Committee of the Whole Meeting on Fifth Street & Bluegrass Parkway Stop Request, April 8, 2025
Committee of the Whole Meeting – April 8, 2025\n\nThe Oswego Village Board Committee of the Whole met on April 8, 2025 at 6:00 PM to discuss a request for an all-way stop at the intersection of Fifth Street and Bluegrass Parkway. Staff presented a traffic study evaluating warrants from the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), concluding the intersection did not meet the criteria for a stop sign. However, trustees expressed strong support for installing a four-way stop due to a high number of crashes and pedestrian safety concerns, reaching a consensus to proceed.\n\n### Discussion Items\n- Staff Presentation: Phil (public works/engineering) reviewed the MUTCD warrants for all-way stop control. The crash experience warrant was met (12 crashes since 2022, with 4 in 2025 to date; at least 8 involved failure to yield). The sight distance warrant was not met (adequate sight lines). The eight-hour volume warrant was not met: Fifth Street (major approach) exceeded 300 vehicles per hour, but Bluegrass Parkway (minor approach) did not reach 200 vehicles per hour even with pedestrians and bicycles. Other factors warrant was not met due to existing left-turn lane and crossing guard. Staff concluded that an all-way stop was not warranted, citing risks of unwarranted stops such as increased mid-block speeds and poor compliance.\n- Trustee Discussion: Trustees Kaufman, Geist, Novi, and Torres all voiced support for the all-way stop. President Kaufman noted the high accident rate (averaging 4 per year) and resident concerns. Trustee Geist highlighted the lack of consistent crossing guard coverage and safety concerns for children walking to school. Trustee Novi asked about traffic volumes; staff confirmed Fifth Street volumes reach 450–550 vehicles per hour during peak periods. Trustee Torres noted speeding concerns but police chief stated average speeds on Fifth Street were below 35 mph (34.23 northbound, 32.11 southbound) and crashes were primarily failure-to-yield. The chief confirmed no additional burden on police department from a stop sign.\n- Trustee McCarthy Lang Statement (read by another trustee): Expressed support for an all-way stop, citing increased traffic during upcoming Wolf and Douglas construction, pedestrian traffic from three nearby schools, and observed speeding and passing violations on Fifth Street.\n\n### Key Outcomes\n- The board reached a consensus to install an all-way stop at Fifth Street and Bluegrass Parkway. No formal vote was taken, but there was no opposition. Staff will proceed with implementation.\n- The meeting adjourned early (approximately 6:30 PM) to celebrate the retirement of Public Works Director Jennifer Hughes.
Meeting Transcript
All right, welcome to our committee of the whole roll call, please. President Kaufman. Here. Trustee Geist. Present. Trustee John Senate. Present. Trustee Novi. Present. Trustee Torres. Present. Trustee Kurt absent and trustee McCarthy Lang absent. All right. First up, we will open the public forum. If there is anyone wishing to address the public or the board this evening, please feel free to come forward now. All right. Seeing nobody, we're going to close the public forum and move on to new business. And under new business, we have the Fifth Street and Bluegrass Parkway, always stop requests. Phil or Jason, somebody want to take this one. Good evening, everybody. Good evening. All right, so we're gonna have to make some adjustments here. Okay. Didn't say when he just says he'll be here. This is gonna get me through it. Okay. Okay, everybody. Uh welcome. I'm here to present uh a report here on fifth and bluegrass. Uh the request at hand is an all-way stop for the subject intersection. For everybody that doesn't know, here's kind of a quick slide of the location map. Um Fifth Av Fifth Street is a neighborhood collector, it is a 35 mile an hour posted speed limit. Bluegrass Parkway is a local road. They posted 25 mile an hour. A little bit of background on this subject intersection. Uh in fall of 2023, the public works teams installed some flashing beacons at a crosswalk on the south lake of FIF and Bluegrass. This allows for pedestrians as they're crossing to activate the push buttons, provide signage there saying that there is pedestrian crossing, as well as some activated flashing lights. Further, we've also provided some tree trimming there immediately adjacent to the intersection, both north and south. You have lines of trees. Um again in the fall of 2023, we have performed some tree trimming. Uh, if I'm being honest with everybody here, I believe these were um derivatives of simply complaints. Again, I was not here for these, so I don't know the whole story on that. Apologize if I had a couple people out of the office this week, I would have been able to punt down the whole history. But I assume these were in reactions to again citizen complaints or concerns, maybe staff concerns at that time. Okay, so let's kind of dive right into it here. So in the engineering world, um, this is how we are evaluating both from the engineering world and the police um side of things. We are using the manual form of uniform traffic control devices to evaluate these things. Uh evaluate the always stop, excuse me. So the M U T C D here kind of just kind of a basic definition is the ability to add stop signs to make the intersection a four-way stop or an al-way stop controlled intersection is governed by the MET CD. Like I just stated.
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