improve the quality of life for resident and visitors, while preserving commercial activity and vibrancy.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment 1 – One-way Design Alternative Resolution
Attachment 2 – Full Street Closure Design Alternative Resolution Attachment 3 – Complete Streets Plan Downtown San Fernando Boulevard Reconfiguration Project (Phase 1)
Attachment 4 – Memorandum – Summary of Existing Conditions Data Collection (Vehicle Volume, Vehicle Speed, Pedestrian and Bicycle Counts, Midblock Crosswalk Yield Compliance, Intersection Turning Movements)
Attachment 5 – One-way Conceptual Design
Attachment 6 – Full Street Closure Conceptual Design
Attachment 7 – COVID-19 San Fernando Boulevard Street Closure and “Hybrid” Closure Public Surveys
Attachment 8 – Project Outreach Meeting Public Comments