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Jim McCann - City of Mill Valley
Mill Valley City Manager Responds Positively To Residents' Concerns About The Miller Ave Plan
With a flurry of posts on Nextdoor, emails sent by community organizations to their numerous members, and local blog posts, word spread that the Miller Avenue Streetscape Plan includes a provision to shorten the right lane and eliminate the right turn lane on outbound Miller Avenue leading to Almonte Blvd. Upon hearing the news, many Mill Valley residents were not happy. Organizations and individuals sent comments to the City of Mill Valley representatives expressing their concerns.
Background:
Under the adopted Miller Avenue Streetscape Plan, outbound Miller Avenue through the Marsh (referred to as the Marsh “Room” in the plan) will have its lanes reduced from two to one at roughly the middle of the Tam High football field. In addition, the plan eliminates the large radius right-turn lane at Almonte Blvd. and provides the right-turn within the single through lane. Moreover, the plan weaves bicycle traffic from the right hand side of outbound Miller Ave. to the left hand side to allow bicyclists to turn left from outbound Miller Ave. to the multi-use pathway along the marsh.
Click here to view a diagram of the Miller Avenue Signage and Striping Plan at the intersection of Miller Ave. and Almonte Blvd.
Locals, who frequent the area, believe that implementation of such changes would increase congestion for all traffic heading from the City of Mill Valley to the back of Tam High, the Almonte Neighborhood, Tam Junction and Hwy 101 and worsen safety conditions. They asked City representatives to revise the Streetscape Plan and retain the full length of the existing right turn lane on outbound Miller Avenue that leads to Almonte Blvd.
Mill Valley City Manager Responds:
Mill Valley City Manager Jim McCann swiftly responded to residents’ concerns and sent out the below email. (Please scroll down to read his message.)
According to Jim McCann, he and the City of Mill Valley representatives have heard residents’ concerns and plan to schedule a neighborhood meeting to discuss the issues and options and find a practical and positive solution to the circulation needs in the Marsh "Room" of the Miller Avenue Streetscape Plan. Apparently the Marsh "Room" portion of the plan is not scheduled to be implemented until Spring of 2017 and, therefore, there is time to discuss concerns, explore options and find an acceptable resolution.
Most residents were pleased with Jim McCann’s prompt and cordial response and found it to be the beginning of a positive dialogue with the City of Mill Valley. They stated that they were looking forward to the upcoming community meeting and were hopeful that City officials would follow through with McCann’s assurances. They also expressed an expectation that the “good and practical solution” and “acceptable resolution”, which Jim McCann wrote about, would retain the full lengths of both outbound Miller Ave lanes that residents currently rely on for optimal traffic flow.
Message from Mill Valley City Manager Jim McCann:
"Hello neighbors,
I’ve received copies of a number of emails raising concern with the plan to modify the Almonte Blvd/Miller Avenue intersection in conjunction with our Miller Avenue Streetscape Project.
Let me be very clear: we hear your concerns and want to discuss the issues and options with you to find a practical and positive resolution to the circulation needs in this area. Be assured that no change to this intersection is imminent. In fact this portion of the City’s Miller Avenue improvement project is not scheduled to occur until spring of 2017—we have time to discuss concerns, explore options and find an acceptable resolution.
Also, please be assured that the City Council is extremely concerned with traffic congestion conditions and is aggressively pursuing multiple efforts to diminish traffic congestion.
As you may know, the Mill Valley City Council has been studying the options for improvement of the two-mile stretch of Miller Avenue for a number of years. The City Council adopted a plan for the improvement in 2011 and authorized construction earlier this year. However, since the Masterplan was adopted, some important things have changed. We all know that we have experienced increased traffic congestion in and around Mill Valley including along this corridor and into the Tam Valley area and along Shoreline Highway. The City Council and staff have spent tremendous time and energy in evaluating causes of congestion and have identified dozens of options to reduce congestion and improve travel times in the community. We have and are implementing these congestion relief improvements and working on details of others now. Clearly, you and your neighbors raise a good point: consideration of the change in traffic congestion as it relates to this stretch of the Miller Streetscape Plan is needed.
Reducing congestion is a City Council priority.
Therefore, I would like to invite you and your neighbors to join us to discuss the current plans for the Miller/Almonte intersection and ideas for improvement to ensure that our efforts do not exacerbate congestion in this area. I am certain that practical options exist to maintain the access and ease of movement you have emphasized while improving safety conditions in the area. Again, we have time to evaluate this and find good solutions.
We will provide notice of a neighborhood meeting in the next few weeks to pursue this important issue. In the meantime, please be assured that the City of Mill Valley has heard your earnest concerns and is determined to work together to find good and practical solutions.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us, we will be in touch with you soon.
Best regards,
-Jim
Jim McCann
City Manager
City of Mill Valley
(415) 464-7085"