Calabasas stoplight gets the go-ahead
By Joann Groff  joann@theacorn.com

While the Calabasas city manager approved installing a traffic signal at Old Topanga Canyon Road and Mulholland Highway, community members came out to show both support and opposition.

The project, awarded to TDS Engineering to install the light, will cost $162,000. After much testimony, the council voted unanimously to appropriate $185,000 for the signal.

Robert Yalda, Public Works director, said the city received much feedback on the project.

"We received a lot of positive comment and concern, and I want to assure the council that we took every single comment and concern seriously," Yalda said. "We did our best to come up with a final design at this intersection."

Currently, there is an all-way stop with one yield sign for westbound traffic on Old Topanga Road. According to one study, the morning peak-time delays could be reduced by 29 seconds for those traveling westbound, 14 seconds eastbound and 55 seconds southbound, Yalda said.

The reduction in delays will lead to air quality improvement in the area, Yalda said. He also said accidents will be less likely.

"If you look at this intersection, there are three times as many accidents as any other intersection in the city," Yalda said. "The number of vehicles and delay time create confusion, and drivers get uncomfortable. It's not their time to turn at a stop sign, they aggressively make a move and create an accident.

"Are you going to solve accident problems with this signal? I can't guarantee that. But I can assure you, with a signal, that's the results other cities have experienced," Yalda said.

Some members of the public denounced the data, claiming a signal simply wasn't needed, especially at an environmentally important area like Headwaters Corner and at the intersection of two scenic corridors.

"Your vote tonight will be one of the key environmental votes you will cast as a member of this council," said resident Bob Benson. "During your campaigns for office, each of you boasted of your commitment to the environment. Your vote tonight is a litmus test of that commitment."

Michelle Dornfest, who sits on the city's public safety commission, said she was "shocked" by the opposition.

"It is intriguing to note that people that oppose this project believe that a traffic light that will protect our children may possibly impair a view," Dornfest said. "I do not understand this reasoning."

Representatives from homeowners associations in Calabasas Hills and Calabasas Park came out to express support.

Sgt. Philip Brooks of the Lost Hills Sheriff's Station said stop signs are often inefficient and that a traffic light would help eliminate confusion at the intersection.

The city received letters of support for the project from Mountains Restoration Trust, Las Virgenes Unified School District and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, Lost Hills Road Station.

Lawsuit pending

Residents Toby Keeler and Elizabeth Stephens filed a lawsuit to stop the signal. Both spoke at the hearing.

"I personally feel the city is trying to sell us on a faulty traffic analysis and overstating the safety issue," Stephens said. "I also feel Viewpoint is a major player pushing this light through. . . . We don't need this light. Why fix an intersection that is not broken?"

Keeler said in 25 years he's never seen an accident at the intersection.

"Given the community controversy, I suggest maybe we take a step-by-step approach
to this. . . .

Before we resort to an expensive and intrusive traffic signal, can we please try to verify the traffic situation?"

Benson called the traffic report "false, misleading and mistaken," claiming the report erroneously used a drunk-driving crash as an example of an accident that could have been avoided with a signal.

Yalda said he was frustrated by the opposition.

"I take offense to that, that the public has the right to come here and publicly tell you that we are misrepresenting the data," Yalda said to the council members. "The analysis is very solid, and I'm telling you that as a registered traffic engineer."

Many of the council members spoke in Yalda's defense.

"I personally don't appreciate personal attacks on members of the staff, the questioning of their integrity and accusing folks of lying," said Barry Groveman. "They aren't lying."

Mayor Pro Tem Mary Sue Maurer agreed. "I'm also concerned," Maurer said. "The voicemails I've received at home, that my children have heard, they are very aggressive. We have a fine staff. You may not agree with them--I don't always, do I?--but this isn't the way to structure a debate."

Mayor James Bozajian said his decision on the signal did not come easily.

"I have to say that I find the traffic studies, with all due respect to staff, inconclusive," Bozajian said. "I think issue can be taken with them, and I think there have been comments from the public that I agree with.

"As much as I'd like to vote against putting a light there, I cannot in good conscience sit here, when the sergeant tells me it's an issue of public safety, I can't just reject it on aesthetic grounds. It just would not be responsible of me."

The council announced that the city attorney would represent Calabasas and its city manager, Tony Coroalles, in the lawsuit filed by Stephens and Keeler.