Council members discuss sidewalk projects, Berry Road speed humps

The city is moving forward on sidewalk projects at Patriot Park and Saulter Road and considering whether to replace a series of speed humps on Berry Road.

At the City Council's finance committee meeting on May 7, Ward 2 Representative Mike Higginbotham said the city has met with residents whose properties would be impacted by a connecting path between Hillmoor Lane and Patriot Park, and they have received a mostly positive response so far.

Higginbotham said about $8,700 is needed for design of the path, which has included several options, and a survey of the area to determine the final look of the sidewalk. It would then go out to bid for construction.

The Council will take up the request for a vote at its next meeting.

The Council's planning and development committee also gave the go-ahead for the first part of the Saulter Road sidewalk at tonight's meeting. Building, Engineering and Zoning Department employee Greg Cobb said the segment from Sylvia Drive to Rockaway Road will be the easiest to complete geographically. As it is already in the capital projects budget for 2018, the committee voted in favor of him moving forward without sending the item to the Council for a vote.

Cobb also let the planning and development committee know that the city is working with Gonzalez Strength & Associates on a sidewalk project on Rumson Road and is finishing up a segment of sidewalk on Clermont Drive. Plotting a path for a sidewalk on Valley Avenue continues to be a challenge, Cobb said, due to steepness of the geography and an inability to meet Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards.

The public safety committee is also considering whether to add a series of speed humps back to Berry Road after they were removed for a repaving project. Ward 3 Representative Patrick McClusky said there were about eight humps on the road previously and two have been put back, but the city decided to stop the project to consider whether they wanted all of the humps put back.

McClusky said he has received calls from residents both for and against the speed humps. Higginbotham said he understood residents' concern about safety since Berry is a through-road for much of Forest Brook, but he also said he doubted whether they were effective in slowing cars and if they caused more problems for drivers who use Berry to commute.

“I am fully in support of seeing a reduction of the speed humps,” Higginbotham said.

Ward 3 Representative Walter Jones said the speed humps, as well as a later traffic circle, were added based on the findings of a California-based study on their efficiency. However, he and McClusky both favored a reduced number of speed bumps. Jones suggested humps spaced roughly 1,000 feet apart, rather than the 500-600 feet of distance between the previous ones.

Police Chief Tim Ross also said he favored a reduction in the speed humps, as navigating them slows down emergency vehicles.

The committee will continue to discuss the speed humps at its next meeting.

Also tonight, two developers have asked the special issues committee to consider allowing them to work in city right-of-way to construct additional roadway as part of new developments.

A developer is planning to extend the western end of Grace Street roughly 150 feet for four new residential parcels, located on the side opposite Homewood Middle School's property. The developers will foot the cost of the road being built to fire department standards, but they have requested permission to work in city right-of-way to build the road bed and retaining wall.

The issue was sent to the City Council to discuss, and Cobb will have further updates after a meeting later this week with the developers.

Strout Construction is also requesting to build a short semi-circle road off of 123 Hena Street to accommodate three homes planned for the property. The subdivision of the lot into three parcels was approved at the March Planning Commission meeting.

The committee decided to continue discussion of the issue to their next meeting so they could learn more about the plans for the property, including a traffic study done at the request of the Planning Commission.