Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission

City of Sunnyvale Meeting Minutes - Final Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission Thursday, May 15, 2014 6:30 PM West Conference Room, City Hall, 456 W. Olive Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94086 CALL TO ORDER Chair Manitakos called the meeting to order at 6:30 pm. in the West Conference Room. SALUTE TO THE FLAG ROLL CALL Present 6 - Chair James Manitakos Jr. Vice Chair Kevin Jackson Commissioner David Jones Commissioner Richard Kolber Commissioner Angela Rausch Commissioner Kyle Welch Absent 1 - Commissioner Cathy Switzer Council Pat Meyering (present) Commissioner Cathy Switzer's absence was excused. PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Vice Chair Jackson reported on the VTA’s BPAC subcommittee and announced that the recommendation to the Board of Supervisors for the Anti-Harassment Ordinance passed without any problems or objections.Other announcements included the record turn-out for Bike to Work day with 562 bicycles at the Moffett Field Rail Stop; an upcoming presentation for the Safe Routes to School Project for the City Council meeting of May 20th; noted the Climate Action Plan would also be presented at that meeting; Public Safety will host a Bicycle Rodeo in the downtown Washington area on Saturday, June 7; the Study Session regarding Mathilda and 237 is scheduled for June 10 at the West Conference room. Vice Chair Jackson then stated that there is a very nice historic bicycle display at the Los Altos history museum. Open Thursday through Sunday and the display runs through October. He then announced that Legislative AB 2707 will allow public transit buses to extend their length and give them room for bicycle racks that can carry three City of Sunnyvale Page 1 Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Meeting Minutes - Final May 15, 2014 Commission bicycles instead of two. Assistant Director of Public Works, Manuel Pineda, announced that Jack Witthaus is scheduled to return in August. He added that a new Principal Planner Engineer has been hired in the Transportation Division and she is scheduled to start in June. He announced that she will be present in the next BPAC meeting and will be taking over BPAC duties starting in July. Richard Coldberg, Public Citizen, announced that currently there is a group in Sacramento trying to get a bill to officially make it state law where you have protected bike lanes. Commissioner Jones stated that he was unable to attend the Special Study Session regarding pedestrian issues because he was in New Orleans. He noted that while he was there he encountered a unique community supported opportunity. He made reference to a group called Youth and Leadership Council and stated that it is a public service organization for young professionals. He gave an example of a bike rack which was one of the projects the organization worked on. Commissioner Jones gave details of the project and stated that he has contact information if anyone is interested in obtaining additional information. CONSENT CALENDAR 1.A 14-0526 Draft Minutes of the April 17, 2014 Meeting of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission Chair Manitakos pulled the minutes from the consent calendar noting that there were concerns from the public and the commission that the minutes were too concise. He added that the comments would be emailed to Assistant Director Pineda and brought back for approval at the next BPAC meeting. Vice Chair Jackson noted that visitors and staff members were not included as attending the meeting and suggested having a sign-in sheet. Assistant Director Pineda noted that there was a sign-in sheet on the table. PUBLIC COMMENTS Ralph Durham, Public Citizen, commented on an article he read regarding Strava, (GPS Cycling application) selling data to cities, counties, and planning people that would want to use the information. He added that the article had details about what kinds of ridership there was in your area and that the cost of the information would depend on how big the city or county was. Mr. Durham gave examples of how the City could benefit from the data and noted that the data might be helpful when converting streets into bike lanes. City of Sunnyvale Page 2 Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Meeting Minutes - Final May 15, 2014 Commission Chair Manitakos commented that even if Strava does not catch all the bicyclists, hopefully it gives a relative proportion you can see of where the bicycle traffic is heaviest. PUBLIC HEARINGS/GENERAL BUSINESS 2 14-0529 Review the FY 2014/2015 Recommended Budget and Resource Allocation Plan Chair Manitakos opened the Public Hearing. He noted that he read through the recommended budget and found it very interesting and did not have any comments. Commissioner Kolber stated that he noticed that there were three items where BPAC was involved. Vice Chair Jackson noted that the projects were Mary Avenue, Duane Avenue and the School Traffic study. Chair Manitakos added that it is nice that the City is backing up the BPAC with financial resources. 3 14-0527 Homestead Road - Traffic Control Assistant Director Pineda stated that he was aware that Vice Chair Jackson had requested to review the Temporary Traffic Control (TTC) Guidelines and that he was also requested to bring the Homestead Road Traffic Control Plans as well as the LinkedIn Project TTC plans to the meeting. He added that he was not clear on the intent of the item but would open it up to questions and provide the plans as requested. Chair Manitakos stated that they are seeing an uptick in construction activity and the construction has the potential to affect all traffic but probably pedestrians and bicyclists even more. He added that there are pretty good guidelines on what to do in terms of TTC but he sometimes wonders how well they are implemented. Vice Chair Jackson voiced his concerns regarding the Homestead project and stated that even though years ago they thought they had a good set of procedures in place, as far as signage and proper way of closing bicycle lanes, it was clear that the Homestead project did not meet those guidelines at all. He noted that part of the problem might have been that they have part-time bike lanes although the construction hours were during the time when it was supposed to be a bike lane not City of Sunnyvale Page 3 Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Meeting Minutes - Final May 15, 2014 Commission parking. Commissioner Kolber noted that the section of Homestead from Tantau Avenue to Wolfe Road is a full time bike lane with parking on the right side. Vice Chair Jackson noted that the bicycle lane on Homestead Road was not closed properly. There were no signs or barricades directing pedestrians and bicyclists through or around the construction work zone. He made reference to parking restrictions on the Sunnyvale side that were not adequate and stated that it seemed that everyone had good intentions to follow procedures but once the project left the building, bicycle accommodations were not being followed. Vice Chair Jackson added that he would like to make sure this does not happen again with other projects. Assistant Director Pineda referred to closures of sidewalks during construction and noted that the process has been changed internally and that sidewalk closures are no longer permitted unless they are absolutely necessary for safety reasons. He then referred to the Homestead Road project and spoke about roadway closure and signing of a roadway. He noted that the engineers follow the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) guidelines and design plans to make sure MUTCD requirements are being met. Assistant Director Pineda asked the BPAC if they felt that MUTCD guidelines were not being followed when it came to signing and striping plans or if it was the decision point of what gets removed when deciding to detour a plan. Vice Chair Jackson stated that it was definitely both. He added that the diagrams included in TTC show signage going up in order to close a bike lane, however, that was never done for the west bound segment on Homestead, to his knowledge. He then stated that it was clear that parking removal was recognized as necessary but the limited hours and days of the week that were chosen did not make sense. Vice Chair Jackson added that even if there were some justification for closing the bike lane there should have been a detour provided and noted that nothing like that was done. He added that if a detour will not be provided it could have been done a lot better by using the “bikes may use full lane” signs in the narrow lanes that are remaining as they did on the Cupertino side. He stated that the westbound side of Homestead was really bad but the Cupertino side was not as bad. Chair Manitakos referred to traffic control on the LinkedIn project and added that during the partial closure of Maude Avenue they could have left room for a bicycle lane but instead cones were placed all the way out leaving one narrow lane for both bicycles and motor vehicles which made it extremely dangerous and leaving City of Sunnyvale Page 4 Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Meeting Minutes - Final May 15, 2014 Commission bicyclists no other choice. He referenced the Sunnyvale Avenue project and noted that cones were not placed all the way out leaving enough room for a bicycle lane. Chair Manitakos added that something he has noticed a lot is that when the MUTCD sign are placed out it is often placed where it completely blocks the bicycle lane causing an extreme hazard. He added that the sign is part of the construction and should follow the rules not be in violation of the TTC rules. He added that there needs to be better thought process to the entire construction zone including where signs should be placed. He referred to the LinkedIn project and noted that there was a sign on Maude Avenue that was blocking a bicycle lane that stated “watch for bicyclists”. He added that he would rather not have the sign than have a sign that creates a greater hazard. Assistant Director Pineda stated that he would remind the inspectors about sign locations and asked that if they see a sign located improperly or blocking the bicycle lane when commuting on their bicycles to please let the City know and it will be taken care of. Vice Chair Jackson made a comment about bicycle lanes and noted that they do not make the same accommodations to bicycles lanes as they do to closing of a major route. He added that contractors will be out in the middle of the night clearing the route for the next day but you will never see that done for the closure of a bicycle lane. Vice Chair Jackson then suggested that when the inspectors approve a TTC plan and everything is set up for the construction, the inspectors should take a bicycle and ride down the construction zone during peak hours and if they will not do it there is probably a good reason why and should fix it. Commissioner Rausch disagreed with that suggestion. Vice Chair Jackson stated that a cyclist of average ability should be able to it if the construction plans are correct and are being followed. Commissioner Jones referred to the new sidewalk policy and sated that giving the sidewalk temporary blockage would go a long way. He noted that a lot of the traffic control is not necessarily safety but that half of it is safety for the cars coming through that space and also for the workers who have to be there on foot in the traffic with cars going by them at high rates of speed. He noted that it is one of the most dangerous positions so not allowing them to take that all the time but only take it when it is needed for worker safety and actual work of the timeline of the project would be the best kind of balance between pedestrian, bicycle access as well as worker safety on the project in the right a way. Vice Chair Jackson added that if a bike lane is closed down and street parking is there then the street parking should never be left or at least the burden of proof City of Sunnyvale Page 5 Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Meeting Minutes - Final May 15, 2014 Commission should be whoever wants to keep the street parking to demonstrate that it would be an extreme hardship to get rid of it otherwise it should go first. Chair Jackson added that he would be interested to hear how the comments were received by the inspectors. Assistant Director Pineda stated that he meets with the inspectors on the Development side and inspectors on the Capital side on a monthly basis. He noted that he was not going to ask the inspectors to ride a bicycle through the project and added that sometimes the inspectors need reminders on certain things. He noted that the plans are designed by the engineers not the inspectors. He then stated that the inspectors and contractors implement the plans on the field and sometimes changes need to be made. Assistant Director Pineda stated that reminders to the engineers and inspectors are done on a regular basis and noted that this item would go on the regular list to make sure they are on top of it. He added that he will be showing the sidewalk presentation to all the inspectors and all staff in three weeks as part of his full division meeting that he does every three to six months. Vice Chair Jackson asked Assistant Director Pineda to at least have the inspectors visualize what it would be to like to ride a bicycle through the project during peak travel times and added that if they really do not have any experience when it comes to riding to tell them that from a passing motorist, five feet is pretty close but four feet is too close unless there is really no other choice. Assistant Director Pineda gave examples of the types of TTC that are sometimes required and stated that depending on the length of the construction you might have to remove TTC every night. Ralph Durham, Public Citizen, referred to the Homestead project and stated that he noticed a fair amount of on street parking with narrow lanes along Tantau to Wolfe Road. He added that the current width of the bicycle lane on the Sunnyvale side is too narrow. He then referred to the misplacement of signs and sated that he has seen it all over not just in Sunnyvale. Mr. Durham then spoke about a no left turn sign in Mountain View during the Art and Wine Festival. Vice Chair Jackson made reference to construction signs that were placed in the bicycle lane on Fremont Avenue going towards highway 85. He added that he hopes Assistant Director Pineda makes some progress when speaking with the engineers and inspectors because the construction people are not going to get it after one reminder and should be persistent so that eventually they catch on. Ralph Durham, Public Citizen, added that he noticed on Fremont Avenue that City of Sunnyvale Page 6 Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Meeting Minutes - Final May 15, 2014 Commission people do not necessarily pay attention to the “do not stop” signs on the side of the road. He noted that every so often you see someone stopped on the side of the road for non-emergency purposes in the bicycle lane. Commissioner Jones stated that the Guiding Principles that should be referenced are the VTA Bicycle Design Guidelines. He added that everything that has been discussed are things that in the technical guidelines are described as desirable. He noted that they are not required or mandated but are desirable and that should be emphasized. He then quoted an item that should be required which stated: “bicyclist should not be led into direct conflicts with mainline traffic, work site vehicles or equipment moving through or around the traffic control zone” and added that it is the most applicable for the inspectors because we do not want any of the conflicts. Vice Chair Jackson stated it was a good point because Jack Witthaus had said many times that the City follows the best practices of the VTA bicycle technical guidelines and suggested that Assistant Director Pineda talk to the inspectors and engineers about it being followed and practiced. Assistant Director Pineda noted that the engineers who review the traffic control plans are the engineers in the Transportation Division and they are aware of the design guidelines. 4 14-0528 Utility Bill Stuffer Concepts Assistant Director Pineda stated that he wanted to provide additional feedback regarding the Utility Bill Stuffer Concepts and appreciated all of the feedback received from Vice Chair Jackson. He stated that unfortunately Jack Witthaus would be out longer than expected and stated that a new utility stuffer will not be able to be developed this year. He added that the plan is to use the same one as last year. He explained that they do not have the staff capability to get into a design process at this time and would appreciate it if someone would let him borrow last year’s utility stuffer to make a copy of it. Chair Manitakos noted that if there is going to be one to review, that would be the better one. Vice Chair Jackson agreed but noted that it does not include the three foot law which is one of the main items they wanted to include in the new stuffer. Assistant Director Pineda noted that he will contact the vendor that put the stuffer together to see if they could incorporate the information that talks about the three City of Sunnyvale Page 7 Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Meeting Minutes - Final May 15, 2014 Commission foot law and will let Public Safety know about the utility stuffer. Vice Chair Jackson recommended that once the stuffers are approved, placing them in a safe place electronically so that they can always get the art work back. Assistant Director Pineda noted that a vendor was hired to do the art work. He knows they have it but was unable to get it from them because they work through a different contract through the City Manager’s office. He added that he wanted to get a copy from the BPAC to make sure he got the right material because he knows the vendor has done different stuffers in the past. Ralph Durham, Private Citizen, stated that a concept might be how to make right turns for drivers and how to pass a right turning car for cyclists. He noted that there is a lot of confusion and has seen a lot of drivers that still do not know they are supposed to pull into a bicycle lane after giving proper clearance. He added that this would educate both sides a little. Chair Manitakos stated that he has seen a lot of cars that do not use signals and leave you wondering what they are doing. He gave an example of being behind a car and getting hung up. He added that vehicles slow down at the intersection and leave you not knowing what to do. Commissioner Rausch stated that in lieu of the utility billing stuffer if a bigger market could be captured. She gave the example of the Sunnyvale website and twitter feeds for the future. Assistant Director Pineda stated that he would work with the Communications Officer to put something out and suggested a slide that goes through the main web page highlighting information throughout the year. Ralph Durham, Private Citizen, stated that sunnyvale.gov has a symbolical page where you can click a button and get additional information. Assistant Director Pineda agreed and stated that there are opportunities to do that. He added that if they would like they could add it as a future agenda item. Chair Manitakos stated that it was a good agenda item and maybe even a Study Issue on how to get the message out. 5 14-0531 Expressway Plan 2040 - Update Assistant Director Pineda updated the BPAC on the Expressway Plan 2040 and City of Sunnyvale Page 8 Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Meeting Minutes - Final May 15, 2014 Commission stated that they are meeting with the County in the next couple of weeks to start focusing a lot more on the Sunnyvale sections. He added that they are in the process of scheduling a Study Session which will include BPAC, Planning Commission and City Council. However, the item still needs to be discussed with the City Manager so there is a possibility that it might only be for City Council review. He added that the Study Session will focus on Lawrence Expressway and the permits on Lawrence Expressway. He noted that currently there is no scheduled date but possibly within the next 3 to 4 months because that is when further information will be received. Assistant Pineda asked the BPAC if they had any questions. Vice Chair Jackson referred to the timeline and stated that there appears to be a significant event for complete streets element in August of this year and asked if he knew what that was comprised of. Pineda stated that he would send an email to the county and respond to the BPAC with his findings. Chair Manitakos noted that the website was wwwexpressway.info for further information on the expressway Plan 2040 – Update. NON-AGENDA ITEMS & COMMENTS Commissioner Comments Commissioner Welch referred to an intersection on York Town and Bernardo that he felt was dangerous. He stated that it is very difficult to see oncoming traffic when making a left turn. He noted that he was not sure who should address it but that a number of people have mentioned it to him and he has also noticed it from being on a bicycle and being in a car. Assistant Director Pineda verified if it was a site distance issue when making a left turn from York Town heading south towards Bernardo. Commissioner Welch noted that the curb is painted red but he does not think it goes back far enough. He referenced the location on the map and stated that it also included Ticonderoga heading west. He then stated that when making a left turn you cannot see cars coming due to cars parked along the curb. Assistant Director Pineda stated that he would contact the Transportation division group and have them do a site visit. Chair Manitakos stated that he has seen in a number of intersections where they put no parking signs 20 feet back to provide sight lines in a number of intersections. He noted that Jack Witthaus had talked about that a few meetings ago and stated that the city had an extra emphasis on trying to prevent parking in intersections where it creates that kind of sight lines. City of Sunnyvale Page 9 Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Meeting Minutes - Final May 15, 2014 Commission Commissioner Jones noted that in the next year’s budget they have allotted money for painting curbs red so there are some efforts being done to help enforce the vehicle triangle. Assistant Director Pineda confirmed that as part of the budget that will be going to Council they are proposing to bring back the red curb painting program. He added that if it is approved they will be painting curbs red again. He added that whenever there is a concern to send the city a note and it will be taken care of. He added that the transportation division gets hundreds of emails and calls and each one is responded to. Vice Chair Jackson referred to the long standing project to put an undercrossing at Bernardo Avenue at the Cal train tracks. He made reference of the Budget Expenditure Program (BEP) and the difficulty of coming up with matching funds. He then spoke about the Transportation Development Act (TDA) funds and stated that it occurred to him that if Sunnyvale and Mountain View partner together on this and bank two years of anticipated TDA funds they could come up with a match. He went into detail about how this would work and stated that he would like for the BPAC to consider that possibility. Vice Chair Jackson stated that the bicycle lanes on Homestead Road that are currently par-time should be made full time because a lot more bicycle traffic will be seen from the Steven’s Creek Trail, the new apple campus, the Mary bridge and additional lanes will be going in the rest of Mary Avenue. He then stated that Homestead is going to be an important feeder to those lanes. He then stated that Los Altos just put in a class one path in their portion of Homestead starting from the creek and heading over to foothill expressway. Vice Chair Jackson then stated that a lot more kids are coming through to Cupertino Middle School as well as Homestead High and suggested studying that area with a comprehensive survey. He then stated that he would like to see BPAC consider that as a Study Issue but would leave it up to staff to make that determination. Vice Chair Jackson asked to bring back the Active Items List which tracks all these things they do over time and it is very useful. He added that the list comes at the end of the agenda. Assistant Director Pineda was not familiar with the Active Items List and stated that he would follow-up. Commissioner Jones asked if there was any sense about what the City of Mountain View might be thinking about the Bernardo undercrossing and pulling TDA funds and interests. Vice Chair Jackson stated that he has not had any official contact City of Sunnyvale Page 10 Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Meeting Minutes - Final May 15, 2014 Commission with City Council or with staff but he has gotten some inquiries from some of the bicycle advocates and they seem to think it is a good idea. He added that he feels Mountain View would be receptive but nothing on paper yet. Assistant Director Pineda stated that he is not familiar with that project and will go back and look at VTP 2040. He added that under crossings tend to be fairly expensive and he does not know what the cost estimate is in VTP but would imagine it is in the millions. He made sure the BPAC knew that the TDA funds that are received every year are usually around two hundred thousand dollars. Vice Chair Jackson stated that this year is was over three hundred thousand dollars. Assistant Director Pineda stated that it goes up and down in cycles. He added that he could talk to the City of Mountain View and check the cost estimates but that the TDA funds for this year are being converted to millions of dollars to use as matching funds for other projects. Chair Manitakos stated that for a long time the undercrossing at Bernardo has been a top priority. He added that he has been on the commission for eight years and it kept getting put off because of the high speed rail and the cost. He then stated that sooner or later you have to look at the benefits and no one doubts that it is a very high benefit project you. However, you can spend money on lots of little projects but you will never get the big projects done. Chair Manitakos thanked Council member Meyering for being present. Staff Comments None. ADJOURNMENT Chair Manitakos adjourned the meeting at 7:54 p.m. City of Sunnyvale Page 11