We are officially done!

Our plan was unanimously approved by the Board of Commissioners - so we are done! Now, we just sit back and wait for the County to show up and install the measures...

WE DID IT!!!

I have no time to Blog about all the details (and there are lots!), but all that matters is that the plan passed the neighborhood vote! And it passed with more than the required number of signatures. So now we wait for the Board of Commissioners to give their final approval and then we wait for the measures to be installed...hopefully that will be during or even before the Summer of 2010.

Geez. Where did the summer go? Sorry it's been awhile since this blog has been updated. But rest assured, the committee has been hard at work! Everything you need to know is now on the Huntley Hills Neighborhood Association Website. You'll find the proposed plan and lots of FAQ questions. 

The Committee will be presenting the proposed traffic-calming plan to the neighborhood on September 15th (7pm) at Chamblee United Methodist Church. This will provide everyone with another opportunity to ask any questions and comment on the plan. If no further changes are in order, DeKalb County will present our plan to the Board of Commissioners for vote on September 22nd. If the Commissioners approve the plan, we will then have 90 days to get 65% of homeowners in the affected area to sign a "yes" petition.    

Updated Plan!

During the last 5 months, our Traffic Calming Committee has been meeting with neighbors and getting everyone's opinions. We've now had 7 (seven!) neighborhood meetings and it's been a lot of work. After all the feedback, we have reached the conclusion that we need to focus efforts on the biggest problem areas only. We also need to implement a variety of options, strategically placed, such that the traffic conditions will improve and neighbors will be as minimally impacted as possible.

So with that in mind, here's the basics of what the draft plan includes:

** Traffic circles at the intersection of Ellwyn/Longview and Admiral/Longview (on the N. Shallowford end). See picture.
** Bike lanes on both sides of Longview (b/w 3-5 ft wide). Stripping lanes on a portion of Admiral (from Chamblee Dunwoody to Plantation).
** A traffic island on Longview, close to Admiral, on the Peachtree Blvd. end.
** Minimal traffic tables on Longview (4-5) and Admiral (2-3 from Chamblee Dunwoody to Plantation only) and Plantation (1-2) and Ellwyn (1-2).

We still have a long way to go in the process and the County will ultimately determine what is possible, based on engineering guidelines (see previous blogs).

A Note from a Concerned Grandfather...

If you have recently noticed some activity in Huntley Hills involving people out measuring streets and looking at manholes etc., I find out this is going to be potentially a big help for our neighborhood. It’s part of a move by a small group of souls to begin to make Huntley Hills a friendlier place to raise our families. In co-operation with the County they are preparing a plan for presentation at a neighborhood meeting for discussion of the location of some traffic calming measures…the first step in making our streets and yards safer for the growing number of young families in the neighborhood. And no, this is not going to mean those big “speed bumps” of the past, but a mix of friendlier ways to make our streets safer. To help this group with their efforts or for more information contact any board member of the Huntley Hills Neighborhood Association (www. Huntley hills.net) or email the traffic calming committee at huntleyhills@gmail.com. They could use your help.

- A concerned grandfather in Huntley Hills

Have you given your input?

So far, we've had 4 informal presentations/Q & A sessions at various neighborhood meetings and night outs. We've gotten lots of feedback! The next (and last) chance to let us know your thoughts before we will finalize our draft plan, will be at a neighborhood meeting on April 28th at 7pm at Chamblee United Methodist Church. After that, our plan goes to the County and we proceed from there.

Have you missed the opportunities to meet with us? Be sure to get on the HHNA email list - you won't miss a thing in the future! www.huntleyhills.net

Moving Right Along!

Below is an email I sent to our Traffic Calming Committee (it has all the details you need, and then some). Oh, and the County actually did put out the meeting notice signs!

*******

Hi All,

Our initial meeting with the County on Tuesday was GREAT and I would like to thank all the 25+ people who showed up!

Quick Summary:

All the streets in the neighborhood qualify to participate in some form of traffic calming solution (i.e. speed tables, center traffic islands, splitter traffic islands, bike lanes, and/or traffic circles). The devices implemented and their locations are entirely up to us as a neighborhood to decide (within engineering guidelines). For those who like details, see my meeting notes at the bottom of this email.

Next action items:

If you want to be on the newly formed Traffic Calming Committee, please let me know ASAP. We need about 10 dedicated people who can meet weekly for 1-2 hours (see below schedule) for the next 2 months.
Begin talking to your neighbors about the project and collect their feedback, etc.
Participate in the neighborhood meetings listed below (and bolded).

Timeline:

Feb 8th (Sun) 7pm: 1st Committee meeting (develop VERY draft plan and discuss strategies/assignments)
Feb 15th (Sun) 7pm: Committee meeting
Feb 17th (Tues) 5:30 pm: Galla’s Pizza (neighborhood dinner out; discuss draft plan, get feedback)
Feb 22nd (Sun) 7pm Committee meeting

March 1st (Sunday) 4:00 pm: HHNA By-Laws Meeting (committee presents draft plan, Q & A, open discussion)
March 8th (Sun) 7pm: Committee meeting
March 15th (Sun) 7pm: Committee meeting
March 17th (Tues) 5:30 pm: Pig N Chik (neighborhood dinner out; discuss draft plan, get feedback)
March 22nd (Sun) 4:00 pm: HHNA meeting AND neighborhood party (present plan, Q & A, get feedback)
March 31st (Tues): Goal of presenting our plan to the county so they can formalize it

* The Sunday Committee meetings will be as needed and can change times/days of the week, depending on the schedules of the members.

Meeting Details:

We have a couple of months (or as long as it takes) to discuss all our options and come up with a draft plan for the County to formalize.
After the County presents a formal plan, we have 12 months to share it with neighbors, tweet it, etc. before it goes to the Board of Commission.
After the Commission vote, we have only 90 days to get all the signatures or the plan fails and we can try again in another 12 months.
The time frame is almost entirely dependant upon us; the county moves quickly once we make a decision and they have had plans take less than 6 months from start to finish.
Neighborhood input is CRITICAL and we need to do everything we can to give people a chance to comment before we finalize the plan.
We also need to be prepared to go door-to-door and share/sell the plan to all neighbors, BEFORE the 90 day time frame for signatures. We do not want any surprises or counter-petitions (which apparently is rather common).
Depending on the options we chose and where, the plan could be voted on and implemented in stages.
The 65% of Yes signatures must be from property owners, not renters; based on our very rough estimates, we will need over 400 signatures.
If we implement something on Admiral and/or Longview, some other streets might have to be included in the plan by default, depending on what is implemented and where. They would also included in the vote and $25/year assessment, but they do NOT have to get any traffic calming devices.
Streets can have one or more (or all) of the traffic calming devices. For example, Longview could have speed tables, traffic islands, bike lanes and potentially traffic circles – and the assessment remains at $25/house.
The county still has to evaluate certain intersections to see if traffic circles will fit.
The neighborhood is responsible for maintaining the grounds of the traffic islands/circles and nothing over 4ft high can be planted.
MARTA buses are not a factor; all devices are designed to accommodate buses. MARTA can choose to reroute.
Based on county statistics and LOTS of anecdotal evidence, traffic tables (as opposed to all other devices) have the greatest success at slowing down traffic and preventing cut-through traffic.
Possible incorporation into the City of Chamblee is not a factor; all traffic calming is done entirely through DeKalb County.
Speed tables are extended to the curbs (i.e. There is not a flat surface for bikes, wheelchairs, etc.).
Speed tables are not installed on grades >8%. This may eliminate portions of Admiral, but other options are still available.
Streets must be wider than 26ft (from one edge of the pavement to the other) in order to have bike lanes.
Bike lanes can be on one or both sides of the street (but it still must be 26ft wide).
Splitter traffic islands take out about 5 feet of county right-away space from yards on both sides.
Speed tables and traffic islands must be 350-500 ft apart from each other.
All traffic calming devices must be 5 ft away from sewer caps, utilities and driveways and 75-150 ft from stop signs or intersections.
In general, the county tries to maintain 10-11 feet of road for each travel lane.
Traffic islands are about 40ft long.
Speed tables are 4 inches high, 10 feet wide, and have 6 ft ramps on both sides (22ft wide total).

That’s all I’ve got for now. Thanks Everyone!

Leslie Freymann

Ps. Regarding sidewalks, LONG story short, it’s not going to happen anytime at all in the next few years due to massive budget shortfalls and very recent changes to the prioritization system. Incorporating into Chamblee might give us more of a chance, but still, funding would be a long way away. Unfortunately, we need to make the traffic calming decisions without the hopes of sidewalks.

Pps. However, I am hopeful the intersections of Longview/Seaman Circle and possibly Ellywn/Admiral will soon be approved to become 4-way stops.

We qualified!

So the County did their "studies" and our entire neighborhood qualifies for traffic calming! Yeah! We don't think they actually did studies on every street, probably just Longview and Admiral. So all the surveys we did on the other streets were not really necessary, but they served as a practice run for when the signatures really matter!

Next step...meeting with the County! February 3rd (Tuesday) at 10am - 1950 W. Exchange Place (4th Floor) -Tucker, GA 30084. Be there! We'll discuss the process and all of our options. The County has said they would put up all the meeting notice signs...we'll see if that actually happens.

Time to sit back and wait...

Ok, the county has received and verified all the initial surveys! Except for Commodore Drive - we never could find anyone on that street enthusiastic enough to get it done. Volunteers from other streets stepped in at the last minute and tried, but were not able to get the signatures on time.

So now comes the fun part...waiting.

The studies are scheduled to be done at the end of the year or in early January. Once we get the results, we will have a meeting with the county and get this project going!

Till then...enjoy the wait....

Ahead of Schedule!

Well, I guess I'm not the only one fed up with traffic in our neighborhood! I've already gotten back 9 of the 12 streets - 2 weeks before the deadline. So today I mailed in: Forrestal Drive, Commander Drive, Ellwyn Drive, Captain Drive, Admiral Way, Greenhill Drive, Longview Drive, Ensign Drive, Admiral Drive and Plantation Lane. Yes, I made copies of everything before I sent them in (can't trust government). I actually work for the State government, so I can say that, right?

Still working on Montford Drive, Seaman Circle and Commodore Drive. Stay tuned...

We Got the Surveys...and Surprise!

The surveys are do back within 45 days or the streets not returned "will automatically be rejected". Dang! Looks like I've committed everyone. Can't drop this ball.

So now we have "street leaders" and "street helpers" and they have to get 20% of the households on their street to sign this "traffic calming program initial interest petition form". No obligation what-so-ever. Just gets the process started.

Thankfully the county has accurate records of household numbers (of course, that's how they tax our neighborhood hundreds of thousands of dollars every year) and they have computers that can do basic math...so each survey states exactly how many signatures are needed.

Progress reports are due back from the team leaders in 3 weeks.

Ok, Not So Typical Government

A day after I left a message with DeKalb's 311 system, Elaine Turman, from the traffic department actually called back first thing in the morning! Wow!

It gets better. Seriously, it does. She was very helpful and even nice! And she let me request surveys for all the streets in the neighborhood. And her patience was admirable, as she waited for me to try and recall from memory all the street names (would have helped if I'd had a map, but I just wasn't prepared for all this so soon).

Then she put me in touch with Allan North (the sidewalk guy) and he was nice and helpful, too! He was even optimistic that we would be on the top of the 2009 priority list for sidewalks on Longview! Huh? It's not that easy, is it? I thought maybe I was still dreaming. I needed coffee.

So, what’s next? I’m expecting the petitions to come at the end of next week. I’ll divide them up and we’ll start going door to door for signatures (we only need 20% this round).

And for the sidewalks on Longview... we still have some more research to do about that. I'm optimistic but not naive...

Typical Government

We are ready to get started! The first step is to call the county and request petitions for each street. So I call DeKalb County's 311 number (at least they don't have us calling 911 for non-emergencies anymore). Well, I can't talk to anyone in the roads/traffic division (of course not), the person answering the phone knows nothing (surprise) and I have to leave a message (oh, joy). It gets better. I am told to call back if I don’t hear from anyone within 3 business days.

Now we see why others say that the only possible way to get anything done ever with the County is to master the art of following up.