LAKEPORT — The Lakeport City Council in a 6 p.m. meeting on Tuesday will consider approving a plan to renovate the roadways in a portion of the city that stretches for several blocks north of downtown Lakeport.
The area, called the “Eleventh Street Corridor,” includes sections of streets from 7th to 12th, and spans the distance between Pool and Main. It is one of the busiest parts of Lakeport, due to its proximity to the center of town and its inclusion of the Safeway/Willow Tree Plaza commercial area.
In a report to the city council, Assistant City Manager Kevin Ingram explains that “various issues of limited pedestrian access along the Eleventh Street corridor” exist there, and that the current plan is the result of nearly three years of effort to address them.
These include problems with pedestrian street crossing, bicycle access, traffic collisions, and right-of-way.
“Sidewalks are intermittent throughout the corridor and where they do exist they are partially obstructed by utility poles,” the plan notes.
Also, “residents expressed concerns about safety crossing Eleventh Street at various intersections,” the plan states. Furthermore, no bike lanes exist between Pool and North Main Street.
The intersection of Eleventh and North Forbes Street has the highest number of traffic collisions in all of Lakeport, the plan states.
Public meetings were held by city staff and members of the Lakeport Traffic and Safety Advisory Committee to cull input on the solutions that have been developed, Ingram notes. Other measures taken to increase public participation in the planning process include two community workshops in 2019, the development of an interactive online tool to visualize the planned changes to the roads, and interviews with property and business owners in the area.
The plan—referred to as a “feasibility study”—recommends numerous potential solutions to the existing traffic and pedestrian problems in the area.
The most important of these include creating a continuous sidewalk between Pool and Main streets, building a “mini-roundabout” at the Eleventh and North Forbes intersection, developing a multi-use path between Manzanita and Pool streets, eliminating right-turn pockets in front of the Willow Tree Plaza, and installing safe pedestrian crossing lights and signage at several locations.
If approved by the City Council and the Lake Area Planning Council, the plan would be held out in search of funding sources, Ingram writes in his memo to the council.
During the same meeting, the city council will hear an update from Lake County Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace on the status of the coronavirus situation. A presentation by the management staff of the City of Lakeport regarding steps the city has implemented to manage the crisis will follow.
The meeting will be held virtually due to ongoing shelter-in-place restrictions. With the city council chambers closed to the public, those interested in viewing or participating in the meeting are encouraged to use the following link: : https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/rt/1359917069095029262.
Comments on any agenda item can be submitted by email before 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 21 to virtualhost@cityoflakeport.com.
