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04/26/2016 Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Regular Meeting Adopted 05/24/2016 MINUTES OF BICYCLE PEDESTRIAN COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016 CALL TO ORDER: 6:03 p.m. ROLL CALL: Eldon Chappell Chair, Leonardo Gonzalez Vice-Chair, Tony Marandos – arrived at 6:13, Thomas Muniz – arrived at 6:05, Sean Reedy ALSO PRESENT: Stephanie Gutowski, Budget Analyst Zinnia Navarro, Office Assistant Donna Taft, Office Assistant COMMISSION SECRETARY’S REPORT ON POSTING THE AGENDA: The agenda for tonight’s Bicycle Pedestrian regular meeting was posted on Wednesday, April 13, 2016, at 11:17 a.m. in the window of the foyer close to the Council Chambers and online in keeping with provisions of the California Brown Act. PRESENTATIONS TO COMMISSION: None APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Under New Business, Item D: A clarification was brought forward by Commissioner Marandos that he, not Commissioner Muniz, signed the City up to participate in Bike To Work Day on May 12, 2016. The March 22, 2016 corrected minutes were moved for approval by Commissioner Muniz and was seconded by Chair Chappell. OLD BUSINESS: A. Gilroy Police Department Updates: Sgt. Wes Sanford reported on a vehicle/pedestrian enforcement operation that recently took place at Howson and Monterey. They issued 27 citations for cross walk violations, speed, stop sign, U-turn and cell phone violations. In addition, they issued 21 warnings for similar offenses. Sgt. Sanford also provided information about the Bike Safety Rodeo to be held on Saturday, May 14 in the Senior Center parking lot. A flier was distributed and is available on the website. Commissioner Muniz inquired about having a Pedestrian and Bike Rodeo next year. Sgt. Sanford will look into adding unified school district involvement. Sgt. Sanford shared that GUSD has adopted safe routes to school on a district wide basis. Students are being taught about “Walking School Buses” which means they walk as a group to and from school, making stops along the way, much like on a bus route. They congregate at certain areas to connect with one another and walk together. Chair Chappell asked Sgt. Sanford to attend the BPC meetings every 2-3 months with updates. Sgt. Sanford agreed to do that. Chair Chappell also requested statistics on the number of stops the motorcycle units made for bicycle and pedestrian infractions each month over the course of the last year. Sgt. Sanford will look into it and email the information to Chair Chappell for a future meeting. B. BPC Bylaws Update: The City of San Jose Bylaws had been distributed prior to the commission meeting. Milpitas, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara VTA and Alameda Bylaws were distributed the evening of the meeting and will be made available for viewing on the City’s website. There was discussion about expanding the role of the BPC and including traffic related matters. Community appeals would be made to the BPC before going to City Council. The BPC could also review development plans with developers related to the roadway vs. pedestrians and bicycles. This will attract more public attendance at the BPC meetings. If the changes are made, then the number of commissioners would also expand to deal with the appeals. Commissioner Gonzalez suggested adding a traffic component to the Bylaws update. Chair Chappell suggested that Staff Person Henry Servin be asked to provide examples of Bylaws from another commission to discuss at their next agenda meeting. Commissioner Gonzalez will begin drafting the traffic portion of the Bylaws. Commissioner Marandos suggested having a meeting as soon as possible to discuss what each Commissioner wants the scope to be. Commissioner Gonzalez motioned that a committee be formed to address the Bylaw review. Commissioner Reedy seconded the motion. Motion passed. The group will meet on Tuesday, May 3, 2016 at 5pm at Starbuck’s. C. Bike To Work Day: Commissioner Marandos reported that the City is signed up with the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition and the event will take place on May 12, 2016 at the train station. He will be there with three volunteers. Coffee cake and coffee will be served. A commuter helmet was donated. Commissioner Marandos will collect the “swag bags” on May 9th. Set up will begin at 5:20 am on May 12 and will run till 8:00 am. The City tent will be borrowed from Recreation Department for the event. NEW BUSINESS: A. Development Review: Giacalone Tentative Map by Meritage: Rob Oneto presented a slide presentation and gave an update on the Hecker Pass development and specifically the Gaicalone property. Class 1 trails are being built into the development that encompasses from Santa Teresa Blvd., south on Hwy 152 to Burchell Road and north of Uvas Creek. In addition, there are also a series of Class 2 striped trails on Third Street to Autumn Drive which will extend north of Hwy 152 and eventually to Country Estates. Mr. Oneto spoke specifically of the trail in the Ag Tourist Commercial area which runs south of Hwy 152. This trail will tie into the commercial area for use by locals and visitors who are walking or biking in the area. The trail will be constructed before the roundabout on Hwy 152 is built. The Cal Trans permit is now ready however the City has not completed the environmental review. Construction should start once the environmental review is completed (approximately 6 months). Commissioner Muniz asked about additional roundabouts on Hwy 152. There will be only one roundabout per Mr. Oneto. Currently, the speed limit on Hwy 152 is 55mph. The roundabout (which will have crosswalks) will slow the traffic. Once it is constructed, Cal Trans will do speed studies to determine the speed limit on Hwy 152. Mr. Oneto also shared information about a free app called Strava Metro. Strava Metro analyzes the millions of human powered commutes that are uploaded to Strava every week. Strava Metro partners with urban planners to improve city infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians using this data. This data can provide cities with a better understanding of how people choose to interact with the network of roads, bike paths and intersections. B. Letter of Endorsement for Ronan Channel Trail OBAG Grant: Staff Person Stephanie Gutowski reported that the West Llagas Creek trail project environmental document has split the northern bike trails into two sets of projects, the Lions Creek and the Ronan Channel trails. She addressed the west branch of the Llagas Creek Trail, known as the Ronan Channel Trail. The Grant consists of constructing 5400 linear feet of multi- use trail with 12 foot paved path and two foot wide graded walkable shoulder paths. The City is requesting approval to proceed with the Grant. Commissioner Muniz motioned to support the Letter of Endorsement and Commissioner Marandos seconded. C. California State Bike & Ped Plan: Staff Person Stephanie Gutowski attended a meeting at Caltrans. For the first time they are doing a complete state bicycle and pedestrian plan and are requesting input. Their ideal plan is to have one map with trails from the top of the state to the border. They hope to increase bicycle use as well as pedestrian use. Caltrans will conduct outreach activities throughout the process and have web–based surveys and input tools available on the project website at www.CAbikepedplan.org. Commissioner Muniz encouraged all to go online and take the survey (takes approx. 10 minutes). The link can be found on the City’s website. COMMISSIONER’S REPORTS: A. Chair Chappell: Mr. Neenan (sp?) of Almaden Cycle Touring Club called to offer a donation to be used towards “sharrows” bike route pavement stripes and biking signs (preferably double-sided signs). Also, he attended the VTA bike meeting and gave them some ideas. He asked about retrofitting Luchessa Bridge on both sides with bike lanes. He also shared that VTA commented on a super highway in Europe for bicyclists connecting ten cities at a time. Would like to see HSR partner with VTA to get a similar project done sooner than later. B. Vice-Chair Gonzalez: None C. Commissioner Muniz: Encouraged a member of the BPC to take the position on the VTA Bicycle Pedestrian Commission. Would like to see bike lanes on the newly paved Eigleberry. Asked for conformation that the Mayor would attend the BPC meeting in May. D. Commissioner Reedy: None E. Commissioner Marandos: None STAFF COMMENTS: None AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING: A. May BPC Meeting with the Mayor B. Luchessa Sidewalks C. General Plan Updates ADJOURN: 7:45 p.m. to the May 24, 2016 meeting at 6pm.