03/21/2000 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 3/21/2000 Jenkins, Fire Chief Ed Bak, Police officer Steve Wolf, and Assistant City Engineer ,,~; Griffith. There was only one item on the agenda that evening and that was a discussion of a traffic preemption system which would regulate traffic control lights in such a fashion that, when an equipped emergency vehicle approaches an intersection with lights and sirens flashing, the traffic signal would go red in all directions but the direction in which the vehicle was approaching from. In other words, there would be three red lights and one green and traffic would still move in the direction in which the emergency vehicle was approaching. Of course, the traffic would have to yield to the emergency vehicle. But the concept was that the intersection would be cleared. City Engineer Griffith explained the system and how it works. He also explained the technology has been around for approximately 25 to 30 years. One type of system that has developed over the years is a sound activated system. The other system which has become more aggressive lately is the light activated system where there is a beam that is emitted from the vehicle as it approaches and that triggers the light. The distance can actually be controlled. There were pros and cons with each individual system. Once the vehicle approaches the intersection and proceeds through, the signalization would take anywhere from a minute to a minute and a half to revert back to its normal cycle. Assistant Engineer Griffith believed that was somewhat of a drawback. Benefits that were discussed were the possibility of increased response time, increased awareness for the drivers within the city and the benefit that comes with advance notice when an emergency vehicle approaches an intersection. Another possible drawback was cost. Mr. Griffith believes the cost could be up to half a million dollars. We have several different needs in the city at this point in time. And while it certainly would be a benefit to the city, we would want to give particular attention to some of the other concerns we have with our safety forces--vehicles and things along those lines. Another concern expressed by the Chief was the possibility that people would still disregard it. The funding could include a grant. However, the grant applications are running four to five years behind for this type of a system. A video presentation of the systems was presented and the committee agreed that it was an interesting concept. It certainly is something that should be explored in the future. However, at this point in time with some of the other needs that we have, it would have to take its place in line with the others. One thing that was brought up was the possibility that, because our squads leave the city and go to other communities, perhaps we should look at it from a joint effort with other communities to do the same type of system so that each unit would be equipped no matter where it was on the west side of Cleveland. Other communities around here have tried these systems, and some are still expanding on it. This was just a discussion and the committee made no recommendations. Mr. Nashar, chairperson of the Building, Zoning and Development Committee: 1) The BZD meeting was held on March 14. Present were committee members Gareau, O'Grady and Nashar; Councilpersons McKay, Limpert, Kasler; Law Director Gareau; Building Commissioner Dave Conway; approximately 24 representatives from the Chamber of Commerce. Agenda items were as follows: • Ordinance 2000-23, introduced by Councilmen Gareau and Nashar. This is an ~^ ordinance creating new Chapter 1719 of the Business Regulation Code of the City of ,~;; 5