Future Agenda Item Request (F.A.I.R.) A Citizens' Petition with regard to the Coconino Estates Project requesting that the City "redesign the city street project to allow trees to remain."

In accordance with Art. II, Sect. 17 of the Flagstaff City Charter, any citizen may present a written petition to the City Manager, signed by a minimum of 25 citizens from the City...who shall present it to the Council at its next regular meeting. The attached petition was filed with the City Clerk's Office on January 5, 2021, requesting that the Coconino Estates project be redesigned to allow trees to remain.

Chapter 1-12 of the Flagstaff City Code formalizes the information to be required, and the attached petition conforms to those requirements. As outlined in this chapter, the petition is to be submitted to the Council under Future Agenda Item Request (F.A.I.R.) to determine if there is Council interest in placing the item on a future agenda for consideration.

Staff has provided the attached documents as well as the following information regarding the project:

As currently drawn, the complete street design proposes sidewalk and roadway improvements intended to increase the safety, function, and connectivity of the intersection and roadway for numerous modes of travel including motorists, Flagstaff Urban Trail System (FUTS) users, pedestrians and bicyclists. The concept of adding sidewalk to both sides of Beal Road was supported by the majority of those responding to a Sidewalk Survey that was mailed in July 2019 to 548 property owners, as well as, from comments received at the Public Open House meeting held on July 25, 2019.  City staff is recommending that sidewalk be constructed along both sides of Beal Road given that these proposed improvements fit within the existing City owned right-of-way and in recognition that vehicular traffic movements are consistent with what we would expect along a roadway with a Minor Collector Classification as designated in the City’s Regional Plan.
 
Additional detail and design information can be found on the City’s web page. Copy & paste the link below into your web browser:
https://www.flagstaff.az.gov/4214/Coconino-Estates-Phase-1-Design-Informat
 
On street parking will only be accommodated on the south side of Beal Road minimizing the pavement width along the majority of the roadway.  The exhibit titled "Coconino Estates Design" in the attachments tab, highlights the City right-of-way line (shown in yellow), the existing edge of pavement (shown in purple), proposed improvements (shown in black), the two existing spruce trees (shown in green), and proposed pavement striping (shown in red).  While the easterly tree will need to be removed due to its location within City right-of-way being in conflict with the proposed improvements, we believe that the westerly tree can possibly be preserved by reducing the sidewalk width down from 5’ wide to 3’ wide. The City hired an Arborist to evaluate both trees and the reports are attached to this staff summary for your review.
 
In response to requests to continue allowing vehicles to access Ft. Valley Road (U.S. Hwy. 180) desiring to head either north or south, the current design does allow two vehicles to stop side-by-side at the intersection's stop-bar.  This was accommodated by widening the entrance of Beal Road on the south side of the road without requiring property acquisition. The proposed improvements fit within existing right-of-way.