The Canyon Creek “Traffic and Pedestrian Safety Committee” is pleased to announce that we have a new name and a change to our committee scope. Our new committee will now be called the Canyon Creek “Traffic and Safety Committee” and we will now add general neighborhood safety issues to our focus in addition to our previous traffic and pedestrian safety focus. In light of the noted increases in crime such as neighborhood burglaries and thefts, the CC HOA board and our committee feel that more focus is needed in this area. Our committee helped organize a Townhall community engagement meeting on the topic of crime and safety that many of our residents attended (or watched by a live virtual meeting) on November 19, 2021, at the St Thomas More Church on RM 620. Our HOA President, Brett Funderburg, kicked off the Townhall meeting with a short intro speech followed by speakers and presenters such as our city District 6 Council Member Mackenzie Kelly, APD Commissioner Chris Vallejo, and our own committee member, Ryan Sullivan, who presented data collected to date on burglaries and thefts in our neighborhood. A Q&A period also helped answer some questions of the attendees. APD has committed to increased patrols in our neighborhood to help address this rising crime issue. Our committee has created a Form to Report Burglaries and Theft in Canyon Creek so that our residents can informally make us aware of an incident so that we can track these incidents and provide that info to the APD and other local law enforcement agencies to help drive future decision making that could make our neighborhood safer. See the attached link to Addressing Vehicle Burglaries and Theft in Canyon Creek. We will communicate info and data updates on these issues to our residents via regular newsletters, e-blasts, our HOA website, social media, etc. We encourage all of our residents who have experienced crimes such as burglaries and thefts to report the crime (or attempted crime) and to call either 911 for an active crime in progress or 311 to report the incident after the fact. The following is a summary of neighborhood criminal activity reported in our neighborhood in the last 12 months:

· Community Reported:

50 Incidents Reported
42% Reported to Police
86% - Vehicle entered
44% - Theft occurred
6 vehicles stolen
Common items removed
- Wallets
- Cash

· APD Reported:

5 Burglaries
48 Shed break-ins
125 Vehicles entered
34 Auto thefts
58 General thefts

Following suggestions that the HOA hire a private security company to patrol neighborhood streets overnight to deter auto burglaries, the Association’s attorney has reviewed our governing documents and advised the board that this is outside the scope of the Association’s enumerated duties and would constitute an unauthorized expenditure of Association funds. In addition, consultations with law enforcement and other knowledgeable sources cited cost, liability risk and low likelihood of success as other factors to consider.

The HOA board and this committee have considered requests to lead the creation of a Neighborhood Watch program associated with the national Neighborhood Watch program or other crime prevention programs. While the Association will not take the lead on such an effort, we are willing to provide support through communication and advocacy. If any residents would like to help organize and implement such a program, we would encourage you to do so and we will assist as appropriate.

To ensure that Member pedestrians and cyclists can safely enjoy our sidewalks, crosswalks, common areas and other public spaces, the Association continues to fund periodic patrols by off-duty Travis County deputy constables to provide traffic calming and promote pedestrian safety in our community. These patrols are in addition to patrols by other law enforcement agencies such as APD and the Travis County Sheriff’s Department.
Several streetlights in our neighborhood have previously been noted to be inoperative during a recent streetlight audit. Service requests were initiated with the City of Austin as well as with Pedernales Electric Co-op to fix these streetlight issues and most of these inoperative streetlights have already been fixed.

The project to improve the safety of pedestrians, particularly school children, at intersections near Canyon Creek Elementary is now complete. This program called “Safe Routes to Schools” was funded by the City of Austin as a special grant to our neighborhood. Our committee and the Austin Transportation Dept (ATD) believe these intersection improvements will offer a strong visual signal to drivers to slow down, watch for pedestrians, and come to a full stop at the Boulder/Ember Glen intersection.

Location of Intersection Improvements Near Canyon Creek Elementary

The following is a summary of the latest data from the two DSDD’s (radar speed units) installed on Chestnut Ridge Rd. Our residents are generally staying within or close to the posted 30 mph speed limit which means that the two DSDD’s are providing traffic calming as they are designed to do.

DSDD Data Comparison:

Chestnut Ridge North Side:

24mph average speed
442 average cars per day
24% increase in traffic from Spring 2021

Chestnut Ridge South Side:

22mph average vehicle speed
637 average cars per day
22% increase in traffic from Spring 2021
Note: 44% more traffic recorded on the south side of Chestnut Ridge than on the north side

Street resurfacing was completed at the end of last summer for most of the streets in our neighborhood. Many of the cul-de-sac turning circles were not resurfaced last summer, but those turning circles are planned to be resurfaced with a slurry seal by City of Austin Public Works crews starting in June of this year. More to follow on this topic.

Reminders Concerning Traffic and Pedestrian Safety:

Respect the right-of-way of pedestrians in our neighborhood – Note: it is a state law that vehicles must yield the right of way to pedestrians standing at the entrance of or in crosswalks. To yield, vehicles must come to a complete stop and wait while pedestrians enter, cross and exit the crosswalk.

Drive within the posted speed limits for safety (trying to save a few extra seconds by speeding is not safe or smart and it can cost you a lot of money). Note speed limits are set based on ideal driving conditions so wet roads, heavy traffic or pedestrian presence warrants reducing speed below the posted limit.
If you see someone driving recklessly or if you experience “road rage”, call 911 immediately and report as many details of the reckless driving as possible such as the nature of the event, license plate number, make/model/color of vehicle, location, driver description, etc. Please do not chase or confront the driver.

Current Canyon Creek “Traffic and Safety Committee” Members:
- Randy Lawson – Chair
- Dave Marshall – Co-Chair
- Serge Zirojevic
- Ryan Sullivan
- Mark Grosvenor
- Dean El-Baz

Notes:

You can contact the committee members directly at the following email address: traffic@canyoncreek.net
Click on the following link to access previously issued Committee Newsletters: https://canyoncreek.net/search?q=newsletter