BUENA PARK : Council to Decide on Dale Street’s Path

It’s going to be a tale of two streets at tonight’s City Council meeting, when officials will decide whether to realign Dale Street with either Monticello Avenue or Burlingame Avenue.

Residents from both streets, which lead to the Bellehurst tract, believe either choice would disrupt their neighborhoods by adding more traffic, adversely affecting their quality of life.

“We’re going to have an awful lot of traffic going through here if they open up Burlingame,” said Ronald Burch, who has lived on the street for about 10 years. “I’m dead against it. . . . My grandkids won’t be able to play out front anymore. That’s for sure.”

The City Council will decide which of the two residential avenues Dale Street should be aligned with, or if Dale should remain a T-intersection that dead-ends at Malvern Avenue.

Dale is being widened to four lanes as part of a $9-million project, paid with state, county and local money. It also includes the building of an underpass at the railroad crossing.

A draft environmental impact report on the realignment project recommends that Dale Street be placed in line with Burlingame because of engineering and design considerations, said Donald K. Jensen, director of public works.

“In order to solve the traffic problems in the area, we feel we need to realign (with Burlingame)--not that Monticello won’t work, but we think Burlingame is more suitable,” Jensen said.

Among the advantages is improved visibility at the intersection for motorists. In addition, a traffic signal would be installed.

Jensen said that studies show traffic will turn either east or west on Malvern from northbound Dale, instead of heading north into the residential tract.

Jensen added that if traffic were to increase on Burlingame, studies show volumes would likely remain below the capacity of the residential street.

The split among residents is typified by the views of John Waller and Henry D. Harris, who do not want to see either neighborhood sacrificed.

Waller, who has lived on Monticello for 35 years, said he believes Burlingame is the better alternative because it makes better sense from an engineering standpoint. But he also said that neither residential street should be forced to bear the burden of additional traffic. Instead, traffic should be evenly spread.

Harris, who lives on Burlingame, said he’d prefer to see Dale remain a dead-end street at Malvern. “It seems like the most logical thing I could think of to do,” said Harris, who has lived on the street since 1971. “We’d hate to see it realign with Monticello or Burlingame.”

After the council selects an alignment for the intersection, a final environmental document will be prepared and presented for approval in January. If the project is approved, construction could begin by November, 1994, with completion in December, 1996.

The public hearing begins at 6 p.m. in the City Council chambers, 6650 Beach Blvd.