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SR-410-001 (2) ~ T" . tj/ {J..- 00/ /1-8 SEP 1 2 1989 GS:RF:DG: council Meeting: September 12, 1989 Santa Monica, California TO: The Mayor and city Council FROM: City staff SUBJECT: Approval of Resolution Establishing Hours to Open and Close Third street Promenade to Vehicular Traffic INTRODUCTION This staff report requests City Council adoption of a resolution establishing the vehicular traffic hours to open and close the Third street Promenade and provides requested information regarding the operation and circulation plan for the area. BACKGROUND On May 9, 1989, the City council adopted an ordinance adding Section 3347c and amending Section 3612 of the Municipal Code to permit vehicular traffic on the Third street Promenade with a fifteen mile per hour speed limit. While establishing the ordinance, the city Council expressed its desire to defer the establishment of hours for opening and closing the Third street Promenade until information regarding the proposed operations could be presented and reviewed to ensure the pedestrian character of the Promenade. DISCUSSION The City Council reviewed and approved the conceptual and design development plans for the Third street Promenade presented by the /1~1J - 1 - SEP 1 2 1989 .. ' consultant team of ROMA Design Group and Halcyon Ltd. in 1987. At that time, the consultant team described their intent of creating an inviting, exciting and protective pedestrian environment within the 80 foot width of the Third street Promenade. The bulk of this 80 foot width consists of 30 foot sidewalks on either side of the Third street Promenade framing a 20 foot roadway. As a point of comparison, these sidewalks are nearly twice as wide as those located on Ocean Avenue. Based upon a traffic volume analysis by Kaku and Associates it was determined that the proposed roadway would have minor volumes and serve principally to aid circulation to and from nearby parking structure facilities. Curb radii, established by roadway geometries, were designed for a 15 mile per hour speed limit. In addition, five islands were designed in the roadway to encourage pedestrians to freely cross the roadway and meander in east-west directions, in addition to the designated north-south promenading zones. A dominant concern of the consultant team was to create expansive promenading areas without replicating the overwhelming width of the old Santa Monica Mall. Therefore, pedestrian patterns of local Santa Monica gathering places and commercial districts were analyzed by Halcyon Ltd. In addition, the consultants researched data and case studies from the public space planning firm of Project for public spaces, Inc. to ensure the proposed activity zone model for the Third street Promenade would provide the desired pedestrian environment. - 2 - - t . Consequently, the Promenade design included a basic cross-section of the 80 foot right-of-way which identified nearly 60 feet of designated areas for continuous and exclusive pedestrian use while accentuating the dynamic nature of a gathering space with limited auto access, outdoor dining, Pavilion buildings, islands featuring art works, diverse landscaping and abundant seating. Automobile Access in other Former Pedestrian Malls City staff and Bayside District staff surveyed ten other analogous cities which have either altered a former pedestrian mall or devised plans to encourage additional pedestrians flow on its core downtown street. Pratt street, Hartford, CT: The proposed Pratt street reconstruction has many similarities with the Third street Promenade including fluctuating roadway schedule of opening and closing. originally closed to automobiles twenty years ago it is being reopened to vehicles according to the following schedule: Open in the morning and afternoon, but closed to vehicular traffic during the mid-day. In addition it will open at night to automobile traffic. Oak Park, Ill: Their former pedestrian mall was recently reopened after fourteen years without automobile traffic. The two very long blocks have continuous auto use, some transit traffic and very limited parking. pedestrian volume has increased considerably since the reopening of the roadway to vehicles. - 3 - Pacific Mall, Santa Cruz, CA: This pedestrian area consists of a winding, continuously open one-way street with some parking along its side. Pedestrians are restricted to ten-foot walkways next to the storefronts. Vehicle traffic is not considered an impediment to achieving a very accessible pedestrian environment. 16th street Transit Mall, Denver, co: The cross-section of this mall is similar to the Third street Promenade in configuration and design. The eighty foot wide mall has a twenty foot roadway and is continuously open to exclusively accommodate buses carrying nearly 90,000 people daily. Despite this heavy volu~e, pedestrians are uninhibited and move freely due to the narrow twenty foot roadway and thirty foot sidewalks. Oxnard, CA: This pedestrian mall was reopened several years ago as a winding roadway. Since the reopening it is estimated that the street averages approximately three times more foot traffic and a better level of security has been realized. Oxnard's roadway is never closed. Galveston, TX: Following an unsuccessful experience with a pedestrian mall , Galveston tried operating a trolley. It was considered useful by local residents but extremely poor ridership recently canceled the program. Galveston is currently completing a plan to reopen the street to automobile traffic with extra wide sidewalks. Nicollette Mall, Minneapolis, MN: This pedestrian mall is open to buses, taxis and emergency vehicles and is about six blocks long. The combination of no vehicular access and the elevated - 4 - skyways has resulted in far fewer pedestrians than anticipated by the design. Granview Mall, Vancouver, Be: This pedestrian mall is open to buses exclusively and is basically a transit mall. Pedestrian volume on the Granview Mall is actually less than either street running parallel to this transit mall. Lack of vehicular access is cited as a principal reason for the Mall's lack of success. Recommended Hours Based upon the integrity of the Promenade design, research by consul tants and input from the BDC Board and hundreds of area residents, customers, social service agencies and business persons, consensus was sought from all groups prior to recommending hours of operation to Council. Not unexpectedly, adversarial positions were advanced by groups desiring continuous automobile access, as well as those advocating the conflicting position of permanent prohibition of vehicles from the Third street Promenade. The majority of those consulted, however, understood the intent of the activity zones and felt that ample space was provided to a leisurely stroll down the Promenade, even during periods of auto access. The key periods during which most individuals and organizations felt auto access may present a conflict with pedestrians were periods when extremely high pedestrian volumes were anticipated, such as peak hours of movie theatre patronage, Farmers' Market days and popular mid-week luncheon hours. - 5 - What follows is an overview of those recommendations made by the Bayside District Corporation Board and the City retained traffic consultant Barton-Aschman Associates. Bayside District Corporation At their meeting of April 27, 1989, and after much discussion, the Bayside District corporation Board motioned and unanimously approved the following in regards to the roadway operation. "The Promenade should be closed to automobiles during peak pedestrian hours between the hours of 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., 6 days a week and all day on Wednesday Farmers Market day. We encourage city staff to explore flexibility in the hours for the Promenade in which special cons ideration should be given to special events, like the Grand opening and seasonal changes as they are necessary" At this meeting the Board also requested the scheduled hours of operation be reviewed regularly by the BDC staff and the Operations Subcommittee, with any proposed recommendations for changes being forwarded through the BDC Board to the city IS Parking and Traffic Engineer. Barton-Aschman Associates, Inc. The City also retained the traffic engineering consultant firm of Barton-Aschman Associates to examine several traffic related issues, including the hours of operation of the Promenade roadway. Although the study is in draft form, conversations with - 6 - Barton-Aschman Associates, Inc. indicates they recommend the Promenade be closed to vehicular traffic between the hours of 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.1 Monday through FridaYI and 12 noon to 6:00 p.m. on Saturday. Additionally, their recommendation will be to close the Promenade on Wednesday (Farmer's Market Day) and remain closed on Friday and saturday evenings to 9:00 p.m. once the theater and restaurant developments are completed and the activity level on the Promenade increases. The completed Third Street Promenade Pedestrian study will he submitted to city Council through an Information Item within the next few weeks. Numerous charts, tables and graphs are being finalized for inclusion into the study. With input from the consultant, BDC Board, numerous other interested groups, and City Council comments received at the May 9, 1989 Council meeting, staff recommends that the Third Street Promenade initially be closed to vehicular traffic during the following hours: Everyday (except Wednesday) 10:00 a.m. to 4 p.m. closed all day Special events and promotions would further lind t auto access, and upon the opening of all Promenade movie theaters extended hours of roadway closure can take place. City staff and the Bayside District Board will monitor and review these initial hours of roadway operation over a six-month (6) period and return to Council to report on how it is working. At - 7 - that time, the hours of roadway opening and closing can be adjusted if necessary. RECOMMENDATION It is respectfully recommended that the City Council adopt the attached resolution establishing hours to open and close the Third street Promenade to vehicular traffic. Prepared by: Ron Fuchiwaki, Parking and Traffic Engineer Darrell George, Senior Administrative Analyst Attachment: Resolution traffhrs - 8 - RESOLUTION NUMBER 7905 (CCS) A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA ESTABLISHING THE HOURS WHEN THE THIRD STREET PROMENADE WILL BE OPEN TO VEHICULAR TRAFFIC WHEREAS, Section 3612 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code authorizes City Council to establish by resolution the hours when the Third Street Promenade will be open to vehicular traffic: NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA DOES RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The Third street Promenade shall be open to vehicular traffic except during the times indicated below: a) Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday from lO:OO am to 4:30 pm; b) Wednesday, from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm; c) From Thanksgiving Day to New Year1s Day the Third street Promenade shall be closed Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday from ll:OO am to 3:00 pm and on Wednesday from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm. SECTION 2. The City Clerk shall certify to the adoption of this Resolution, and thenceforth and thereafter the same shall be in full force and affect. APPROVED AS TO FORM: ~~~~ ROBERT M. MYERS City Attorney thd . , Adopted and approved this 12th day of September, 1989. \L/~ Wyor I hereby certify that the foregoing Resolution No. 7905(CCS) was duly adopted by the City council of the city of Santa Monica at a meeting thereof held on September 12, 1989 by the following Council vote: Ayes: Councilmembers: Abdo, Genser, Jennings, Ka tz , Mayor Zane Noes: Councilmembers: Reed Abstain: Councilmembers: None Absent: Councilmembers: Finkel ATTEST: L~. ~ - city CI~k Adopted and approved this 12th day of September, 1989. Da-, 1 ~ I hereby certify that the foregoing Resolution No. 7905(CCS) was duly adopted by the city council of the city of Santa Monica at a meeting thereof held on September 12, 1989 by the following Council vote: Ayes: Councilmembers: Abdo, Genser, Katz, Reed, Mayor Zane Noes: Councilmembers: Jennings Abstain: Councilmembers: None Absent: Councilmembers: Finkel ATTEST: L~p~ .--' ~ City cleJjk