The Port Townsend City Council’s July 5 meeting centered around a potentially wide-reaching project to calm speeds by replacing double-lane streets with single-lane two-way “edge lane roads”, following a revealing Public Works experiment performed on Blaine Street.

The meeting began quietly as council recused itself into executive session for 15 minutes to discuss the legal risks of a proposed action. Upon council’s return, Deputy Mayor Amy Howard as chair opened the meeting up for general public comment.

Stephen Schumacher urged continued attention to police staffing issues.  Again seeing only one other unmasked face in the room, he summarized how much-cited CDC mask effectiveness claims are based on cherry-picked data, exposed by a new Lancet review of the full data set showing masks actually increased cases, echoing randomized controlled trials finding masks provide no significant viral infection protection. Lying with statistics undergirds masking propaganda, obfuscating the fact that viruses freely flow through and around conventional face coverings.

City Manager John Mauro responded to public comment by noting that the CDC recommends masking but it is not required, so people can make their own choices.

The first action item was a public hearing on Resolution 22-029 to adopt the 2023-2028 Six-year Transportation Improvement Program (STIP). Public Works Director Steve King explained that each year the city must submit its STIP to the State listing proposed projects and costs so they can be eligible for grants, since needs typically exceed available funding. This year’s STIP identified 47 projects costing $93 million. Councilors Ben Thomas and Aislinn Diamanti moved and seconded, then the resolution passed unanimously.

Idle Ban Again

In unfinished business, Ordinance 3292 banning 3+ minute vehicle idling on property open to the public came back for a second reading, having added emphatic intent language that:

The City Council encourages education rather than penalties in the enforcement of this Chapter, particularly for first offenses.

In public comment, Schumacher said he’s not thrilled about the freedom aspect of criminalizing what people do inside the privacy of their own cars. There are endless good reasons why someone might want to idle for more than 3 minutes to keep warm, recharge batteries, etc., and this measure disproportionately affects elderly and disabled people. It’s unlikely anyone will get charged given the numerous exceptions, but having victimless crime laws on the books is a dangerous practice that can lead to selective enforcement. Perhaps a health case could be made for restricting idling in congested areas like school pickup zones, but not elsewhere. He wished one of the student initiators could have attended council to advocate for their proposal.

Thomas echoed some of this comment, appreciating text added to clarify “the point of this is to educate not to penalize”; he still feels a little torn, but it’s great that kids are getting involved.

Councilor Monica MickHager felt likewise, thanking staff for hearing council discussion by adding a really nice ending sentence under Intent; she shared her surprise finding herself no longer idling while waiting for coffee now that she “got educated.”

Councilor Libby Wennstrom described similar educational benefits seen while waiting at ferries, dumpyards, and banks.

Howard related catching herself doing the same thing; she appreciates this now being in the forefront of her mind and hopes it will land in the forefront of others’ minds as a very small thing that can be done.

MickHager moved, Wennstrom seconded, and the finalized ordinance adding Chapter 10.08 to the PT Municipal Code passed unanimously. Howard drew laughs by quipping, “If the kids were here, they’d give it a round of applause.”

Staffing Resolutions

Several ordinances and resolutions were designed to beef up and reorganize staffing and its compensation:

• Ordinance 3293 replaces the Deputy Clerk (sharing the City Clerk’s meeting and records management duties) with a Public Records Officer (PRO) specializing in responding to increasing Public Records Requests and storing accessible digital records, allowing the City Clerk to focus on meeting management. The timing is good while both Clerk and legal assistant positions are open. Councilor Owen Rowe asked whether Clerk and PRO would be cross-trained, which City Attorney Heidi Greenwood answered affirmatively. Rowe moved to waive council rules to allow approval at first meeting, Thomas seconded while thanking staff for thinking outside the box, and the ordinance passed unanimously.
• Resolution 22-030 further reorganizes by replacing the Finance and Budget Analyst (making $78,090-$99,817 per year) with an Accounting Manager ($83,516-$116,295), and the Public Works Project Manager ($78,090-$99,817) with a Civil Engineer II ($85,706-$102,846). MickHager asked the difference between a Civil and City Engineer, so King clarified that a Civil Engineer II is a licensed engineer with a low number of years of experience, Civil Engineer III has more experience, and City Engineer includes managerial competence. Wennstrom noticed the “pretty big” salary range change, so asked about the budget impact if the city hires at the top end for both of these; Finance Director Connie Anderson responded that increased levels of responsibility justified that, and vacancies this year are helping to cover amounts in 2023. MickHager appreciated the great job restructuring and moved to approve. Diamanti seconded, and the resolution passed unanimously.
• Resolution 22-031 authorized a 2022-2023 Teamsters Union contract for police wages and benefits, as negotiated by Anderson, Human Resources Officer Pamela Martinez, and Chief Thomas Olson (all present for this agenda item). Mauro said collective bargaining agreements are complex, so he was glad to have this team on it. Anderson said the emphasis was on retention and recruitment. Wennstrom noted wages changes start July 1, while benefits became effective January 1. MickHager moved, Thomas seconded, and the resolution passed unanimously.
• Resolution 22-032 authorizes an accounting contract up to $35,000 with CPA firm TDJCPA. Anderson noted the city was missing a Finance Manager since last summer until a replacement was hired in January and Anderson arrived in March, so TDJCPA would help her fill that gap, put in controls, and build her team going forward. Wennstrom asked if this was included in the budget and would be ongoing. Anderson answered it was not in the budget, but the money is already covered by a position not yet filled; whether to renew will be re-evaluated, since TDJCPA provides a lot of services to fill in gaps for small communities. Rowe moved, MickHager seconded, and the resolution passed unanimously.
• Long-line road stripe repainting was contracted out to the low bidder despite being $25,000 over budget due to pent-up demand and significantly higher fuel and paint prices. Wennstrom moved to proceed with reduced project scope per staff recommendation, Thomas seconded, and council approved unanimously.

ADU Parking Relief Delayed

New Planning Director Emma Bolin turned it over to Planning Manager Judy Surber to report back about amendents to PT Municipal Code 17.72 requested by council on March 14 to eliminate ADU parking requirements. The Planning Commission asked to broaden the scope of parking-related changes to include boarding houses, multifamily homes, B&Bs, etc.

Rowe and Diamanti were concerned how slight a delay this would be for their ADU priority, and agreed that anything arising that might bog down the process should be skipped. Thomas wanted a time limit, and Diamanti suggested 3 months.

Wennstrom wondered whether parking places should always be required to be paved with gravel and asphalt; the goal was to make it easier for existing dwellings to add an ADU, but current parking requirements make that harder.

MickHager proposed just keeping it focused on ADUs and doing that well. Diamanti responded that she understands staff’s preference is to combine changes as a more effective use of resources, which Surber confirmed. Howard was disinclined to stop the Planning Commision from doing this work.

Wennstrom moved to task the Planning Commission to explore other parking code amendments in tandem with ADUs with a request to get back to council by November 2022. MickHager seconded and the council concurred unanimously.

Edge Lane Roads Presentation

Public Works Director King and his staff explained Edge Lane Roads (ELRs) as a tool to address public concerns about street repair conditions and traffic calming.

 

ELRs turn narrow roads where folks often walk into explicitly single lane roads, forcing cars to slow and negotiate any obstacles like oncoming traffic, pedestrians, bicycles, and deer.  They work better as two-way roads to make folks more cognizant of slowing down for safer passing. Installation costs are less than adding pedestrian/bicycle shoulders or concrete sidewalks.

Most important for preservation of our pavement, with streets decaying from the outside in, ELRs give the remaining pavement a longer life, as vehicles no longer drive on the edge of streets.

Edge Lane Road Experiment on Blaine Street

Public Works installed an experimental Edge Lane Road on two blocks of Blaine Street between Tyler and Adams at the cost of $1,000 plus $15,000 for initial engineering, outreach, and research.

One thing Public Works would have done differently would be to put the doorhangers up before the temporary lane was put on Blaine.  But there were good discussions afterwards and better understanding after explaining this is now just a single-lane road.

Neighbors shared a variety of comments and observations, such as:

• Why do this for an area that already has a sidewalk (not much used because it ends)?
• One of the neighbors saw 4 times that a car sped up to get ahead of a pedestrian.
• Another neighbor said speeds are now higher (perhaps not borne by data readings).

Speed monitoring revealed some curious and troubling results: average speeds dropped slightly inside the ELR Test Area, but grew substantially a block away, maxing out at 75.3 MPH!

King recommended keeping ELRs on streets with volume lower than 2,000 trips a day, at least to start, focusing on high pedestrian streets needing shoulder restoration. Due to the relationship between speed and severity of accidents, there’s big drop-off of dangers at 20 MPH compared to 25 MPH. Edge Lane Roads are a new tool, and staff appreciates feedback.

Edge Lane Roads – Public Comments

In public comments, Dan Burden said he went out three times to record what people were doing and what they thought, which was all positive. But what people saw was no change in speed, which surprised him. What’s wanted with traffic calming is to bring down the higher range of speeds. Burden offered great compliments to staff, since less that 1% of cities are doing this.

Schumacher thanked staff for opening his mind to these new ideas, but he’s concerned about arterials being deprecated. He related his experience attending a traffic planning meeting in the 90s where experts advised raising the speed limit on arterials like 19th Street to match the natural speed most people were driving, but the police chief vetoed the idea. There should be a balance to keep things moving along the arterials while making the backwaters safer. He’s also baffled by the 85% percentile speeds on Blaine from Quincy to Madison going up from 37 MPH (!) to 40 MPH (!!) right outside the ELR test region, since he hardly ever sees people drive more than 5 MPH above the speed limit in town.

Scott Walker said he’s generally supportive of the idea. In Austrialia, outback highways are one lane with shoulders, so if you see a truck coming, you move to the side, which works better than two lanes. He emphasized that paint is not a substitute for a physical separator. Blaine is a highly used street to get to Chetzemoka, so folks shouldn’t be asked to walk in the streets. Howard Street from Hastings to 35th has a huge amount of bicycles and pedestrians.

Edge Lane Roads – Council Comments

Thomas wondered what areas in town have more than 2,000 car trips per day; King replied that Landes Street by Safeway gets that. Thomas also wondered if striping would lead to more parking in ELRs.

Diamanti and Wennstrom asked about the $15,000 engineering cost; King replied that was the budgeted internal cost as if it came from an external engineering department.

Wennstrom asked about the 75 MPH maximum speed detected during the test. King replied it was an outlier, but staff was shocked and checked the equipment was working correctly.

Councilors brainstormed other parts of town they’d like to install ELRs, springing off of staff’s recommended list.

MickHager was glad Landes was taken out, but would like ELRs added in the areas around Castle Hill, Howard Street, McPherson Street, and Hancock Street near Memory Lane.

Wennstrom suggested one on Sheridan Street between Hastings and Umatilla. Rowe suggested around Cherry and Redwood Streets; he supports continuing with this and hopes it does become something accepted in town.

Thomas asked whether these are as good as a two-lane road with bike lanes on each side for safe bicycle usage. King replied that depends on the specific situation and condition of the shoulders; for streets like F Street it’s important to have separated bike lanes per Walker’s comment.

MickHager said she’s for this idea, and was very surprised that she didn’t get one positive response from anybody in her community! She wonders how to spread ELRs diversely to the community out into places like Castle Hill and North Beach, because most of the sites on the list are in the older part of town. She thinks people could get used to them if they were put in popular roads like 14th Street.  

MickHager continued jokingly that she’s glad “you’re going to lower the speed limit to 20 miles an hour; please could we do that on all our streets? That’s how I feel about it. My family does not talk to me anymore, because that’s how I feel about it. They think I’m crazy, but I’m not!”

Wennstrom said that having cars parked on the side of streets in residential neighborhoods helps with traffic calming. She noted that 80% bicyclists on San Juan Avenue ride on the sidewalks rather than on the bike lanes. She laughed in incredulity that, “Wow, we took out all this parking and built these big huge bike lanes, and right on the sidewalk!”

Diamanti said that feedback has been a lot more favorable than the infrastructure committee was afraid of when they first started talking about ELRs. She thinks it’s a really smart option and a chance to be leaders.

Howard joshed that “she sincerely hopes whoever was driving 75 was experiencing some sort of an emergency, and not having a temper tantrum because we forced them to do something new.” She did try driving it herself, and the hardest part was the signage, which was too small if you were driving, so you had to slow down to look at it.

Howard added that the biggest problem is Americans are fiercely individualistic and try to get their car in front of others’, so we need to make this a community culture thing where we share our streets and make them accessible to everyone, which should be part of the messaging. She would like it if ELRs discourage giant delivery trucks: “Maybe narrowing it they’ll have a harder time and won’t use that one as much, preserving that pavement quite a bit.”

Wennstrom concluded that “it’s an educational opportunity. I remember, when we were first talking about putting in roundabouts, the screaming and yelling… and now people have pretty much got the feel for the roundabouts and see the value. So getting past that initial ‘whoa, that’s scary and weird,’ and some familiarity before it happens in your neighborhood, I think is a great idea.”

Closing Reports

Deputy Mayor Howard announced her election to the Board of Directors of the Association of Washington Cities.

City Manager Mauro reported about recruiting clerk, public records, and police officers. The city’s 2023 Workplan Retreat is being held Monday, July 18, 10am-4pm at the Northwest Maritime Center, and any member of the public is free to attend. The city is part of an electric network consortium getting a $4 million grant to build up fast chargers for electric vehicles.

Mauro ran through updates on large capital projects including Discovery Road, Kearney Street, Lawrence Street, Chetzemoka kitchen shelter, library, golf course, and optimizing City Hall for comfort and efficiency.