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Home My WebLink About101-Staff Report and Reso.pdf SARATOGA CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE: July 18, 2007 AGENDA ITEM: ORIGINATING DEPT: Public Works CITY MANAGER: ______ PREPARED BY: Richard Taylor, City Attorney DEPT HEAD: ______ Dave Anderson John Cherbonne SUBJECT: Petition from Owners of Private Road at 20865 Wardell Road, Requesting Application of the California Vehicle Code to the Private Road. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Adopt resolution applying the California Vehicle Code to the private road at 20865 Wardell Road. REPORT SUMMARY: At its meeting of June 20, 2007 the City Council approved issuance of encroachment permit for a private road at 20865 Wardell Road. Based on a study and recommendation from the City’s traffic engineer, the Council conditioned the encroachment by requiring that the private road be subject to the California Vehicle Code in order to ensure that vehicles using the road would be required to stop at the stop sign required by the encroachment permit. (See Resolution 07-035.) The City Clerk subsequently received a petition from all the landowners with property served by the road, requesting that the City make the private road subject to the Vehicle Code. (See Attachment.) Vehicle Code section 21107.7 allows the City Council to adopt a resolution making the Vehicle Code enforceable on a privately owned road if a majority of the roads’ owners petition for such a resolution. Once the City Council adopts such a resolution, the Vehicle Code is enforceable on the privately owned road, “if appropriate signs are erected at the entrance to the road of the size, shape, and color as to be readily legible during daylight hours from a distance of 100 feet, to the effect that the road is subject to the provisions of this code.” (Vehicle Code § 21107.7.) The attached resolution requires that such a sign be posted. In the event the sign were to be removed in the future, the Vehicle Code would not apply and, under the terms of the encroachment permit, the encroachment would no longer be allowed. The Vehicle Code requires that the City Council make two findings in order to have the code apply to a private road: First, the City Council must find that the private road is “not generally held open for use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel.” (Vehicle Code § 21107.7.) Second, the City Council must find that “by reason of [its] proximity to or connection with highways, the interests of 2 any residents residing along the road[] and the motoring public will best be served by application of the provisions of this code to” the road. (Id.) These findings are discussed individually below. Not Held Open for Public Use: The private road at 20865 Wardell Road is intended for use solely as a driveway serving its owners’ residential lots, and will not be open to the public. (See Attachment.) Thus, there is support for the required finding that the private road is “not generally held open for use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel.” Interests of Residents and Motoring Public: The Vehicle Code defines “highway” as “a way or place of whatever nature, publicly maintained and open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel.” (Vehicle Code § 360.) Wardell Road is therefore a “highway.” The private road connects to Wardell Road, and that connection creates a public interest in ensuring that the connection does not adversely affect public safety. Applying the Vehicle Code to the Private Road will serve the interests of the Private Road’s residents and the public by making the stop sign required by the encroachment permit enforceable and thus helping to cure the potentially dangerous condition. Thus, there is support for the required finding that that “by reason of [the road’s] proximity to or connection with highways, the interests of any residents residing along the road[] and the motoring public will best be served by application of” the Vehicle Code to the road. ALTERNATIVES: 1. Deny the petition, thus leaving the private road not subject to the Vehicle Code. FISCAL IMPACTS: The costs associated with enforcement of the Vehicle Code on the private road will be absorbed within the existing resources of the Sheriff’s Department. ADVERTISING, NOTICING AND PUBLIC CONTACT: Mailed notice to property owners within 500 feet, and advertised the notice in the San Jose Mercury News and the Saratoga News. ATTACHMENT: Petition Pursuant to Vehicle Code Section 21107.7. 1 RESOLUTION NO. _____ A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SARATOGA GRANTING A PETITION; THEREBY APPLYING THE CALIFORNIA VEHICLE CODE TO THE PRIVATE ROAD AT 20865 WARDELL ROAD Lim et al.; 20865 Wardell Road WHEREAS, on May 17, 2007, the City Engineer of the City of Saratoga granted encroachment permit number 07-079, allowing a private road serving as a common driveway for four residential lots to connect to the western end of Wardell Road at 20865 Wardell Road; and WHEREAS, an appeal of the encroachment permit was filed and on June 20, 2007 the City Council, following a public hearing, denied the appeal and approved the encroachment permit subject to conditions including a requirement that encroachment pursuant to the permit shall not be valid unless the private road is subject to the California Vehicle Code; and WHEREAS, on July 9, 2007, all of the owners of the planned private road at 20865 Wardell Road submitted to the City Council a petition requesting the adoption of a resolution applying the California Vehicle Code to the private road; and WHEREAS, on July 18, 2007 the City Council held a duly noticed public hearing to consider the petition at which time all interested parties were given the opportunity to be heard and present evidence; and WHEREAS, the evidence presented in the landowner petition, staff report, and at the hearing demonstrated that the planned privately owned road at 20865 Wardell Road is not generally held open for use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel; and WHEREAS, the evidence presented in the staff report for the above-referenced encroachment permit appeal, staff report for the public hearing held July 18, 2007, and at the hearing demonstrated that by reason of the privately owned road’s connection with Wardell Road and the highway system of the City of Saratoga, the interests of the road’s residents and the motoring public will best be served by application of the provisions of the California Vehicle Code to the privately owned road. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the City Council of the City of Saratoga hereby: I. Finds that the planned privately owned road at 20865 Wardell Road is not generally held open for use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel; and II. Finds that by reason of the privately owned road’s connection with Wardell Road and the highway system of the City of Saratoga, the interests of the road’s residents and the 2 motoring public will best be served by application of the provisions of the California Vehicle Code to the privately owned road; and III. Resolves that the provisions of the California Vehicle Code shall henceforth apply to, and be enforceable upon, the privately owned road at 20865 Wardell Road; and IV. Pursuant to California Vehicle Code section 21107.7, this resolution shall be ineffective unless appropriate signs are erected at the entrance to the privately owned road at 20865 Wardell Road of the size, shape, and color as to be readily legible during daylight hours from a distance of 100 feet, to the effect that the road is subject to the provisions of the Vehicle Code. PASSED AND ADOPTED by the City Council of Saratoga. State of California, the 18th day of July 2007 by the following roll call vote: AYES: NOES: ABSENT: ABSTAIN: ________ _______ Aileen Kao, Mayor ATTEST: __________________ ___________ Cathleen Boyer, CMC City Clerk