A new center median installed on Morgan Road north of Service Road has a number of business owners irate, claiming it is preventing customers from accessing their retail center.
The city installed the median for safety reasons as part of the new development of an AM/PM Mini Mart on the northwest corner of Morgan and Service roads. A multi-family residential complex is also planned for part of the development.
The affected strip mall contains a number of businesses, including Quik Stop, Hollywood Hair, Kiddie Kingdom Day Care Center and Magic Market. A number of business owners went before the council last week to voice their objections, saying the new median is inconveniencing southbound Morgan Road motorists from entering the center as it prevents them from turning left across the northbound lane. Drivers do have the option to make a U-turn back up Morgan to make a turn into the center near Quik Stop.
“All my tenants are very upset,” said Tom Mitsopoulos, the owner of the retail center since 1994. He said the limitations will hurt his ability to develop the center.
Sophea Tuy, the owner of Hollywood Hair, asked if the city could make modifications so that persons driving southbound on Morgan Road don’t have to make a U-turn at the intersection of Morgan and Service roads.
Manny Obaid owner of Magic Market told the council: “Since that median was installed seems it it’s affecting our businesses and would like to see if we could get access.”
He presented petitions signed by 500 residents in that area.
Some of the business people claim the city didn’t apprise them of plans to install the Morgan Road median however it was part of the May 1 public hearing of the Ceres Planning Commission meeting. The Ceres Courier reported on that meeting, stating that concrete medians would be installed along Morgan and Service roads.
City Engineer Kevin Waugh said that based on Caltrans’ highway design standards, allowing southbound left-hand turns for so close to the Service/Morgan signal light is not advisable out of safety concerns. He said that because a signal replaced a stop sign, traffic can move through the intersection at 45 mph, equating to a recommended safe stopping distance of 360 feet. The Morgan entrance is about 180 feet from the intersection.
Waugh said he told Quik Stop’s owner that “this is not a convenience stop, this is a safety issue.”
Mayor Javier Lopez said the city manager and staff have been working on solutions in the past three weeks “and they do have some answers.”
Waugh explained to the Courier that he got the city to give southbound motorists an opportunity to make a U-turn and circle back to the shopping center entrance but will consider adding longer time.
“I’m pretty much a safety-oriented type of engineer,” said Waugh. “I agree that our job is to actually promote small businesses but I’m also not going to do it at the expense of, let’s say a young teen driver not guessing the safe stopping distance and then a pedestrian walks in front of them so they’re stuck in the middle of traffic and they can’t slow down and T-bone a car. Who’s going to get sued? We are.”
