Astoria traffic safety advisory committee to weigh neighbors' complaints about home childcare drop-offs

The Astoria Traffic Safety Advisory Committee agreed at its meeting to ask staff to prepare a traffic study and report for consideration at the committee's July meeting, after neighbors described repeated safety problems tied to a home childcare near Lexington.

Chair said the new state rule allowing daycares in any zone does not remove the city's authority to address traffic, parking and safety issues, and that the committee's role would be advisory: "We're just gonna kinda clarify that this thing that's come up is something... appropriate for us to consider," the Chair said. Staff framed the committee's decision as preliminary: "You are only discussing whether or not to discuss," Samuel Peterson, associate planner, told commissioners.

Committee members pressed staff for objective thresholds before proceeding. "There were multiple complaints, but I don't know if that's 4 or 20," one commissioner said; Peterson replied a staff report would articulate the threshold and recommended measurements. Victoria Sage, the city's code compliance specialist, said most complaints received so far "are, in fact, traffic" concerns and stressed that code compliance does not regulate moving vehicles or right-of-way signage — those are functions of the police and public works departments.

No formal motion was taken at the meeting. Instead, the committee signaled general support for letting staff gather data and return with a report in July so commissioners can review measured traffic conditions, recommended engineering or non-structural measures (the "three E's": engineering, education and enforcement), and, if appropriate, craft advisory recommendations to city council.