Construction at Shops has residents up in arms

After recent protests of the re-development surrounding the Shops at Rossmoor, Seal Beach Mayor Pro Tem Gary Miller has said in reports that he would encourage the residents of Rossmoor to attend Seal Beach City Council meetings and voice any concerns they may have regarding the projects.

Seal Beach looks like it will be getting plenty of feedback now. The Rossmoor Community Services District has formed an Ad Hoc Committee to lead the voicing of residents’ concerns about the development. The primary concerns of residents seem to be the increased traffic that the bulked up center will draw.

A major concern was the now completed two-lane left turn lane being installed at Seal Beach Boulevard going onto St. Cloud Drive. Residents argue that the turn lane will be used as a main funnel into the center and question how it might impact the residential street. Opponents of the project claim no traffic studies were done prior to the start of construction.

“At minimum, you need to do a traffic study,” Ad Hoc Committee member and Rossmoor resident Brenda Gorman said.

But Seal Beach Assistant City Manager and Public Works Director Sean Crumby said that traffic studies were done prior to the approval of the street construction. Crumby also noted that the City of Seal Beach was only responsible for the intersection project and that it was independent of the Shops project and the OCTA and Caltrans freeway construction projects. Unfortunately for local residents and shoppers, the three projects collided in their timing.

The City of Seal Beach had long looked at the section of Seal Beach Boulevard between Lampson Avenue and St. Cloud Drive, as a consistent traffic bottleneck. The studies done were to gauge the best way alleviate the congestion, Crumby said. The double turn lane was the result.

“They’re trying to solve the problem of traffic backing up into the street,” Crumby said.

The center, once home to neighborhood grocery stores and local retailers, is transforming into a major retail draw for a much larger customer base. A Toys R Us and Babies R Us have already been approved and are under construction, as well as an In-N-Out burger franchise. That coupled with the current stores at the Shops and the other traffic at the center across the street make it more important to control traffic, residents say.

Other plans have been suggested, such as affordable income housing units on a part of the property behind the shops. The suggested rezoning for such purposes would allow Seal Beach to comply with state mandated affordable home supplies. However, rezoning has not been finalized, and is not a certainty. Gorman said that affordable housing doesn’t concern her because she feels it would integrate into the community.

What is of concern would be the increased stores and potential future development and remodeling of areas that would create even more congestion. Some suggestions that have been proposed would include relocating the new double turn lane directly into one existing center entrances. As well as eliminating, or reducing the entrances from the back of the center, to discourage traffic from using the residential streets for access to the center.

Next week’s meeting and subsequent Seal Beach meetings will offer some clarity about how much can be done in future developments. Some traffic studies were reportedly done during the planning stages of approving the In-N-Out restaurant. The popular burger chain, with busy drive-thru lines, was estimated to bring 1,400 car trips per day, according to reports.

The site of the former gas station at the corner of St. Cloud Drive and Seal Beach Boulevard, will reportedly be a new 24-hour Rite-Aid Drugstore, according to planning commission records.

While the shops have not publicly announced their final plans, any construction would have required Environmental Impact Reports, that would have included traffic studies. As for the St. Cloud intersection and turn lane, Seal Beach has concluded that project. Any continuing construction is related to the freeway or the shops.

Seal Beach offers its perspective

Editors Note: The City of Seal Beach has offered it’s explanation of the reasons and timing of the street construction along Seal Beach Boulevard, particularly the intersection at St Cloud Drive. The construction around the intersection and the Shops at Rossmoor have led to some controversy and differing reports of the planning and future of the area. The following report was submitted to the News Enterprise by the City of Seal Beach.

Seal Beach Boulevard Street Improvements

The City of Seal Beach is nearing completion of constructing improvements to Seal Beach Boulevard between Lampson Avenue and St. Cloud.  The City appreciates the patience of residents as the construction has caused delays.  The timing of the construction has been difficult with numerous other projects in construction including the West County Connectors Project.  Two reasons that the construction had to happen now are that the City of Seal Beach acquired grant funds for this project that were about to expire, and the City has to complete these improvements now prior to the Seal Beach Boulevard bridge going into construction.  The improvements that were constructed near the bridge are designed to accommodate the new bridge after it is constructed.  The permanent alignment of Seal Beach Boulevard will be slightly different after the new bridge is built.

Questions have been received here at the City of Seal Beach regarding the intersection of Seal Beach Boulevard and St Cloud Drive.  The current construction project increased the left turn movement from a single lane to two lanes.  The comments received here at the City have centered on traffic studies justifying this change in the street.  More specifically questioning whether traffic studies were conducted to justify this change.  The City of Seal Beach places a high importance upon providing a safe and efficient roadway network for all residents who travel our streets and conducts the appropriate amount of study for all changes to our streets.

In this case the northbound left turn movement travelling onto St. Cloud Drive from Seal Beach Boulevard has not had enough capacity for some time.  The problem is that during the morning and afternoon rush hour periods, vehicles waiting to turn left outnumber the storage in the left turn pocket and cause vehicles to back up into the inner through lane.  In 2005, the City of Seal Beach applied for grant funding to study Seal Beach Boulevard between Lampson Avenue and St. Cloud Drive.  Included with this study were alternatives and concept designs to eliminate the problem of the left turn movement at St. Cloud Drive.  In early 2007, the City was awarded grant funds for this study.  The study prepared by Zimmerman Engineering, (a traffic and civil engineering firm) was titled “Seal Beach Boulevard Alignment Study from Old Ranch Road/ I-405 On-Off Ramps to St. Cloud Drive” was completed in February 2008.

The 2008 report found that an additional left turn lane is necessary to accommodate left turn vehicles during the rush hours times.  In 2008 the City commissioned Kimely–Horn and Associates to prepare construction documents to improve this section of roadway.  The City of Seal Beach received concern from residents regarding the addition of the second left turn lane.  To be sure that there was no other method of solving this problem Kimely-Horn and Associates prepared a traffic memorandum to analyze this issue and justify the need for the additional left turn lane. The memorandum had traffic data and generated a traffic model to be sure that the additional left turn is needed.

In 2010 the City of Seal Beach met with the management of the Rossmoor Community Services District and the traffic department for the County of Orange to discuss the addition of a left turn lane.  The City of Seal Beach would be happy to review any of these documents or meet to discuss this construction.  Again the City thanks you for your patience through the construction.  Questions can be sent to Sean Crumby at scrumby@sealbeachca.gov or 562-431-2527 ext. 1317.