To: MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
From: TED SEMAAN, PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR
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DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING THE CITY’S LIVING STREETS POLICY, THE BEACH CITIES HEALTH DISTRICT’S STREETS FOR ALL PROGRAM AND RELATED GRANT OPPORTUNITIES, AND THE PREPARATION OF A LIVING STREETS DESIGN MANUAL
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This item is brought forward in response to the City Council’s Strategic Plan objective to expand the “Streets for All” program by re-engaging with the Beach Cities Health District (BCHD) and exploring grant opportunities. The “Streets for All” campaign is an effort by the BCHD to outreach to and educate residents on pedestrian and traffic safety and to make the public more aware of the benefits and differences brought about by a “Living Streets” policy approach to transportation planning, design and construction. The Council’s previous work on this topic includes the City’s adoption of Resolution No. 1310-095 in 2013. This resolution adopted Administrative Policy No 12.02, “Living Street Guideline and Policy” meant to incorporate complete streets language into the City’s planning documents and to establish guiding principles and practices for transportation related projects. A copy of the resolution and the administrative policy can be found at: <http://laserweb.redondo.org/weblink/0/doc/240817/Page1.aspx>
The City has, since the policy adoption, robustly implemented Living Streets principals into its day to day transportation planning, CIP project and operations activities. Examples of this include various initiatives and continuing programs such as:
• Street Tree Planting Program.
• School Area Traffic Control Improvements Program.
• South Bay Bicycle Master Plan Implementation.
• Active Transportation Grant Acquisition - Ripley/Grant/Redondo Beach Blvd Corridor.
• Pedestrian sidewalk and crossing improvements at multiple locations
• Transit Center Project.
• Artesia and Aviation Corridors Area Plan.
• Green Streets Grant award and project implementation.
• Bus Bench and Shelter Improvement Program.
Many of these efforts have been implemented or are in construction, while many more in a planning and/or design phase and are yet to be constructed. As such, it is only a matter time before the City’s infrastructure will more noticeably reflect the merits and benefits of this adopted policy.
However, there is still work that remains undone. Prior to the pandemic, City staff was working with BCHD to develop a Living Streets Design Manual customized for the Beach Cities. The manual is intended to establish City standards for both public and private projects that impact the right of way, set new benchmarks for performance evaluation and offer examples of how to implement the goals and objectives. Staff is seeking Council direction to finalize this document at a staff level, take public input via the Public Works or other appropriate Commissions, and bring it to the City Council for adoption. Once adopted, staff would work with BCHD to develop training curriculum and schedules to educate pertinent staff on the content and use of the policy and design manual.
The City has obtained a number of grants recently to fund projects that will allow Living Street improvements to be incorporated into upcoming work. Staff also notes the adopted funding for a grant consultant, whose tasks will include identifying and optimizing grant eligibility for additional Living Streets initiatives.
BACKGROUND
The Streets for All campaign, is a multi-pronged initiative focused on street safety education and awareness, and the promotion of livability enhancement in the built environment to support active transportation and engineer safety in the streets. This work started with BCHD’s Blue Zones Project work in 2010, and recent iterations of this work have been called Streets for All. Some of the historical milestones include:
• BCHD’s Blue Zones Project worked with Redondo Beach to adopt the Beach Cities Livability Plan in Fall 2011, the South Bay Bicycle Master Plan in Fall 2011, and the Living Streets Policy in October 2013.
• With support from the BCHD’s Livability Committee, Redondo Beach was designated as a Bicycle Friendly Community at the Bronze level by the League of American Bicyclists in November 2016.
• In October 2016, the BCHD hosted a Streets for all Rally day and distributed lawn signs along Prospect Avenue to promote street safety education messages.
• In December 2017, the BCHD hosted a Streets for All education series with Dan Burden. The Day included Leadership Breakfast, a Streets for All City Staff Training, and a Community Design Workshop.
• Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach, in partnership with Southern California Association of Governments and BCHD, jointly applied and won a $277k Caltrans Partnership Planning Grant for a conceptual design (traffic and parking impacts) for multi-modal Aviation corridor plan and customized Living Streets Design Manuals for each city (2014-2018).
• In October 29, 2018, the three cities and BCHD convened for a Multi-Agency Study Session on the Draft Beach Cities Living Streets Design Manual.
The City has worked on innumerable traffic calming, CIP project, and transportation planning efforts in the last decade to integrate the principles and practices of Living Streets into its built environment. For instance, the Beryl Street improvement project, currently under construction, has incorporated sidewalk improvements, infiltration dry-wells, high visibility Class II bike lanes, and raised pedestrian bulb-outs into what was otherwise a simple street resurfacing project. Also, the City project to implement the bicycle masterplan is ready to go to bid, pending authorization from Caltrans who is the gatekeeper for the project’s CMAQ grant funding. This project will address bike and pedestrian improvements on Catalina Avenue, Knob Hill, and Beryl Street (west of Prospect) in addition to a number of others.
The City is working with Lawndale and LA County, through a $6.6M grant from Metro, to enhance the pedestrian and cyclist experience along the Redondo Beach Blvd corridor, which extends from El Camino College, to and beyond the Galleria mall and as far as the Ripley and Flagler intersection, where it will meet or have access to existing bike routes to the beach. Most recently, the South Bay Cities COG just approved in July 2022 a recommendation to amend an existing bike path improvement grant for the Inglewood and Grant area to include scope and funds to acquire additional right of way to enhance an active transportation hub at the corner. The conclusion is that there is significant grant funding available for this work and the City has and should continue to position itself to take advantage everywhere it can.
The Council’s decision to fund a grant consultant will go a long way towards providing expertise on the grants the City is best positioned to take advantage of to address both currently programmed project and new initiatives.
In the meantime, the City should work toward reviewing and adopting the draft Living Streets Design Manual prepared by BCHD and educating the staff in the Living Streets principles that will inform its work. Staff is seeking Council direction to finalize this document at a staff level, take public input via the Public Works or other appropriate Commission, and bring it to the City Council for adoption. Once adopted, staff would work with BCHD to develop training curriculum and schedules to educate pertinent staff on the content and use of the policy and design manual.
COORDINATION
Coordination of the City’s Living Street program is handled within the Public Works Department with input from the BCHD.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no direct cost associated with the recommended action.
APPROVED BY:
Mike Witzansky, City Manager