Blog Post < Previous | Next >
Bruce Corcoran
Peer Review of Traffic Study Validates Concerns of Strawberry Residents
The peer review of the W-Trans Traffic Study for the Bently Holdings application for the proposed ‘medical office use’ at #1 and #2 Belvedere Place in Strawberry (the office complex above In N Out Burger) validates residents’ long-standing concerns about the inaccuracy and inadequacy of that study.
Among other things, the peer reviewer concludes that W-Trans used a very basic “planning level” analysis, but should have conducted a more comprehensive “operations level” analysis.
As a result, the generalized assumptions built into W-Trans’s computer model do not reflect the existing heavily congested operating conditions of our intersections and roadways. A more accurate traffic study would require additional direct field analysis on-site, rather than primary reliance on hypothetical analysis in a computer lab.
You can find the peer review by clicking here:
https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/themarinpost/do...
However, in my opinion, the peer review also provides additional evidence of the utter ineptness of the County’s planning and approval processes.
County planners, Planning Commissioners, and Supervisors did not conduct their own research. They merely accepted the W-Trans Traffic Study verbatim and without question, when all of them should have known better. In short, they failed to do their jobs.
Failure to perform their jobs has ramifications far beyond the unincorporated community of Strawberry. A project of this magnitude, which generates an additional 1,200 vehicle trips per day, will impact every city, town, and community along the heavily congested Highway 101 corridor.
Cities and towns with their own town councils and planning departments should be concerned and on guard about County’s ineptness and what is happening in Strawberry because our traffic congestion issues are linked together. Residents of your communities must drive through Strawberry, too, as they travel to and from and along the freeway.
Bear in mind that one ill-conceived project in Strawberry can negate all of the benefits of traffic reduction measures implemented by cities and towns. For example, the additional 1,200 vehicle trips per day from this proposed project would largely off-set the benefits of Tiburon’s and Belvedere’s successful school bussing program.
Therefore, I urge cities and towns to take a more active role in expressing your concerns about projects in Strawberry (and other unincorporated areas) because the plain truth is that the Supervisors are not listening to the voices of Strawberry residents (or to the voices of residents in other unincorporated areas), but they have to listen to the concerns of other governmental entities.
If we want to solve our traffic congestion issues, then we all need to work together and coordinate our efforts. We can’t allow County’s ineptness to derail our progress.
So, where do things stand at this point in the approval process?
To date, Caltrans, the City of Mill Valley, the citizens of Strawberry, and now the peer reviewer all question the accuracy and adequacy of the W-Trans Traffic Study.
Nevertheless, based on their past actions and expressions of subjective personal opinions about medical office use, we have no idea what the members of the Board of Supervisors will decide at the December 15, 2015 hearing. Although their motives are unclear, the Supervisors seem determined to approve this application despite the overwhelming factual evidence and reasons to deny the project.
Recall from my previous articles about the Bently Holdings application that:
- Medical office use always has been specifically prohibited at #1 and #2 Belvedere Place by the 1984 Strawberry Hill Master Plan, the 1996 Precise Development Plan, and a deed restriction based on concerns about a 3-fold increase in trip generation compared to current general office use.
- County planners were directed by the Board of Supervisors to coordinate with Caltrans about the appropriate scope of traffic studies, but they failed to do so prior to the Planning Commission hearing.
- On a 6 – 1 vote, the Planning Commissioners recommended approval of the Bently Holdings application without receiving and reviewing copies of the W-Trans Traffic Study, which is the key document for this application. Only Commissioner Don Dickenson had the good judgment to vote “No.”
- Supervisor Rice, Supervisor Kinsey, and Supervisor Arnold were prepared to approve the project immediately even though we had informed all of the Supervisors in advance that the Planning Commissioners had failed to do their job of reviewing the W-Trans Traffic Study. After further discussion, the Supervisors voted to continue the hearing
- Caltrans and the City of Mill Valley each requested re-evaluations of the W-Trans Traffic Study and additional studies.
- The applicant, Bently Holdings, has repeatedly and steadfastly told the Supervisors that it will not spend any more money on a peer review or additional studies. Regardless, the Supervisors voted to continue the hearing again to give the applicant more time to reconsider.
- A third party, Marin General Hospital, which is neither the applicant nor a current tenant, but which would like to rent all of the available space for medical office use, stepped forward with a $20,000 offer to fund the peer review. Who will fund the additional studies requested by Caltrans and the City of Mill Valley remains unclear. The Supervisors voted to continue the hearing for a third time.
- I subsequently learned that Len Rifkind, the attorney representing Marin General Hospital, has contributed $750 to Supervisor Rice’s re-election campaign. Marin General Hospital, which wants to expand its operations into southern Marin, is located in Supervisor Rice’s District 2. This close tie between Mr. Rifkind and Supervisor Rice led me to write my October 30, 2015 Marin Post article entitled “Can Strawberry Get a Fair Hearing before the Board of Supervisors?”
The Bently Holdings case is the epitome of ineptness and should be a rallying cry for change of leadership at the County. All of the Supervisors should be embarrassed that other government entities have to intervene to correct the County’s errors. But are the Supervisors embarrassed? Frankly, I’m not sure they are because they have become unresponsive and emboldened by doing as they please with impunity. Consequently, we must continue to press for change.
May I suggest one more thing? The peer review by Traffic Works, LLC is very instructive for anyone who would like to learn about the proper procedures for conducting a fair and balanced traffic study. It shows why a traffic study conducted by a consulting firm selected by and paid by the applicant may be biased and unreliable. The traffic data can be manipulated, even within the boundaries of “acceptable” industry standards, to achieve pre-determined results.
In particular, the Traffic Works, LLC peer review will have a direct bearing on the appropriate type of traffic study for the pending mega-project in Strawberry—the re-development of the former Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary property by North Coast Land Holdings, a subsidiary of the multi-billion dollar Fasken Trust. According to the initial traffic study, the proposed 1,000-student commuter high school with 200 employees and the proposed 300 units of market rate townhouses will generate over 6,500 vehicle trips per weekday and over 7,800 vehicle trips on Saturday!
Are we prepared for such a community changing mega-project? Can our roadways and intersections handle the dramatic increase in traffic?
This much is certain. We cannot, and will not, tolerate this same kind of detachment and ineptness by County planners and officials on the Seminary project.
Please direct your views about both of these projects to the Board of Supervisors at bos@marincounty.org.
Also, please consider attending the Board of Supervisors hearing on the Bently Holdings application on December 15, 2015 and expressing your opinion during Open Time for Public Expression.
(In addition, please consider attending and speaking at the Strawberry Design Review Board hearing about the Seminary project on December 7, 2015.)
Thank you for reading my blog.