Last fall, Mr. Josh Madris, a Carmel resident, performed a survey of primarily parents of local school children to assess their interest of possibly closing Scenic Road, intermittently, from Eighth Avenue in Carmel, through the County, and ending at Carmel River State Beach. The results of the survey are included as Attachment #1. Mr. Madris would like to make a public comment at the Council meeting after this report is presented by staff.
Of the 43 responses in the survey, 90% indicated they liked the idea of closing part of Scenic Road a few days a week for a few hours to prohibit cars and allow for pedestrians, cyclists and skaters. Also, 82% indicated they would use the closure for recreation frequently, and 63% thought the best time would be on: Monday, Wednesday, Friday from 3 to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 pm (noon). Other recommendations included clear signage and reducing impacts to residents that live in the area.
When informed of the survey, Monterey County Supervisor Mary Adams, and other County employees from Public Works, Traffic, and Recreation, hosted a videoconference meeting on November 20, 2020 with Councilmember Baron, our City Administrator and Public Works Director. During the meeting, Mr. Madris summarized the survey results and requested that both agencies close Scenic Road at these times; although they are flexible.
The County expressed a number of concerns regarding implementing this closure, including requesting approvals from the California Coastal Commission, State Parks, and County Board of Supervisors, mitigating neighborhood objections, performing a traffic study to determine detour traffic routing since Scenic is a collector street in the County, concerns regarding emergency response, and the lack of budget and staffing to implement this program.
By comparison, all agreed that if this closure were to happen, it makes more sense to close Scenic Road within the Carmel City limits, tentatively from Eighth Avenue to Santa Lucia. The primary reasoning being that Scenic has fewer perpendicular access points to Scenic Road in the City and there is a greater likelihood of the Coastal Commission supporting this idea in Carmel. Before staff can allocate time and funding for this initiative, we are requesting City Council direction at this time. There was also consensus that this would start as a pilot project for a given duration, and then extend, or not, afterwards.
We are presenting two options:
Option #1 is for the City to proceed with the approval process and return to Council for final authorization before implementing. The following tasks would be performed by staff: Gaging consensus from residents along Scenic and adjacent streets for home access and emergency response, determining the impact of increased parking demand, preparing a Coastal Development Permit application, estimating costs for staff time to set up, perform flagging operations, monitoring/enforcing the rules, and taking down detour signs and barricades.
Some of these listed measures would include staff overtime for after hours, weekends, and holidays, as well as staffing impacts to other ongoing activities. Additionally, a determination of Covid safety provisions would be required and assurances made that the State and County guidelines are followed.
Should council determine Option #1, Staff would return with answers at an upcoming meeting.
Option #2 is to forgo the project at this time and defer the initiative to a future date.