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Final Passage of Ordinance Amending Alameda Municipal Code Section 8 8.5 and 8 1.2 to Authorize the Public Works Director to Improve Safety and Visibility at Alameda Intersections. (Planning, Building and Transportation 4227287)
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CITY OF ALAMEDA ORDINANCE No.________
New Series
AMENDING ALAMEDA MUNICIPAL CODE SECTIONS 8-8.5 AND 8-1.2 TO AUTHORIZE THE PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR TO IMPROVE SAFETY AND VISIBILITY AT ALAMEDA INTERSECTIONS
In enacting this Section, the Alameda City Council finds as follows:
The Alameda General Plan Safety Element Policy SN-5 states that the City shall “prioritize public safety through the implementation of a Vision Zero policy to reduce annual pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities and serious injuries from collisions with faster moving vehicles and unsafe streets.”
The Alameda Municipal Code regulations must be maintained and updated to ensure the safety of its residents.
In 2018, the over sixty (60) people bicycling and walking were involved in collisions that were reported to the Alameda Police Department and two (2) collisions occurred in Alameda in which people lost their lives.
The National Association of City Transportation Officials state that increasing visibility at intersections results in reduced number and severity of collisions.
The California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices offers guidance that parking should be prohibited one stall length from the crosswalk at all intersections.
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ALAMEDA DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1: Section 8.5 Intersection Visibility Zones of Chapter VIII of the Alameda Municipal Code shall be amended as follows:
8-8.5 - Intersection Visibility Zones.
a. The Public Works Director is hereby authorized, based upon what generally accepted transportation engineering and planning standards indicate for the safety or adequate flow of all modes of transportation to designate Intersection Visibility Zones, in accordance with the CVC Section 22507(a), at or near any intersection. The Public Works Director shall cause to be installed and maintained signage and markings designating the restriction and the limit of the zone. Records shall be established and maintained detailing these locations and shall be available at the Public Works Department.
b. The Public Works Director is hereby authorized to prohibit parking within 20 feet of an intersection crosswalk or end of curb return at all intersections in Alameda. At signalized intersections, the Director is further authorized to prohibit parking within 30 feet on the near side of the intersection. The Director may authorize the placement of street furniture or bicycle parking facilities within 20 feet of an intersection crosswalk or curb return provided that the furniture or bicycle facilities do not significantly impair visibility for all modes of transportation.
Section 2: 8-1.2 Notice of Decisions of Chapter VIII of the Alameda Municipal Code shall be amended as follows:
8-1.2 - Notice of Decisions
Prior to executing decisions pursuant to his/her authority granted pursuant to Alameda Municipal Code subsections 8-2.2, 8-7.2, 8-7.3, 8-8.3, 8-8.11, 8-20.3, 8-20.4, 8-24.1(b), 8-27.3, and 12-12.1, the Public Works Director shall provide a written notice of his/her decision(s) to properties within three hundred (300') feet of the subject location and to as many other persons as he/she may deem advisable. The notice shall provide information on the appeal process.
Section 3. _If any section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of this ordinance if, for any reason, held to be invalid or unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the validity or constitutionality of the remaining portions of this ordinance. The City Council of the City of Alameda hereby declares that it would have passed this ordinance, and each section, subsections, clause, or phrase hereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses and phrases are declared to be invalid and unconstitutional.
Section 4. _This ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after the expiration of thirty (30) days from the date of its final passage.
_____________________________
Presiding Officer of the City Council
Attest:
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Lara Weisiger, City Clerk
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I, the undersigned, hereby certify that the foregoing Ordinance was duly and regularly adopted and passed by the Council of the City of Alameda in a regular meeting assembled on the 16th day of July, 2019, by the following vote to wit:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSENT:
ABSTENTIONS:
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the official seal of said City this 17th day of July, 2019.
_____________________
Lara Weisiger, City Clerk
City of Alameda
Approved as to form:
__________________________
Yibin Shen, City Attorney
City of Alameda