Caltrans request to address crosswalks near Carbon Beach was rejected by commission at previous meeting
After denying the Caltrans pedestrian crossing last month and receiving a negative response from the Malibu City Council, the Planning Commission held a special meeting on Friday, March 8, to address the two existing pedestrian crosswalks near Carbon Beach.
At the Tuesday, Feb. 20, Planning Commission meeting, Caltrans presented an application to make a few adjustments to the current pedestrian crossing near Carbon Beach. The application consists of replacing two pedestrian crossing beacons and poles and installing a pedestrian crossing signal.
To start off the meeting, commissioners made their comments, and Vice Chair John Mazza responded to the comments made by Councilmember Bruce Silverstein at the City Council meeting on Monday, Feb. 26.
“I have been up here talking about things we can do to slow down traffic on PCH to make it safer, and here we are being handed a golden opportunity to put up another traffic light, and they denied it. It’s tone deaf, I just don’t get it,” Silverstein said at the City Council meeting.
In response, Mazza said, “You could not have said we’re tone deaf, as you all know, five of us that get together and agree on something — rare. I resent it because we work hard and they don’t. If councilmembers want to criticize this, they should at least watch a meeting. If they want to criticize us about safety, they should at least know something about it, which apparently, they don’t. We work hard, we try our best, there’s a process that goes to appeal, but nobody’s going to call me tone deaf for not doing the work.”
Commissioners motioned to agendize a discussion requiring applicants to attend meetings in person rather than through Zoom.
“We need to be interactive with applicants — hand gestures, nodding heads, data to be shown, things to be displayed in a way that we don’t necessary to be interactive with members of the public calling in,” Chair Kraig Hill said.
The commission had one item on the agenda, and Planning Director Richard Mollica refreshed the public’s and commissioners’ memories of the project with a brief presentation.
Mollica answered a few commissioner’s concerns from the last meeting and said the traffic light would not impact traffic flow.
“Ideally, that will not be an issue because of the way this is tied to other signals through the signal project,” Mollica said.
About half a dozen Caltrans representatives attended the meeting in person and through Zoom and presented the project. The presentation included the proven safety countermeasures and Caltrans’s importance for the project. According to Caltrans, the crossing reduces 55 percent of pedestrian crashes, reduces 29 percent of total crashes, and reduces 15 percent of serious injury and fatal crashes.
Lee Haber, chief safety officer in the Division of Transportation Safety and Operations, attended the meeting in person and presented the project to the commission.
“I’ve had discussions with Sheriff’s staff, and they told me this is an important addition, the area’s heavily used, especially during the summer when Malibu receives many visitors from both around California and around the world, and so this will both help your motorists, your users, your pedestrians, local residents here, as well those people visiting us here in California,” Haber said.
For public comment, long-term homeowners, residents, and tenants attended the meeting to share their personal opinions on the crosswalk.
“I find it ludicrous that we’re talking about this; this is the safety of our community,” one local resident said. “This is a gift from Caltrans — they’re paying for it. I just don’t understand what the discussion is.”
Public Safety Chair Chris Frost said the pedestrian signal would increase safety on PCH and slow down the highway.
“I believe for the last four months, all we’ve been talking about is safety [on] PCH. I consider this to be a done deal; it should be a done deal,” Frost said. “I just feel like there’s no downside to this, and it’s a safety issue that’s much needed in that area. Plus, it slows the whole highway down; slowing the highway down is a major issue right now, so this is a step in the right direction, so I urge you to vote yes.”
One of the concerns for commissioners was U-turns and lack of pedestrian frequency.
“Is it not better to move that crosswalk closer to where that building is or closure to where the coastal access is where you know that you have the higher frequency of pedestrians, that’s what I didn’t understand,” Commissioner Skylar Peak said. “It seems to be in a zone where there’s less people — would it not be better where you have a higher frequency of people? That’s the whole reason why we’re here tonight.”
Public Works Director Rob DeBoux mentioned the city and commissioners received a letter from LA County Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath supporting the project.
“If you have shorter segments that break up PCH, you can control that traffic a lot better,” DeBoux said. “Right now, my team is actually looking to try to do a new pedestrian signal where there is beach access approximately about 2,000 feet from Carbon, so that will break up that segment; so there’s a good consistency of street segments that we can actaully control with the synchronization system, the computer will do a good job making sure traffic is flowing well, if someone is speeding in that section, they are likely to hit red lights.”
DeBoux said having the ability to control places where U-turns occur is a safer traffic move.
Mazza asked if Caltrans was planning on adding a pedestrian signal near Moonshadows restaurant.
“The city has a project where we’re looking to do improvements at Big Rock and across from Moonshadows, which includes a crosswalk in that location, so we have funding, we’re moving forward with that, and were actually starting designing that,” DeBoux said.
DeBoux said they are also looking to do improvements near Las Flores and a new pedestrian signal west of Carbon Canyon Road. DeBoux said all the projects are from the 2015 study.
Haber said they are working with DeBoux and the city to identify additional features such as the crosswalk at Moonshadows.
“We’re interested in doing this too, what we’re coming forward with is this specific project at this location, to move this portion forward and work on additional ones in future projects,” Haber said.
After an hour of questions and answers, the Planning Commission voted 5-0 to allow the state to convert the light crosswalk into a full traffic signal.
The next Planning Commission is scheduled for March 18 at the Council Chambers.