CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council on Thursday reached a consensus to begin moving forward with turning Pomo Road into a one-way street in order to address safety issues, with the school district lending its support.
At the council’s previous meeting Mayor Jeri Spittler had asked for the matter to be brought forward.
Local resident Bruno Sabatier made a presentation to the council outlining safety concerns about Pomo Road, which many elementary school children travel on the way to Pomo Elementary School. About 600 children attend the school.
He pointed to issues regarding visibility, vehicle speed and the street’s narrowness.
Sabatier, who takes his son up the road every day to school, said there is a steep incline where a driver can’t see to the other side. He said he also sees cars going too fast down the road.
“From my personal experience I see a lot of things that scare me,” Sabatier said.
Konocti Unified School District reduced its busing services last May so that children who live within a certain proximity of schools aren’t picked up by the bus but, instead, walk. Sabatier cited that change as another concern, since more children are now walking through the area.
Pomo Road is only about 18 feet wide at most, compared to nearby Acacia Street, which his 33 feet wide, Sabatier reported.
He said conditions are particularly dangerous in the morning, when children arrive at school, and again in the afternoon, when school gets out. Children walk alongside of the road, with vehicles also parking on the roadside.
Sabatier, who said he had spoken to many people in the area about his concerns – including neighbors along the road – said he believed an accident was likely to happen, and he read a note from the school’s principal that also voiced her concern.
Sabatier asked the council to make Pomo Road a one-way street for the sake of safety.
City Engineer Bob Galusha said the road had been studied before, with a previous proposal to make it one way. He said that previous effort didn’t get off the ground after it failed to get grant funding, and that the school made some improvements on Acacia Street.
Galusha cautioned that making Pomo Road one way could impact the city’s traffic circulation, and that when turning a street one-way there usually is another street which also is made one-way to serve both directions of traffic.
A 2009 study of the Pomo Road had proposed rerouting buses as a safety solution, Galusha said.
While the road is narrow, it’s not unlike many other roads in the city, he said. Work was done on the road in 2009; before then, it was in very bad shape.
Galusha told the council that there would need to be a process that’s followed if the road is converted to one-way.
He acknowledged safety is a concern. “We’re trying to make those improvements when we can.”
Galusha said he reviewed crash history for Pomo Road. “Bottom line is, there has never been an accident in that area,” and because of that, if the city tried to pursue a grant program, it wouldn’t have the data to justify receiving the funding.
Dana Moore, Konocti Unified’s director of maintenance and operations, told the council that it’s possible that as many as 900 students could eventually attend Pomo Elementary School.
He said he and the district were in favor of making Pomo Road one-way. He said the school district board – which discussed the matter at its Wednesday night meeting – would consider the change a major improvement.
County Supervisor Jeff Smith encouraged the council to move forward with converting the road to one-way, and not to worry about turning any other street one-way to balance the traffic.
He said it was common sense that the improvements needed to take place, and he urged the council to take action and not to send it to the city’s traffic safety committee, which he considered an unnecessary step.
“Let’s just do it,” Smith said.
Councilman Joey Luiz agreed with Smith about not sending the matter to the committee.
“It’s just a huge amount of traffic there everyday,” said Luiz, adding that it was only going to get worse.
He said he wanted to direct staff to go forward with the process to make it a one-way street.
Council member Denise Loustalot acknowledged that the road has been a concern for a very long time in the community.
“It does need to be addressed. I think it should be addressed soon,” she said, adding that there needed to be a public notice and an implementation date.
Spittler wanted the process to move forward immediately, and asked the council for consensus to get the conversion done, preferably before school lets out for the summer.
City Manager Joan Phillipe reminded Spittler that there is a public notification process required by law that the city must go through first. Once she knows what will be required, Phillipe said she could come back to the council, which at that time could take formal action.
Galusha said he could enlist the assistance of Phil Dow of the Lake County/City Area Planning Council on the project.
“We have to develop the plan first and go through the process,” which will include notifications to people living in the surrounding area, said Galusha. He estimated the process could take about three months.
Spittler said she didn’t want to see the matter put off, as it was creating a city liability. “I’d like to see some real attention put on this as a priority.”
Council member Gina Fortino Dickson said she also wanted action, but she wanted to make sure they were not putting the city at risk by not following the proper protocol.
“I want to do it right,” Fortino Dickson said.
The council reached consensus to direct staff to move forward with beginning the process.
In other news, Councilman Joey Luiz told the council he wanted to bring back a potential action item regarding Sheriff Frank Rivero, who is up for a proposed vote of no confidence by the Board of Supervisors next Tuesday, March 19. The board also will consider seeking Rivero’s resignation.
Luiz, a former Rivero supporter who now has his own concerns about the sheriff and his performance, said he would put together a proposal for the council to consider making its own statement about Rivero.
“When something is wrong we need to make that statement to make it right,” Luiz said.
Also during the meeting, which ran just over an hour and a half, the council discussed Smart Meters but took no action, and at Phillipe’s suggestion agreed to hold over the discussion of awarding the contract for a new city new Web site to the March 28 meeting.
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