Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission

City of Sunnyvale Meeting Minutes - Revised Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission Thursday, September 17, 2015 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 6:30 p.m. in the West Conference Room. ROLL CALL Present 5 - Chair David Jones Commissioner Kevin Jackson Commissioner Richard Kolber Commissioner Margaret Okuzumi Commissioner Angela Rausch Absent 2 - Vice Chair John Cordes Commissioner Kyle Welch Status of an absence: Vice Chair Cordes (excused) Commissioner Welch (excused) Council Liaison Attendance: Council Liaison Glen Hendricks (absent) 15-0874 PRESENTATION - Buffered Bike Lane Standards Commissioner Jackson gave a presentation on Buffered Bike Lane Standards. The presentation included updates from the California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. The presentation outlined various examples of bike lane buffers, raised barriers and discussed different options. He also noted that if cyclists are going to be using a shoulder there must be at least 3-feet of pavement. Commissioners discussed the presentation giving examples of buffered lanes and discussing issues involved. David Simons, VTA BPAC, noted that Caltrans BPAC will hold a joint committee meeting for District 4 in October to discuss 101/237 pedestrian/bicycle safety. PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS City of Sunnyvale Page 1 Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Meeting Minutes - Revised September 17, 2015 Commission Garth Williams, representative of Friends of Stevens Creek Trail, announced the upcoming Trailblazer Race on September 27 at the Microsoft campus in Mountain View. Proceeds will benefit the Friends for Stevens Creek Trail. Announcements from Commissioner Jackson included the Tour de Coop event, the Fix it Reuse it Day, and the Juniper Networks Fitness Day in the month of September. Other announcements included Safe Routes to school. He noted that 10 schools in Sunnyvale will be actively supported and all other schools will be supported by requests. He then announced that the Policy Advisory Group for the Stevens Creek Trail met for the final time before various items go before City Councils. He added that a traffic study was recommended for Bernardo Avenue. Chair Jones gave additional information on the Tour de Coop event and spoke about registration procedures. He then announced the upcoming Board and Commission application deadline of October 16, listed all open recruitments and requirements to apply. CONSENT CALENDAR 1 15-0872 Draft Minutes of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission Meeting of August 20, 2015 Commissioner Jackson moved and Commissioner Kolber seconded the motion to approve the consent calendar. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes 5 - Chair Jones Commissioner Jackson Commissioner Kolber Commissioner Okuzumi Commissioner Rausch No 0 Absent 2 - Vice Chair Cordes Commissioner Welch PUBLIC COMMENTS Mr. Simons, VTA BPAC, commented that at their last meeting, County staff gave the committee data to review which consisted of about 100 projects that would be submitted to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. They were asked to vote on the list without prior review and noted that the list included a lot of duplicate projects. The commission acknowledged receipt of the list of projects with one member abstaining. He added that the list will go as is to the VTA Board at the beginning of the month. Mr. Simons noted that getting projects on the list will be City of Sunnyvale Page 2 Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Meeting Minutes - Revised September 17, 2015 Commission difficult in the future and recommended any major changes to go to Dawn Cameron, Santa Clara County Roads and Airports, as soon as possible. He added that once the list is frozen it will take 3-5 years to get something new on the list. Garth Williams, representative of Friends of Stevens Creek Trails, commented on the Feasibility Study and it was noted by Vice Chair Jackson that the Report to Council is scheduled for some time in the spring 2016. Mr. Williams read the position of the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail on the Feasibility Study and stated that Friends group does not advocate for any particular trail alignment but want an actual Class 1 trail and all the other trail alignments with the exception of the Bernardo Trail were not Class 1 trails. Mr. Williams then commented on the creek clean-ups made possible by donors and noted that a ribbon cutting ceremony would take place on October 4 to dedicate a plaque to all the donors. STANDING ITEM: CONSIDERATION OF POTENTIAL STUDY ISSUES 2 15-0877 Study Issues Finalization Chair Jones opened the Public Hearing. Commissioner Okuzumi referred to the proposed Study Issue titled Vision Zero Plan and suggested changing the wording in the second paragraph, last sentence. The Commission agreed that the wording should be changed to state reduced “toward” zero. The Commission did not have any comments regarding the Study Issue titled: Determine what is required to bring City owned off-street Paths in Compliance with Current ADA Accessible & Bicycle Transportation Design Standards. The Commission discussed the Study Issue titled: Develop a Centralized Database for Bicycle and Pedestrian Projects. Mr. Abbas noted that modifications suggested by Commissioner Okuzumi had been included. He then added that the City already has a project where they are developing an electronic database which will be available to the public. Commissioner Jackson asked if the database was set up to find projects that you are interested in without having to include a project number. Mr. Abbas stated that it should be searchable by category but will not know until he gets to test the database. Commissioner Jackson referred to the Study Issue titled: Development of Parking Survey Procedures for Provision of Bicycle Space. He stated that when a parking study is done it should be more comprehensive and include off-street parking as well. He suggested changing the second paragraph, last sentence to state: Thus, City of Sunnyvale Page 3 Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Meeting Minutes - Revised September 17, 2015 Commission they would like procedures developed for “parking studies” which should take into account the capacity of off-street parking facilities. Commissioner Okuzumi suggested changing the first paragraph, first sentence to state: The existing parking studies do not adequately “asses parking accommodation”. She added that this would address capacity issues. Commissioner Jackson received an email from a longtime Sunnyvale resident suggesting a Bike/Pedestrian facility over 101 and under 237 and mentioned that it would be more feasible than a pedestrian overcrossing that was studied many years ago. He suggested this as a future Study Issue. The Commission discussed the idea in detail and discussed the possibility of proposing a Study Issue to examine bike and pedestrian connectivity on Mary Avenue over 101 and under 237. After further discussion it was determined not to propose a Study Issue at this time but to wait until it was a Capital Project year. Mr. Abbas agreed and stated that he would be willing to make a recommendation for this to be a capital project and get it approved. NON-AGENDA ITEMS & COMMENTS -Commissioner Comments Commissioner Jackson commented on the Wolfe Road improvement public meeting and discussed the presentation given on driveways. He then discussed potential improvements that people were asked to rank depending on what they thought were the important things to improve. The first improvement included reducing congestion followed by bike and pedestrian safety, next improving the light timing, and last maintaining street parking. Commissioner Jackson shared his concerns with the Commission. Commissioner Jackson then commented on the Mathilda/237 Interchange and stated that according to a handout he received they are going for environmental approval by mid-2017 and completing the design by early 2018. He stated that he hopes BPAC will get to review the project at least once and give input before it goes into the design phase. Commissioner Jackson asked Mr. Shahid if he knew if BPAC would get the opportunity to review the project. Mr. Shahid stated that everyone will be invited to a community workshop. Commissioner Okuzumi mentioned the El Camino Real Citizens Policy Advisory Committee meeting met the night before at the West Conference Room, Sunnyvale City Hall. She gave an overview of the meeting and stated that the next meeting will be scheduled sometime in mid-January 2016 anticipating about six meetings for City of Sunnyvale Page 4 Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Meeting Minutes - Revised September 17, 2015 Commission this committee. Chair Jones stated that he read a blog about Active Transportation Program funding and asked where ATP funding sat in our budget for different infrastructure projects. He made reference to one project the City entered and asked if the City should more aggressively take advantage of the grant. Mr. Abbas stated that it is difficult to qualify for this grant and that it is meant for disadvantaged communities which the City of Sunnyvale does not have. -Staff Comments None. INFORMATION ONLY REPORTS/ITEMS 15-0875 Active Items List 15-0876 2015 Work Plan ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m. City of Sunnyvale Page 5