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10/23/2012 Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Regular Meeting Adopted 01/22/2013 City of Gilroy Minutes Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Meeting 6:00 p.m. Tuesday, October 23, 2012 CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by the Chair, Scott Francks at 6:15 p.m. ROLL CALL Present: Scott Francks (Chair), Libby Lai, Conrad Lather, Thomas Muniz Absent: Tony Marandos ALSO PRESENT Don Dey, City Transportation Engineer Teresa Mack, Development Engineer Theresa Hernandez, Recording Secretary, Recreation Department COMMISSION SECRETARY’S REPORT ON POSTING THE AGENDA The agenda for the Tuesday, October 23, 2012, regular meeting was posted on Wednesday, October 17, 2012 at 1:15 p.m. in the window of the foyer by the Council Chambers in City Hall by Theresa Hernandez. PRESENTATIONS TO COMMISSION A. PUBLIC COMMENT BY MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC ON ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA, BUT WITHIN THE SUBJECT MATTER JURISDICTION OF THE BICYCLE PEDESTRIAN COMMISSION Please limit your comments to 3 minutes (This portion of the meeting is reserved for persons desiring to address the commission on matters not on the agenda. The law does not permit Commission action or extended discussion of any item not on the agenda except under special circumstances. If Commission action is requested, the Commission may place the matter on a future agenda.) PUBLIC PRESENT None APPROVAL OF MINUTES Commissioner Libby Lai made a motion to approve the minutes of September 25, 2012 as written, the motion was seconded by Conrad Lather and hearing no objections it was so ordered. 6:15 p.m. – Thomas arrived. Scott asked if the Commission could move directly to Old Business and then come back to New Business later in the meeting. Hearing no objections the Commission moved directly to Old Business. BPC Meeting Minutes October 23, 2012 Page 2 OLD BUSINESS A. BPC Council Presentation – Scott Scott did a “run-through” of his presentation for the City Council and asked the Commissioners for suggestions. Teresa Mack offered to assist in acquiring a better copy of the Bike Map for the presentation and she will work on the slides to make them easier to read. Libby asked Scott to spell out all acronyms used in the presentation. Libby would also like to include information about the donation that the Commission received for the bike signs, as well as the name of the organization that donated the money for the signs in the presentation. Thomas would like Scott to talk about the Commission’s idea of having the City make First Street/Hwy. 152 part of the City of Gilroy. Scott asked the Commissioners to email him if they have further comments or suggestions. Don encouraged all of the Commissioners to attend the Council Meeting to support Scott. B. Walkable Cities Chapter 4 - Libby In this section of the document Libby pointed out the various sections of roads and pedestrian areas that are given designated names to be aware of Pedestrian Through Zone (PTZ), Roadside Zone (RZ), AND Building/Row Zone (BROWZ). This will be helpful when the Commissioners decide to survey certain areas throughout the city. The Commissioners will be able to give the appropriate name to the section of street or pedestrian areas for discussion. Libby also spoke about a concern with sandwich board signs that are a growing concern in the downtown area of the City. Libby is concerned that business owners are not considering pedestrians when they put these signs out in a pedestrian walking area. Teresa Mack asked staff to contact Scott Barron and find out if there is a committee or task force that deals with sign issues. C. Bicycle Training Brief presentation – Scott This item was tabled until the November meeting. BPC Meeting Minutes October 23, 2012 Page 3 NEW BUSINESS A. MTC Complete Streets Resolution - Don Don told the Commission that he will be taking the Complete Streets Resolution to the City Council at the November 5, 2012 meeting to be adopted as a Complete Streets policy by the City. This Complete Streets Policy is a comprehensive integrated transportation network that serves all category of users including pedestrians, persons with disabilities, seniors, bicyclists, children, motorists, user and operators of public transportation, families, youth and movers of commercial goods. That is the purpose of Complete Streets, to ensure that all users are included in design and policy decisions regarding transportation. This policy should be context sensitive, applied to individual areas such as urban, rural, or suburban. The Complete Streets Policy will be routinely addressed by all departments, public works and Community Development. All departments should be aware of the complete streets practices. Within the policy it states, BPC Consultation which states that all transportation and development projects with public and private streets shall be reviewed at the planning and design phase in order to give the BPC the opportunity to provide comments and recommendations regarding Complete Streets features to be incorporated into the project. Don encouraged the Commissioners to attend the November 5th City Council meeting to show support for the adoption of the Complete Streets policy. B. Marked/Unmarked Crosswalks (attachment) - Don Don shared a federal publication that he took two graft charts from that show the statistics on safety comparing marked and unmarked crosswalks at uncontrolled intersections. There will be a discussion at the November 5th council meeting regarding the removal of the crosswalk at Wren Ave. and Byers, across from El Roble Park. The two charts clearly show statistics that conclude that unmarked crosswalks at uncontrolled intersections are safer for pedestrian users. The marked crosswalk gives the pedestrian a false sense of safety. Don would support bulb out sections of sidewalk at this location to narrow and shorten the distance that the pedestrian has to cross over Wren Ave. Don would not support replacing the crosswalk without doing some other engineering improvements at this location to mitigate the danger of crossing Wren Ave. BPC Meeting Minutes October 23, 2012 Page 4 CORRESPONDENCE None COMMISSIONER’S REPORTS A. VTA-BPAC – Thomas Muniz Thomas was on vacation and did not attend the last meeting. COMMISSIONER ANOUNCEMENTS Scott – Reminded the Commissioners about the bike building event coming up. Tony – absent Libby – reported that she attended the task force meeting on the Paseos in the downtown. Libby reported that the group is working on the sister city paseo first. Libby had asked the task force about a bench and a bike rack in the paseo. Libby understands that there is not a lot of funding for this project and the task force is asking for donations. Libby suggested that the BPC work on getting the bike rack donated for the paseo. Libby told the Commission that she is glad to be the representative from the BPC to this task force but that if she cannot make it to a meeting she might call on one of the other Commissioners to attend in her place. The next meeting is on November 7th. Libby also reported on a runner in San Jose that was hit and injured by a bicyclist. Conrad – asked about the “sharrows” on Sixth St. near the new library. Don stated that Operations should be able to complete this project fairly soon. Thomas – Thomas asked about the agreement to put bike lanes on 6th St near the new library. Don explained that there was a request to put bike lanes on that section of 6th St but this was outside the scope of work the library bond funding could cover. Don also told the commission that a consultant was hired to work on a project to design bike lanes throughout the City. Don reported that he hopes the project will be completed by June 2013. STAFF COMMENTS A. Planning calendar – Nothing new to add BPC Meeting Minutes October 23, 2012 Page 5 AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING – November 27, 2012 at 6 p.m. Walkable Cities Bicycle Training Discussion of City Council Retreat Complete Streets Check List Cancellation of BPC’s December Meeting Adjournment to the regular meeting of Tuesday, November 27, 2012 at 6:00 p.m. Adjournment: 8:03 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Theresa Hernandez Recording Secretary