Item No.
TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL
FROM: OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
BY: MATTHEW BAUMGARDNER, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS/CITY
ENGINEER
DATE: MARCH 26, 2024
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON THE WOODRUFF AVENUE BEAUTIFICATION PLAN
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
At its July 25, 2023 meeting, the City Council approved moving forward on a beautification plan along Woodruff Avenue. The plan focuses on paving and landscaping improvements along the approximately 1.5-mile stretch of Woodruff Avenue between Foster Road, to the south, and Firestone Boulevard, to the north; enforcement of oversized vehicles that park on Woodruff Avenue; and a variety of code enforcement issues. Staff is presenting an update on efforts made with respect to the aspects of the plan, including updated timelines for paving and landscaping.
RECOMMENDATION
That the City Council:
1. Discuss the work underway and completed to date on the plan; and
2. Provide direction to staff regarding any additional steps with respect to the Woodruff Avenue Beautification Plan.
BACKGROUND
The Woodruff Avenue corridor between Foster Road and Firestone Boulevard is approximately 1.5 miles in length. The beautification plan separates the issues that need to be addressed along the corridor into four distinct categories: 1) Paving, 2) Parkway and Median Landscaping, 3) Oversized Vehicles, and 4) Code Enforcement.
Paving
The overall road condition of Woodruff Avenue is has deteriorated and is in need of repair as it has been over 20 years since it was last paved. It is identified in the City’s Fiscal Year 2023-2024 Capital Improvement Program (CIP) as an arterial road in need of rehabilitation. Approximately $3.1 million in County, State, and Federal funding is currently appropriated in the CIP budget to reconstruct Woodruff Avenue, including repair of existing sidewalks, curb and gutter, driveway approaches, curb ramps, and replacement of striping and pavement markings.
UPDATE ON THE WOODRUFF AVENUE BEAUTIFICATION PLAN
MARCH 26, 2024
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Parkway and Median Landscaping
The majority of the Woodruff Avenue corridor is characterized as having relatively few parkways and tree wells on the sidewalks. In areas where there are parkways, there are not many trees, and vegetation is sparse or non-existent. Similarly, there are no raised medians along the corridor. Figure 1 illustrates a typical road profile along Woodruff Avenue showing a lack of vegetation.
Figure 1. Full width of street profile between Belcher Street and 105 freeway overpass.
The figures below show the general condition of the frontage islands along this stretch of Woodruff Avenue. Figure 2 illustrates the lack of landscaping within the western frontage island. Figure 3 shows sparse vegetation with occasional trees.
Figure 2 – Western Frontage Island Figure 3 – Eastern Frontage Island
Figure 4 illustrates the sparse landscaping within many of parkways north of Imperial Highway. Figure 5 shows sections of sidewalk that do not have tree wells or parkways.
Figure 4. Parkways with sparse vegetation Figure 5. No parkways/tree wells
UPDATE ON THE WOODRUFF AVENUE BEAUTIFICATION PLAN
MARCH 26, 2024
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Oversized Vehicle Parking
Areas of on-street parking on Woodruff Avenue, in particular north of Washburn Road, have been susceptible to long-term parking of oversized vehicles. The overnight and long- term parking of oversized vehicles on Woodruff Avenue has created traffic safety concerns due to line-of-sight issues near driveways. From a beautification standpoint, such vehicles tend to collect significant amounts of debris that gets trapped behind their large wheels along the curb. They also prevent street sweeping from occurring, as evidenced by the build-up of soil in the curbs behind the vehicles. This accumulation of sediment and moisture behind wheels creates weeds growing in the gutters.
Code Enforcement Issues
Typical code enforcement issues found along the Woodruff Avenue Corridor include property maintenance at businesses such as excessive window signage and banners, exterior painting, landscaping and fencing deficiencies, as well as graffiti and debris build- up. For residential properties along Woodruff Avenue, it was noted that there are three properties with chain-link fencing. While the existing code does not permit the installation of chain-link fencing, older properties with pre-existing chain-link fencing are considered legal non-conforming.
ANALYSIS
Since the adoption of the Woodruff Avenue Beautification Plan, staff has continued to work on addressing the four areas described in the background section. This includes:
Paving
The design of the pavement rehabilitation plans will be completed in the next two months.
Concurrently, staff are working with the Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) and Caltrans to get permits to proceed with bidding and construction of the pavement rehabilitation project. Due to the areas of the project that require these permits from these agencies, the Woodruff paving work is going to be addressed in two sequential phases.
Phase 1 involves rehabilitation between Washburn Road and Firestone Boulevard. This is the section of the project that crosses the railroad tracks and requires permitting with UPRR. This process has already begun, and it is anticipated that the permitting can be completed along with the plans in April 2024. Staff anticipates bidding this phase of work in May and awarding a contract in June 2024. Phase 1 construction should be completed by the end of Summer 2024.
Phase 2 involves rehabilitation between Foster Road and Washburn Road. This requires review and permitting with Caltrans because the City has federal STPL funds associated with this project. Whenever there are federal funds for a project, Caltrans must approve the plans before the project can go out to bid for construction. Staff anticipates completing this process in June 2024 so that this phase can go out to bid in July, be awarded in August, and be timed for the start of construction upon the completion of Phase 1. This would see the completion of both phases by December 2024.
UPDATE ON THE WOODRUFF AVENUE BEAUTIFICATION PLAN
MARCH 26, 2024
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Parkway and Median Landscaping
Phase 2 of the Woodruff Avenue Pavement Rehabilitation project includes adding raised medians between Imperial Highway and Foster Road. It also includes a landscaping plan for these raised medians, as well as for the frontage islands in the residential section south of the 105 freeway.
Additional landscaping work will include adding new plants to the sparsely vegetated section on the eastern frontage island between Belcher Road and Angel Street. Staff completed irrigation improvements to this area in January 2024. Plants are currently being ordered, and are currently planned to be installed by mid-April 2024.
Staff will also install tree wells, and plant trees in these wells and existing parkways along the corridor once the paving project concludes as the heavy construction activities of the pavement rehabilitation and heat of the summer can cause stress on newly planted trees.
Fall and early Winter 2024 will be the ideal time to plant and establish new trees.
Monument Sign
One important component of the median landscaping plan is the addition of a monument sign. Once the raised median is installed as part of the Phase 2 pavement rehabilitation, a monument sign will be installed just north of Foster Road to be consistent in design with those used at the entrance to the City on other major corridors. This is anticipated to be completed by December 2024.
Oversized Vehicle Parking
On March 14, 2023, the City Council adopted an ordinance regulating the overnight parking of oversized vehicles. Prior to posting of the required signage at the entrances to the City and on Woodruff Avenue, the Downey Police Department commenced an educational campaign using social media and issued warning notifications to any oversized vehicles parked on the street overnight. Following posting of the signage, Police Department and Code Enforcement staff began a concerted effort to cite and contact the owners of the oversized recreational vehicles that were repeat offenders of the oversized vehicle parking ordinance. By the end of December 2023, this effort successfully saw a reduction in oversized vehicles parking along Woodruff Avenue. Since that time, the City’s street sweeping contractor has had access to sweep the gutter in the problem areas north of Washburn Road.
Code Enforcement Issues
Code Enforcement Staff has issued notices of violation to 15 commercial properties for various maintenance upkeep (painting and debris) and signage infractions. The owners have complied or are in the process of complying with seven of these cases. Staff are re- inspecting the other cases and will be continuing to reach out to the the property owners to achieve compliance.
Chain-link Fencing
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MARCH 26, 2024
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Staff are currently planning the next Team Up 2 Clean Up event for Saturday, April 13, 2024. As part of this event, staff will be reaching out to the three property owners with legal non-conforming chain-link fencing on Woodruff Avenue, as well as to similar properties throughout the City, to invite them to participate in a free program to install plants to cover their chain-link fencing. The City will provide the plants at no charge to the property owners. Volunteers from the Keep Downey Beautiful community will work with property owners to install these plants, which will be maintained by the owners following installation.
Summary of Beautification Measures
Staff categorized issues observed along Woodruff Avenue as paving, parkway and median landscaping, oversized vehicle parking, and code enforcement. The following table outlines steps taken to date to address these issues:
Category Issue Remediation Effort
1 - Paving Poor pavement condition,
concrete repairs needed
Woodruff Pavement
Rehabilitation Project to
take place between June
and December 2024.
2 – Parkway and Median
Landscaping
Sparsely landscaped street
parkways, few trees
Woodruff Pavement
Rehabilitation Project to
add new raised medians,
landscaping, and irrigation
by December 2024.
Staff to install tree wells
and trees in wells and
parkways by December
2024.
New irrigation added to
eastern frontage island in
January 2024. New plants
to be installed by mid-April
2024.
New monument sign to be
added in Median just north
of Foster Road by
December 2024.
3 – On-street parking Oversized vehicles are
parked long-term/overnight
Signs installed at
entrances to City
prohibiting overnight/long-
term parking of oversized
vehicles.
UPDATE ON THE WOODRUFF AVENUE BEAUTIFICATION PLAN
MARCH 26, 2024
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Police Department issuing
citations. Code
Enforcement working
closely with Police
Department staff to reach
owners in December 2023.
As of January 2024, there
have been no over-sized
vehicles observed along
Woodruff Avenue. Street
sweeping efforts have
resumed in these areas.
4 – Code Enforcement
Property maintenance and
signage issues.
Chain-link fencing.
Since December 2023,
Code enforcement staff
has been issuing violations
and actively working with
property owners to resolve
maintenance and signage
violations.
Staff to donate plant
materials and use
volunteers to install plants
to cover chain-link fencing
as part of the Team Up 2
Clean Up event on April
13, 2024.
CITY COUNCIL PRIORITIES
Quality of Life, Safety & Infrastructure
FISCAL IMPACT
The costs associated with the beautification measures discussed in this report are included below, as well as the status of funding:
Item Funding Status Amount
Paving and Parkway/Median
Landscaping: Woodruff Avenue
Pavement Rehabilitation Project.
Includes new monument sign north of
Foster Road.
Funded
$2,325,000
(paving);
$750,000
(landscaping)
UPDATE ON THE WOODRUFF AVENUE BEAUTIFICATION PLAN
MARCH 26, 2024
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Parkway and Tree Wells, New Trees Funded $25,000
Oversized Vehicle Parking - Signage
Purchase and Installation Funded $4,000
Code Enforcement – Chain Link
Fencing – Plants for Team Up 2 Clean
Up Event
Funded $2,000
Final Costs: $3,106,000
ATTACHMENTS
None