Carmel Valley board to consider removing traffic signal at Craven Ridge Way

After approving one new traffic signal on the Carmel Country Road corridor, the Carmel Valley Community Planning Board may explore removing another.

Back in June, the board approved a new traffic light at the intersection of Derrydown Way and Carmel Country, an effort brought forward by resident Mark Goldberg.

Derrydown Way is one of the only streets on the long, sloping Carmel Country Road without a stop light. Currently there’s a four-way stop at Derrydown and neighbors said there have been many near misses and multiple times a week someone blows through the stop sign. Goldberg first requested that the city take a look at a potential traffic light for the intersection about two years ago. The city considered traffic patterns and accident history and determined that a light was not warranted, prompting the alternative process of going through the planning board.

After initially approaching the board in January, he polled 38 households and found 33 in support of a new light, five were in favor of a pedestrian-activated lighted crosswalk, like the one installed at High Bluff Drive and Lady Hill Road near Solana Highlands School. Others supported a roundabout.

After another update in March, the board approved the light in June.

On Sept. 28, the planning board revisited its decision due to local resident Mike Hayes being unable to express his opposition to the light.

At that June meeting, a full crowd had shown up to hear the board’s item on the El Camino Real Assisted Living project and the overflow crowd spilled into the library patio. Goldberg was in attendance but was stuck on the patio for four hours and unable to hear when his name was called and Chair Frisco White tabled the item. Hayes then left. Near midnight, Goldberg announced that he actually was in attendance and the board approved the light unanimously.

While it was too late for the board to modify its motion and they did not want to rescind the approval, White allowed Hayes to share his thoughts on a potential alternative solution at the September meeting.

“This light would be five traffic lights in .7 miles, one every 924 feet,” Hayes said. “I agree with Mark because there are some safety concerns and people blowing through there, as they could with a traffic light, but I think there is a better approach.”

Instead of adding the fifth light, Hayes suggested puling out the light at the nearby three-way intersection of Craven Ridge Way: “No one in the neighborhood wants that light, there’s hardly any cars there.” Goldberg offered his support of the removal option, while retaining the new light at Derrydown.

Removing the Craven Ridge light was not on the agenda for board action and will be placed on the October agenda, hopefully with input from the city. Board member Michelle Strauss said she would like to know the costs of both installing a traffic signal and removing one. A new traffic signal proposed for Mercado Drive and Del Mar Heights Road that is expected to start construction in the coming months has a price tag of $1.5 million.

This is not the first time the Craven Ridge signal has been in the board’s sights. In 2016, the planning board backed another group of neighbors’ request to remove the Craven Ridge signal but it never went forward with the city. At the time, it was determined the light was a development requirement of the Alta Del Mar community in Del Mar Mesa.

The planning board will next meet on Thursday, Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. at the Carmel Valley Library.