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08/26/2014 Arts and Culture Commission Regular Meeting Adopted 11/25/2014 Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Meeting Minutes August 26, 2014 1 CITY OF GILROY BICYCLE PEDESTRIAN COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING MINUTES Tuesday August 26, 2014 6:00 p.m. City Council Chambers City Hall 7351 Rosanna Street Gilroy, CA 95020 KNOW YOUR RIGHTS UNDER THE GILROY OPEN GOVERNMENT ORDINANCE. Government's duty is to serve the public, reaching its decisions in full view of the public. Commissions, boards, task forces, councils and other agencies of the City exist to conduct the people's business. This ordinance assures that deliberations are conducted before the people and that City operations are open to the people's review. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON YOUR RIGHTS UNDER THE OPEN GOVERNMENT ORDINANCE, TO RECEIVE A FREE COPY OF THE ORDINANCE OR TO REPORT A VIOLATION OF THE ORDINANCE, CONTACT THE OPEN GOVERNMENT COMMISSION STAFF AT (408) 846-0204/shawna.freels@cityofgilroy.org. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, if you need special assistance to participate in this meeting, please contact the Public Works Department at (408)846-0546. Notification 48 hours prior to the meeting will enable the City to make reasonable arrangements to ensure accessibility to this meeting. (28CFR 35.102-35.104 ADA Title II) CALL TO ORDER 6:04 p.m. ROLL CALL Eldon Chappell, Vice Chair Libby Lai, Conrad Lather, Chair Tony Marandos TARDY Thomas Muniz – 6:09 p.m. arrival ALSO PRESENT Henry Servin, City Transportation Engineer Nadia Garcia, Office Assistant I COMMISSION SECRETARY’S REPORT ON POSTING THE AGENDA Materials related to an item on this agenda submitted to the Bicycle Pedestrian Commission after distribution of the agenda packet are available for public inspection with the agenda packet in the lobby of Administration at City Hall, 7351 Rosanna Street during normal business hours. These materials are also available with the agenda packet on the City website at www.cityofgilroy.org Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Meeting Minutes August 26, 2014 2 The agenda for the Tuesday, August 26, 2014, Bicycle Pedestrian regular meeting was posted on Friday August 22, 2014 in the window of the foyer close to the Council Chambers and online by Susan Johnson. PRESENTATIONS TO COMMISSION A. PUBLIC COMMENT BY MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC ON ITE MS 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 Vice Chair Libby Lai moved to approve the minutes of the Tuesday, June 24, 2014 Bicycle Pedestrian Commission regular meeting, it was second by Commissioner Chappell and hearing no objections it was approved. OLD BUSINESS A. Valley Transportation Authority Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee Appointment –. Henry Servin, Transportation Engineer introduced an applicant, Mr. David Almeida who was an applicant that applied to take the position as BPAC member. Chair Marandos invited Mr. Almeida to introduce himself and to open the commissioners to questions. Vice Chair Lai asked why he was interested in position. Mr. Almeida is a new Gilroy homeowner and wanted to become a more involved citizen and he is also a common pedestrian throughout the City. Vice Chair Lai mentioned that this position takes a lot of commitment as it is in San Jose, Mr. Almeida did understand and is willing to make the meetings. Vice Chair Lai and Commissioner Muniz suggested emails, phone calls, brief reports that Mr. Almeida would need to give updates. Mr. Almeida asked if he was going to be required to attend the City of Gilroy Bicycle Pedestrian meetings as well as the VTA BPAC, Vice Chair Lai stated that he would need to be in attendance to give brief reports, but would not be required to stay the full length of the meetings. Commissioner Muniz stated he would be ava ilable via email of phone to answer any questions that Mr. Almeida may have and to guide him on his new appointed position. Commissioner Muniz also talked about additional workshops that member would need to attend and gave Mr. Almeida a brief description of what the meetings cover. Vice Chair Lai made a motion to accept Mr. Almeida as representative for the VTABPAC seat, commissioner Muniz second the motion and hearing no objections Mr. Almeida was appointed position at VTABPAC representative. B. OTS Grant Review – Sgt. Kurt Ashley reported that he applied for two grants, City of Gilroy was approved for one of the two grants, however the one was combined with other so everything that was requested was granted. He reported that COG $106,000.00 which will cover 4 DUI checkpoints, 6 DUI saturation patrols, 2 seat belt enforcement, 7 traffic enforcement operations to supplement traffic enforcement violations which include BPC, 6 distracted driving operations, 3 motorcycle enforcement operations, 2 educationa l presentations which will focus on bicycle safety, 7 BP enforcement operations which will target bicyclist that are in violation of bicycle laws to prevent injury accidents, including pedestrian Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Meeting Minutes August 26, 2014 3 sting operations. Sgt. Ashley discussed the main and major bicycle and pedestrian safety issues that Gilroy has. The funding will also be for 2 bike rodeos, where there will bike stations and will be able to give away 250 helmets to underprivileged children and there will bike safety presentations for the children as well. $1500 of the funds will be for educational materials such as bicycle/pedestrian safety and laws. October 1, 2014 grant funding should be available so operations will begin to take place as soon as funds come in. Sgt. Ashley also mentioned Ride to Recovery on October 5/6, 2014, which Gilroy helps out with as Gilroy is the first overnight pit stop for cyclists and they are escorted out of town by Gilroy PD. Commissioner Lather asked about Saturday classes, Sgt. Ashley said that they are starting a juvenile program during the weeknights for juveniles that are cited. Commissioner Chappell suggested having a rules of the road pamphlet to hand out when citations are given for breakin g bicycle/pedestrian rules of the road. Sgt. Ashley accepted the suggestion and said that they would have some produced so officers can hand out to every bicyclist before giving actual citations so they can be educated before enforcement is stepped up. Brief discussions about bicycle safety and questions were exchanged and Sgt. Ashley was done with his presentation. Chair Marandos recommended that Sgt. Ashley partner with Kali Protectives as they are anxious to get involved with the local communities. C. On Streets Service Requests – Henry Servin gave a brief report that there are still ongoing studies for pedestrian crossings at intersection of Wayland and Broadway as there has not been an easy solution in staff review. Wren and El Cerrito is being looked at for an all-way stop situation. However there will be reduced parking so this needs to be taken to City Council to show pros and cons and get approval. At first glance, both do not initially meet stop sign warrants issued by the state; however they are still under review to see if there are societal benefits. D. Cross Walk Stripping – Henry Servin gave a brief report about a crosswalk stripping policy that is consistent with complete streets. The city would like to establish a policy that talks about the types of crosswalks that Gilroy would accept. This would be important to look at the different types as an experiment to see which type’s works and about visibility, and he wants to bring forward as a study exercise. Henry would provide information and then to select candidate locations to implement pilot crosswalk locations. NEW BUSINESS A. Bike Lockers – Chair Marandos gave some handouts to review the amenities of bicycle parking. Chair Marandos is shared his thoughts about bicycle parking as they are a necessity. Henry Servin states that his comments influenced the design of enclosed bicycle facilities at the new large San Ysidro Courts Apartment Complex when plans were taken to council. B. “Wrong Way” Bike signs – Chair Marandos gave a brief report about wrong way bike signs for bicyclists and discussed how beneficial they would be for our community, as a warning and educational tool for our local bicyclists. They are essentially street signs if you are looking at it in the right direction, but bicyclists riding on the wrong side of the street will see the bike symbol and “wrong way”. It is an easy way to incorporate education and safety in a simple sign design. He stated that Morgan Hill already has a few and would like to see what it would take to bring these signs to Gilroy. Henry Servin said that most cities have to replace street signs every 7 years and City of Gilroy is currently in a place to being to review signs for the replacement programs so it is a good time to put a stencil on both sides of signs to include wrong way bike signs. Chair Marandos asked that this item be agenized to be included in the Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Meeting Minutes August 26, 2014 4 public works standards. C. Protected Bike Lanes - Chair Marandos gave a brief report about protected or buffered bike lanes on large streets such as 10th, 1st, and possibly Leavsley. He would like to see them so that there is a clear delineation between car and bike travel. Henry Servin stated that it would only take a bit more paint to add a chevron or diagonal strip that would create a 2ft shy way between the travel lane and the bike lane. The notion is that these buffers do slow traffic down and helps prevent cars passing too closely to bicyclists. Henry stated that the upside is that these would create a safer lane for bicyclists and will reduce the number of accidents involving bicycles and vehicles; however the downside is that the streets would need to be repaved. Henry stated that this is something that can be reviewed and done in the future when streets will be required to have their 10 year restriping done with planning. Chair Marandos asked to have this item agenized CORRESPONDENCE- None COMMISSIONER’S REPORTS A. General Plan Meeting – Commissioner Muniz said that there were discussions about land use and particular areas that were defined in prior general plans and should zoning and land uses be changed at the last meeting and this will be an ongoing topic. B. Commissioner Announcements- Eldon Chappell asked Henry Servin about solar panel of flashing lights near schools, but noticed none work at all. Henry Servin was happy to announce that they just about all been repaired. He did inform Eldon that they only turn on within 60 minutes of school start and end hours, they do not run all day. STAFF COMMENTS Henry Servin left with each commissioner a copy of the complete streets policy and he invited each commissioners to the October meeting to share their thoughts and opinions about complete streets. Henry also said that the sharrows on 6th Street would be restriped and asked for any suggestions from the commission before they are restriped. AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING: Wrong Way Bicycle Signs Adjourn: 8:00 p.m. ADJOURNMENT TO THE REGULAR MEETING OF Tuesday, September 23, 2014 AT 6:00 PM