The city council finds that pedestrians are standing, lying, and sitting upon median islands located in the center of streets, distracting drivers, placing themselves in harm's way, and trampling landscaping. Vehicle accident reports involving the street medians in the city support the finding that standing, sitting, and lying on the median islands is dangerous. Such median islands have been installed for safety reasons to separate opposing lanes of traffic and are often landscaped for aesthetic purposes to beautify city arterials. There is no intended pedestrian use of such medians. Pedestrians may cross a street in accordance with the law and do not need to stand, sit, lie, or otherwise remain on these median islands for any purpose.
The purpose of this chapter is to protect the public safety of drivers and pedestrians and preserve the aesthetics of the city's landscaped median islands.
(Ord. 1133, 10/10/2023)
For purposes of this chapter, a median island is a raised and curbed area, of variable width, which may or may not contain landscaping or hardscaping features, located in the approximate center of the street, parallel to the travel lanes, separating opposing lanes of motor vehicle traffic and channeling the location of the motor vehicle traffic.
(Ord. 1133, 10/10/2023)
Pedestrians are prohibited from standing, sitting, lying, or otherwise remaining upon any median island as defined in Section 10.34.020. To "remain" on a median island includes, without limitation, walking up and down the median for any purpose. However, this prohibition does not apply to city employees or contractors maintaining the median island, emergency personnel or other persons temporarily using the median island because of an accident or vehicular emergency, or persons temporarily using a median to actively cross a road, street, or highway. A pedestrian using a median to cross a road, street, or highway may only briefly be on a median, as necessary, to facilitate active and safe crossings.
(Ord. 1133, 10/10/2023)