Traffic congestion at Richmond Avenue and Union Street – adjacent to the new Van Detta Stadium – and along the S-curve between Jefferson Avenue and Main Street has struck a nerve with at least one Batavia City Council member.
Speaking at Monday night’s meeting at City Hall, Council Member John Canale said he has firsthand knowledge of the current situation at both locations, and requested city management and the police department to explore ways to rectify it.
Canale said he expected “fine tuning” of the traffic flow and parking plan at Van Detta Stadium, but he said that leaving the parking lot along Union Street proved to be “very difficult” since cars are parked right up to the corner of Richmond Avenue.
“It’s congested with no line of sight to the intersection,” he said. “It’s a very dangerous situation.”
He said he turned right out of the parking lot to head south on Union Street to avoid the intersection, and then was suddenly met with a couple of young people who darted out in front of his vehicle.
Canale suggested a parking ban from Richmond to the end of the parking lot.
“I think it’s something we need to look at,” he said, which prompted Council President Eugene Jankowski to hand the ball off to City Manager Martin Moore and Police Chief Shawn Heubusch.
Council Member Robert Bialkowski said there was a “no parking” sign near the Richmond intersection but he thinks that the sign is gone.
Turning to the S-curve behind Wendy’s and Tim Hortons, Canale said he wondered if a reduced speed limit would help prevent the “near misses” of broadside crashes, maybe dropping the limit to 20 or 15 mph.
He said he negotiated the curve at both speeds and “felt that 15 miles per hour was a comfortable speed to react to a pedestrian or vehicle” – and added that he saw two cars in front of him almost get broadsided before his car almost was hit as well.
Canale also spoke of the number of cars and children at Austin Park during the summer months, and asked if the police department could “at least look at changing the speed limit there.”
Moore said the City did a three-day speed assessment of vehicles traveling south along the S-curve and found that the average speed of the 1,467 vehicles was 18.6 mph, with a maximum of 29 and a minimum of 10.
Heubusch then reported that there have been two traffic accidents there in the past five years, and that NYS Vehicle & Traffic Law allows officials to limit the speed only to 25 mph within the City limits.
Jankowski asked to see more data and for management to make recommendations to Council, adding that maybe a flashing yellow light or caution sign would be beneficial.
In other developments, Council:
-- Heard an update from DPW Director Matt Worth about the National Grid Light Conversion program that he has been exploring for the past several months.
Worth said the City is investigating whether to purchase the entire street lighting system of about 1,600 lights from National Grid at a cost of $113,000. He said that it would cost another $800,000 to $1 million for a complete conversion to LED lighting.
“We would have to weigh the (upfront) costs against the savings that would be realized,” he said. “The City would receive a $45,000 rebate in addition to the energy savings and better light quality.”
He also mentioned new technology that is available, features such as individual monitoring of lights, the ability to reduce light strength during non-peak times and measures to help law enforcement.
“This has become complex very quickly,” Worth noted. “We’re looking at the best long-term solution.”
-- Conducted a public hearing for the purpose of amending the zoning code to include self-storage facilities in I-1 and I-2 zones. No one from the public spoke.
The hearing followed several meetings in response to a request by Peter Yasses (54 Cedar St. LLC) to erect a self-storage business on Cedar Street, across from the DeWitt Recreation Area. County and city planning boards both gave the go-ahead for the zoning change.
