Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee

City of Mountain View Minutes Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee Wednesday, April 24, 2024 6:30 PM Plaza Conference Room and Video Conference, 500 Castro St., Mountain View, CA 94041 1. CALL TO ORDER Stone called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL Staff members present: Transportation Manager Ria Hutabarat Lo, Active Transportation Planner Brandon Whyte, Associate Civil Engineer Hoa Nguyen, Principal Civil Engineer Robert Gonzales, Acting Public Works Director Ed Arango. Twelve members of the public were present, all were online. Present 5 - Committee Member Lada Adamic, Committee Member Valerie Fenwick, Committee Member James Kuszmaul, Vice Chair Terry Barton, and Chair John Stone 3. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC (00:03:00) Bruce England raised a concern regarding improved bicycle parking at the Farmers Market. 4. MINUTES 4.1 Meeting Minutes March 27, 2024 (00:04:25) MOTION: (00:05:32) Approve the minutes from the BPAC meeting on March 27, 2024 with the following edit: Under item 6.3, Member Fenwick has been on BPAC for “nearly” eight years. MOTION – Fenwick/Stone – 5/0/0 - passed Yes: 5 - Committee Member Adamic, Committee Member Fenwick, Committee Member Kuszmaul, Vice Chair Barton, and Chair Stone 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 6. NEW BUSINESS 6.1 California Street (West) Complete Street Improvements, Pilot, Project 21-40 (00:06:48) Nguyen provided a presentation on metrics for the pilot project. Public comment: (00:34:04) City of Mountain View Page 1 Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Minutes April 24, 2024 Committee Cliff Chambers from Mountain View Coalition for Sustainable Planning (MVCSP) supported the project and design. He asked what criteria would be used to evaluate the different vertical treatments and information on how information would be utilized for the permanent facility. Committee comment: (00:36:39) All members of the BPAC expressed strong support for the project. Fenwick appreciated the incorporation of prior feedback and felt the design would make this a more comfortable street for walking, riding and driving. She noted that she has heard frequent complaints about delivery vehicles blocking bike lanes, and most people will not call the Police to report this, so she wasn’t sure this data could be used to assess vehicles blocking the bike lane. Barton hoped that the project would be extended to San Antonio Road and that the permanent facilities would establish a tree canopy. He also asked if truck parking will be evaluated and where delivery drivers will park. Gonzales indicated that deliveries might occur in the ends of buffer zones or in the double left turn lanes. Adamic was happy with the planned collection of turning movement data. She expressed concern about left turns into Target and hoped the pilot would make this maneuver easier and safer. She hopes that the evaluation of vertical treatments on California can be used elsewhere. Kuszmaul asked if there would be tracking of bike lane blocking, such as at bus stops, and expressed concern about this. He also noted that slip lanes and conflict zones remained at the Showers intersection, and expressed concern about potential turning speed at unprotected intersections. Stone noted that he observed double parking on California. He also noted a lack of curb ramps on the northwest corner of Showers and asked if this would be addressed. He also requested a response on the metrics and evaluation of different vertical elements. Gonzales indicated that the vertical element in the permanent project would be concrete curbs, which could have additional elements on top of them. Feedback on vertical treatments would be used to inform the design of future projects in other locations in the City. 6.2 Active Transportation Plan, Scoring Criteria (00:51:52) Whyte provided a presentation on the Active Transportation Plan scoring criteria. Public comment: (01:32:00) Chris Parry noted the goal of the project is to create a network suitable for people of all ages and abilities. He stated that the Existing Conditions report noted that the pedestrian network is largely complete with some obstacles, while the bicycle analysis indicated a collection of disjointed segments that are not a AAA network He felt that this element should have higher points than 7.5 compared to a Biodiversity score of 10 points. Committee comment: (01:35:17) BPAC members expressed frustration with the time it takes to complete projects. Adamic specifically noted that so few of the prioritized projects from the Bicycle Transportation Plan have been completed in nine years. Barton felt the recommended criteria expanded from the prior plan and is likely to capture corridors that were omitted last time (such as Rengstorff and El Camino). Kuszmaul was more comfortable with the weighting City of Mountain View Page 2 Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Minutes April 24, 2024 Committee split of the criteria. Fenwick appreciated the hard work and felt that the point distribution was appropriate with the modifications from the Active Transportation Plan Advisory Committee. Stone expressed support for the recommended criteria recommended by staff after the Active Transportation Plan Advisory Committee input. Fenwick stated that giving a score to projects with green elements allows the City to prioritize those projects. She also hoped that this would also tie in with the pavement program. Fenwick noted that many members of the public support greening Mountain View, which increases pedestrian comfort and reduces flooding. Adamic suggested points for being on a Suggested Routes to School map and asked for prioritizing Suggested Routes to School rather than just distance from schools. Adamic appreciated the projects from the prior plans. She also noted that the Pedestrian Master Plan included points for implementation, which she liked. She went on to state that because so few projects have been completed from the Bicycle and Pedestrian Plans of the past, the focus on criteria is a red herring, and what should matter is to getting projects done. She, therefore, requested teeth to projects not happening. She noted, the City is way behind in encouraging mode shift and addressing greenhouse gases. She also asked for the order of magnitude costs for projects and a network approach focused on where we will be at the end of the five years. Adamic felt that the Sylvan Park area is cut off from most places in Mountain View and that this is affecting schoolchildren. Adamic suggested scoring sample projects to see the implications for projects. She asked that the City mandate, to the furthest extent possible, having green space with every project, and therefore, the scoring criteria would not need to include it. She stated that she felt all projects should attempt to do this. Kuszmaul asked about how the scoring criteria manage project feasibility and cost. Regarding school metrics, he recommended walking over crow-flies distance. He state he preferred the quarter-mile distances used for some of the metrics rather than half-mile because locations near school will have dramatically higher foot and bike traffic than facilities further away. He requested that AAA bike networks include bike boulevards. He felt the original biodiversity criteria was over weighted and wondered if a Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) metrics could be included. Next he stated he didn’t know what the 4% increase in permeable paving would mean. Finally he requested that the suggested routes to school be added to the school prioritization at a quarter mile and he stated he liked awarding points for projects that front schools and key destinations. Barton hopes the criteria will stop projects without significant benefits. He stated his desire to consider implementability so that good projects can go first. He felt that mode shift potential was the ultimate criterion. He was a little concerned about the emphasis on starting and ending points rather than overall trips. He was not supportive of the points for creating permeable space but liked the emphasis on trees. He also felt the priority should be converting trips to support carbon reduction and sustainability overall. Barton noted that the pace of development might relate to the Capital Improvements Program (CIP) as a whole, not just within transportation. Stone suggested use of block groups, not census tracts for all geographic analysis. He also stated his preference for using raw numbers for population below the poverty line rather than percent of population below the poverty line. He also provided GIS analysis of pedestrian oriented development tool from www.aei.org/wod. He supported use of the Suggested School routes or connections to a network that connect to schools in addition to the 5-minute walk. . Stone noted that providing a landscaped buffer would increase pedestrian comfort which could drive mode shift. 6.3 BPAC Fiscal Year 2023-24 Work Plan. (02:41:30) Whyte provided a presentation on the Work Plan. City of Mountain View Page 3 Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Minutes April 24, 2024 Committee No public comments. No committee comments. 6.4 Santa Clara Valley Transportation Agency (VTA) Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) Update (02:43:32) Adamic provided updates regarding the Foothill Multimodal Study, which included potential for a shared use path along Foothill Expressway; an update to the Circulation and Mobility Element; and funding for the VTA Central Bikeway project. No public comments. No committee comments. 7. COMMITTEE/STAFF ANNOUNCEMENTS, UPDATES, REQUESTS, AND COMMITTEE REPORTS 7.1. Staff Comments (02:46:05) Whyte provided an update on new speed humps on Church Street, an Earth Day Celebration bike ride to BikeEx, and completion of Colony Street bridge. He also reported on a walk along a future Stevens Creek Trail extension and indicated that Project Tracker software is in procurement. He also highlighted upcoming events including a April 26 ride to Mountain View High School, a May 11 bike ride along El Camino Real, Bike to Wherever Days on May 17, 18 and 19. He also noted that there is a survey available for California Street pilot at collaborate.mountainview.gov/californiapilot. He also provided an update on AskMV items. No public comments. Committee comments: Adamic thanked Kuszmaul, Whyte and Lo for joining the bike ride on Friday. 7.2. Committee Comments (02:55:05) Fenwick attended Assembly Member Marc Berman’s press conference on AB 2583 for School Zones at Castlemont Elementary School, where they have implemented road narrowing near entrances. She also noted that backups have been eliminated on Villa from Castro and a proliferation of new no dumping signs. 8. SET DATE AND TIME FOR NEXT MEETING: SPECIAL MEETING - May 13, 2024 at 6:30 PM. 9. CALENDAR 10. ADJOURNMENT Stone adjourned the meeting at 9:29 p.m. Meeting minutes submitted for approval by Brandon Whyte. City of Mountain View Page 4 Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Minutes April 24, 2024 Committee Approved May 13, 2024. City of Mountain View Page 5