Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission

City of Sunnyvale Meeting Minutes - Final Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission Thursday, December 18, 2014 6:30 PM West Conference Room, City Hall, 456 W. Olive Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94086 CALL TO ORDER Chair Jones called the meeting to order at 6:34 p.m. in the West Conference Room. ROLL CALL Present 7 - Chair David Jones Vice Chair Kevin Jackson Commissioner John Cordes Commissioner Richard Kolber Commissioner Margaret Okuzumi Commissioner Angela Rausch Commissioner Kyle Welch Council Liaison Attendance: Council Liaison Dave Whittum (absent) PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Carol Shariat, Principal Transportation Engineer/Planner, introduced Carla Ochoa, Traffic Engineer, and stated that Carla will be the staff liaison for next month's meeting. Vice Chair Jackson announced that VTA BPAC has been discussing the expressway bicycle accomadations and shared with the Commission some items he took to the VTA BPAC for their consideration. He also annonced that the Department of Public Safety was awarded $60,000. from the California Office of Traffic Safety and referenced items from the Tentative Council Agenda that were upcoming. Commissioner Kolber, added that the Lawrence Station Plan will come before BPAC in February. Ms. Shariat stated she needs to confirm that date with Planning. Vice Chair Jackson announced that the Work Plan for the Climate Action Plan was City of Sunnyvale Page 1 Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Meeting Minutes - Final December 18, 2014 Commission approved and gave updates to the Commission noting that the Horizon 2035 Committee will meet in January to discuss the Traffic Analysis because it was found to need additional work. CONSENT CALENDAR 1. A 14-0894 Draft Minutes of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission Meeting of November 20, 2014 Chair Jones asked for a vote to approve the Consent Calendar. Commissioner Kolber moved and Commissioner Cordes seconded the motion to approve the consent calendar. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes 7 - Chair Jones Vice Chair Jackson Commissioner Cordes Commissioner Kolber Commissioner Okuzumi Commissioner Rausch Commissioner Welch No 0 PUBLIC COMMENTS None. PUBLIC HEARINGS/GENERAL BUSINESS 2. 14-0895 Annual Review of the Code of Ethics and Conduct for Elected and Appointed Officials Chair Jones announced the Public Hearing item and asked for staff's comments. Ms. Shariat stated that there were no changes to the Code of Ethics and Conduct for Elected and Appointed Officials from last year and announced to the Commission that this was their opportunity to request any changes to the document which would be submitted to the City Clerk. She also stated that if the Commission had no changes they could state acknowledgement of the document and accept it as presented. All Commissioners acknowledged receipt of the document and accepted it as presented. City of Sunnyvale Page 2 Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Meeting Minutes - Final December 18, 2014 Commission NON-AGENDA ITEMS & COMMENTS -Commissioner Comments Commissioner Welch made reference to a report that was published by the League of American Bicyclists regarding cycle related fatalities and shared statistics from the report with the Commission. He added that the report is available for download online and the title of the report is Every Bicyclist Counts. Vice Chair Jackson suggested placing the following item on the 2015 Work Plan or have staff write a short Information Only Report regarding striping of bicycle lanes. He made reference to the new striping on Fremont Avenue and stated that on the intersection the bike lane stripe becomes dashed but the buffer lane stays solid. He stated that it is the wrong type of signal to send to motorists and would like to further review the standards the City is using prior to future projects being started. Vice Chair Jackson recommended that new members receive a briefing on the California Complete Streets Act and the City’s Street Space Allocation Policies. He also recommended the following items be placed on the 2015 Work Plan: Discussion on the removal of bollards and chicanes throughout the City, adding curb cuts for paths that do not have them, and painting curbs red before entrances and exits. Vice Chair Jackson also requested to have the new City Manager attend a BPAC meeting. Commissioner Welch referred back to the striping on Fremont Avenue and asked Vice Chair Jackson for additional information. Vice Chair Jackson gave detailed information about the intersections noting that the bike lane stripe becomes dashed but the buffer stripe remains solid all the way through the crosswalk. The Commissioners discussed various ways the striping would work best. Ms. Shariat stated she would check the buffer standards to see if they had changed. Commissioner Rausch announced she received a twitter feed regarding a fatal collision on Remington and Michelangelo on December 9 involving a pedestrian. She also mentioned a major injury accident on El Camino and Cezanne Avenue also involving a pedestrian. Commissioner Rausch noted that in the past the Department of Public Safety used to attend BPAC meetings on a regular basis and asked if Public Safety could be invited back and a get a relationship going again. She considered proposing a Study Issue to look into the fatalities and major injury accidents sites. Chair Jones stated that he thought they had proposed enhancements to be places City of Sunnyvale Page 3 Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Meeting Minutes - Final December 18, 2014 Commission at Michelangelo. Ms. Shariat stated she would check to see what changes were proposed. Commissioner Okuzumi stated that having Public Safety interface with the BPAC makes for a good relationship between the bicycling community and law enforcement. She noted that the League of American Bicyclist has that element as part of their criteria on how they evaluate bicycle friendly communities. Commissioner Okuzumi thanked staff for generating a map of Pedestrian Collisions over a five-year period. She then noted that even though there are not a lot of collisions, there is a concentration on El Camino Real and Hollenbeck Avenue. She suggested adding an item to the Work Plan that focuses on a matrix between bicycle and pedestrian activity and discuss if progress is happening in terms of safety. Commissioner Okuzumi asked staff for an update regarding the Bicycle Master Plan since the last time it was reviewed was about 10 years ago. Ms. Shariat noted that the Bicycle Master Plan is a project that is coming up for review soon. Commissioner Okuzumi stated that she would like to get an overview of what programs and policies are in place and gave the example of shopping centers that have bike racks and those who do not. Chair Jones noted the Five Essential Elements of a Bicycle Friendly America are: Engineering: Creating safe and convenient places to ride and park Education: Giving people of all ages and abilities the skills and confidence to ride Encouragement: Creating a strong bike culture that welcomes and celebrates bicycling Enforcement: Ensuring safe roads for all users Evaluation & Planning: Planning for a bicycling as a safe and viable transportation option Vice Chair Jackson added that the sixth element is Equality. Commissioner Cordes asked that the Commissioners receive accident reports that involve pedestrians and cyclists on a regular basis instead of once a year. Chair Jones responded that perhaps Traffic and Transportation could look into that possibility. Commissioner Cordes then asked if Sunnyvale has a policy for zero tolerance for pedestrian and bicycle accidents. Staff was not aware of such policy. Commissioner Cordes stated that he would like to propose a Study Issue for a policy on zero tolerance for pedestrian and bicycle accidents and would propose it in January after some research. Commissioner Cordes then made reference to the Active Items list and asked how often it gets updated. Ms. Shariat responded that currently it has not been updated but with the hire of the new Transportation and Traffic Manager the list will be City of Sunnyvale Page 4 Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Meeting Minutes - Final December 18, 2014 Commission updated on a regular basis. Commissioner Cordes asked staff if the City keeps track of how many city staff are walking, biking or taking transit to work. Ms. Shariat responded that she recently received a summary for a survey that went out to all City Employee’s on how they get to work and offered to bring in a copy for everyone at the next meeting. She did note, that not all employees respond because it is voluntary and unfortunately they are considered as driving alone in their car. Commissioner Cordes asked if the City has incentives for employees who bike or take transit to work. Staff was unaware of any incentives offered to the employees. Commissioner Cordes stated that there is opportunity for encouragement of City staff to bike or walk to work. Commissioner Cordes asked staff if Sunnyvale uses a State Standard when bike racks will be installed. Staff and Chair Jones agreed that it relates to a Planning Code and stated that in the past BPAC has had the opportunity to review plans and help determine how many bike racks will be included depending on the size of the building. Commissioner Cordes asked how an incentive program is created for existing retail to install a bicycle rack. Chair Jones responded that he is aware that the Air District has money available for Clean Air Transportation Funds however, that is contingent upon the owner of the property wanting to make space for the bike racks. Vice Chair Jackson noted that even though it is not a policy, staff follow the VTA bicycle technical guidelines and made reference to the guideline noting several issues. Vice Chair Jackson spoke about the bicycle technical guidelines and stated that they allow bikes to be brought into a building and count them as the required bike parking. He noted several things he did not like about that to the Commission. Commissioner Cordes asked if the Bicycle Master Plan could be placed on the City’s Website. Chair Jones stated that it was located on the City’s BPAC website as a .pdf 2006 Bike Plan. Commissioner Cordes asked the Commission if anyone knew how to gain access to the Santa Clara and Mountain View BPAC minutes. Chair Jones stated that in Santa Clara the Bicycle Committee meets quarterly and he is able to access the minutes through the City’s website but there is no way to subscribe. He did not have any information on Mountain View. Commissioner Cordes asked staff if a report regarding the Steven’s Creek Trail will be out soon. Ms. Ochoa stated that the report should be out in January. Commissioner Okuzumi asked staff if it would be possible to get a compilation of policies and guidelines on bicycling and pedestrians. She noted that it would help City of Sunnyvale Page 5 Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Meeting Minutes - Final December 18, 2014 Commission them to determine what policies are already in place and discuss which policies need better application or better enforcement. Chair Jones asked for clarification on the Work Plan and asked staff if it was different than the Active Items List. Ms. Shariat stated that it is the Master Work Plan and asked Vice Chair Jackson for some insight. Vice Chair Jackson stated that in the past it has been items that staff puts together along with reoccurring items and gave examples. Commissioner Okuzumi gave an example of how the Work Plan was established when she was on the MTC Advisory Council and offered information to staff. Chair Jones stated that in January the Commission can come together to start building the Master Work Plan for the year and finalize it in February. -Staff Comments Ms. Shariat announced that she brought Pedestrian Collision Maps for the Commission and noted that it referenced children and adult accidents. Commissioner Cordes asked staff if it was possible to add comments to the map stating where improvements had been made since the collision. Ms. Shariat stated it was not something that could be done unless Public Safety was willing to include that information. Commissioner Okuzumi stated that she would be interested to see the map coded by type of violation and added that it would help to see well if there were patterns and contributing factors. Commissioner Cordes requested that, if possible, the Collision Maps be emailed to the Commission as a .pdf. Ms. Shariat stated that she followed up on the Mary Avenue Bike Lanes Project and noted that the re-release of the RFP would be in December and are hoping that the design for the bike lanes will occur in February or March 2015. Vice Chair Jackson asked if there was a date for the construction. Ms. Shariat stated she would have to follow up on that. Commissioner Cordes asked if the issue regarding the Creek Trail that goes by Levi Stadium had been resolved so that you can use the bike trail during game time. Chair Jones responded that there has been movement on it but the bike coalition is still working on it. INFORMATION ONLY REPORTS/ITEMS 14-0947 BPAC Proposed 2015 Study Issues Commissioners’ Ranking City of Sunnyvale Page 6 Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Meeting Minutes - Final December 18, 2014 Commission 14-0998 Active Items List ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned at 8:02 p.m. City of Sunnyvale Page 7