Loading...
02/27/2018 Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Regular Meeting Adopted 03/27/2018 MINUTES OF BICYCLE PEDESTRIAN COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING TUESDAY, February 27, 2018 1. CALL TO ORDER 6:03 p.m. 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 3. ROLL CALL Zachary Hilton Chairperson, Chad Reeder Vice Chairperson, Leonardo Gonzalez, Sean Reedy, Lionel Gonzalez ALSO PRESENT Gary Heap, City Engineer/Transportation Engineer Suzanne Guzzetta, Deputy City Clerk 4. COMMISSION SECRETARY’S REPORT ON POSTING THE AGENDA Tonight’s agenda was posted on February 23 at 1:55 pm. 5. CEREMONIAL ITEMS – AWARDS AND PRESENTATIONS Vice-chairperson Reeder presented the Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Monthly Award to Francisca and Juan Garcia acknowledging them for their contribution to improving the overall health, well-being, and safety to students getting to and from Las Animas Elementary School through the Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program, promoting the Walk and Roll events twice a month by creating a theme for the walking school bus. Their activities have seen an increased participation of 50+ students along with parents and principals contacting them for advice on their SRTS programs. 6. PUBLIC 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 No Comments B. Valley Transportation Authority Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee (VTABPAC) Report: 1. Report: No Report C. Bay Area Ridge Trail: Liz Westbrook; Trail Director, Bay Area Ridge Trail Council She has been reaching out to the Santa Clara County Parks Department and BPC about activities in the area and how to connect gaps. The Bay Area Ridge Council is a group advocating to complete 500 mile hiking, biking, and equestrian trail throughout 9 bay area counties. Santa Clara County is our largest region by trail miles. 88 miles completed with 100 miles remaining to be built. They are working on campaign to promote the ridge trail which they hope to launch in October. There are opportunities for property around Gilroy Gardens to connect with the trail. Liability of private owners allowing public trail access on their property was discussed. 7. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. Tuesday, November 28, 2017 (Minutes Attached) Commissioner Reedy motions to approve, vice-chairperson Reeder seconds, minutes approved unanimously B. Tuesday, January 23, 2018 (Minutes Attached) Commissioner Reedy motions to approve, vice-chairperson Reeder seconds, minutes approved unanimously 8. OLD BUSINESS A. Strategic Plan Update No report B. General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC) Update No report C. Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Monthly Award Nomination Chairperson Hilton nominates Las Animas Elementary School principal Silvia Reyes for leadership, enthusiasm and commitment to SRTS and other bicycle activity events such as walk and roll, working with parents, teachers, and administrators to organize these events. D. Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Sustainability: Alisa Arce, Health Education Specialist (SRTS), Santa Clara County Public Health Motion to approve a presentation slide was approved. Currently under an active, non-infrastructure transportation grant from June 2016 to July 2018. All 11 schools have completed their walkability and bikeability assessment, 10 have developed school specific plans, each school should have a plan ready to go. Schools have conducted or will be conducting SRTS events except two schools. We are encouraging and promoting the Walk and Roll events. We are helping to educate and train parents and teachers on these activities with a coordinating activities meeting this Thursday from 6 to 7:30 pm at Rod Kelley Elementary School. We are working on SRTS maps through an RFP process with Gary as one of our evaluators. The goal of the maps is to encourage students where to walk or bike safely to school. Contract has been signed and is going through final process. Currently conducting data collection for the maps. More information to come in the future. Currently looking for high school students interested in promoting SRTS as part of the high school engagement component. Still an open-ended process. We are looking for interested high school students and clubs such as youth task force, youth commission, and CARAS. Thank you to the commissioners for coming to task force meetings in Sunnyvale and Campbell. Public Health has continued to facilitate meetings in Campbell and Sunnyvale and working to transfer responsibility organizing over. School district is planning on doing a walking audit for the Alexander Station. Contact Jaime Rosso for more information on the walking audit. Potential opportunities to support SRTS include an Active Transportation grant coming out in May 2018 (application due in July) for funding infrastructure and non-infrastructure, free nationally recognized certifications from SCCPH and VTA for anyone enthusiastic about biking or who would like to ride a bicycle. The certifications serve as a pre-requisite for the League Cycling Instructors certification. Continuing of SRTS events involves coordination, communication, and enthusiasm between county and city officials and stakeholders and streamlining the process. 9. NEW BUSINESS A. LimeBike Update Mr. Heap provided an update that LimeBike is coming to Gilroy for 6 month trial program. The deal is still being finalized and bikes should be expected in the next couple of weeks. Gavalin began their coordination with LimeBike after the City Council meeting as is not too far behind on bringing them to their campus. Limebike’s measures of success include looking at usage, ridership, and whether it fits in their framework. City will be looking at responsiveness, how bikes are left in public right of ways, and when issues occur, how LimeBike responds. They will have a local operating team located in Gilroy. Initial deployment of 300 bikes on private and public property. LimeBike must provide letters of support for use of private property. Gilroy is first in Santa Clara County with a citywide pedal bike program. Shane during public comment brought up the concern about similar bikes in France being vandalized, causing the company to pull out. Mr. Heap stated that if there are more than 10 calls for emergency services, city will start billing LimeBike for services. The city agreement is public record and available for public view. B. Specialized Foundation Grant/Current Grants Update Vice-chairperson Reeder stated that the grant is available and is currently being applied for. The grant is due on March 20th. Stated to the GUSD board and City Council that they are interested in applying for this grant. A letter from the City and the school district is encouraged for this application. Also state that it we have support from the community and that this is tied to a Stanford research study on ADHD. Chairperson Hilton motions to create a letter of support from the commission, commissioner Reedy seconds, motion carries unanimously. Alisa Arce stated that SCC Public Health can provide a letter of support as well. Chairperson Hilton points to his report listing the grants that the BPC identified in the past year and can bring to the attention of the City. Mr. Heap noted from a City staff standpoint that grants are time consuming and usually requires a match of funds. Smaller grants may also not be worthwhile. Staff was recently trained on applying for air quality management grant. Looked at our current bike map and conducted a gap analysis and developed a list of locations where we want to do additional signage and stripping across the city along with a downtown bike parking plan. Looking at a grant value of $100,000. Potential to close gaps. Alicia Arce publicly commented that if you’re encouraging people to ride more bikes, do you have educational materials to distribute to members of the public, particularly new riders. Chairperson Hilton stated there was an idea to put a PSA video on the BPC webpage regarding “Rules of the Road”. Vice-chairperson Reeder suggested including city time or pros and cons section when listing and considering certain grants. C. Bike-to-Work Day Application Chairperson Hilton reports about the application sponsored by the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition for energizer stations during bike to work day. Chairperson Hilton offers to help out with the application this year. Commissioner Reedy states that he can fill out the application and be able to tend to the booth. Commissioner Lionel Gonzalez can also help out at the booth. Opportunity to network with bicyclists and public transit riders about the BPC. There is a cost in the form of a donation back to Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition. Mr. Heap states that the City will do what we can regarding the donation. Chairperson Hilton motions to approve application. Vice-chairperson Reeder seconds. Motion carries unanimously D. Training Options for Commissioners Chairperson Hilton states that this topic was brought up during the City Council strategic planning session. Chairperson Hilton provides a list of training and conference opportunities for BPC members to potentially take advantage of. Some free, some cost money. The questions of whether commissioners can receive any additional training and if they are denied training was asked and how funding for those trainings are requested. Benefits include making us stronger and more informed on the decisions were making. Interest in educational types of training. Mr. Heap suggested to the board that the Chair make a request to the City Administrator to see if funding is available and what the authorizations are for going to training. Commissioner Leonardo Gonzalez expressed doubts about the board getting approved for training and that if it does happen, we should start off slow. Commissioner Lionel Gonzalez suggested the board can create a precedent for attending trainings. E. Update on City Council Strategic Plan/Commission Goals for 2018 A motion was made to table this item to the March. Seconded by Vice-chairperson Reeder. Motion passes unanimously. F. Bicycle Rack Plaque Program Chairperson Hilton proposed creating a program similar to the bench plaque program where people can purchase plaques to place on bike racks across the city. Money generated through this program will be added to a fund to use for community programs and sponsorship. Susan Voss who heads the bench plaque program will be contacted for more questions. Commissioner Leonardo Gonzalez asked whether money would go back to the general fund or to the BPC and advised staff to look into it. 10. CORRESPONDENCE 11. COMMISSIONER’S REPORTS A. Chairperson Zachary Hilton: VTA countywide bike plan is currently seeking public input until March 19th. Cities and organizations have equity statements. We should consider creating our own equity statement. Tony Marandos reached out and suggested we continue League of American Bicyclist application for bike friendly cities. The application is due August 9th. Gilroy Sunrise Rotary Club is donating for an artistic bike rack. 5 or 6 spaces. GUSD has a lot of extra bike rack. Got way too many bike racks and skateboard racks. Suggests reaching out to people who may want them. Planning Commission, developing a connection with BPC and come to attend meetings and on BPC end, provide summaries. Also suggested having name tags for attending conferences. B. Vice Chairperson Chad Reeder: Received an email from concerned parent regarding the trail crossing at Miller Ave and Uvas Parkway. Email was forwarded to staff for review and consideration. Reached out to inquire about backward diagonal backward parking and if it works in other cities. C. Commissioner Sean Reedy: Attended school planning meeting at Eliot elementary school. Attendees felt unsafe from traffic, people yelling at them, and dogs. Police and City want to help. Area needs to develop culture to feel comfortable reaching out to authorities. Keep in mind when developing equity statements that its focused on serving those communities and helping them with their biking and walking needs. D. Commissioner Leonardo Gonzalez: May proclamation for Bicycle Safety. We have to pick someone prior to May. Pick someone next month. Everyone should come up with someone who contributes to bicycle safety. City council has a proclamation. Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition a resource to help select someone? Nomination is selected by the BPC. SVBC can be used as a resource. E. Commissioner Lionel Gonzalez: Companies like FB and Apple who use shuttle buses for their station, what type to of community outreach do they do? They are actually using VTA bus stops and allowed informal permission from VTA. Apple is big on silver bikes and they are all over Cupertino. Don’t see a problem. We should capitalize on their usage. Mr Heap states that they contribute by taking single occupancy cars off the roads. Also wonders how to report issues with roadways. Secretary Carrera points commissioner to Requesttracker where you can report that to the city and it can get tracked and routed to City Staff. Secretary Carrera also mentions the 80/20 sidewalk program. 12. STAFF COMMENTS Thank you for participating and I’m looking forward to moving forward with the board on these future topics. I’m really happy with the interest from the community and this board. 13. AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING Downtown bike racks Strategic plan goals ADJOURN: 8:22 p.m. to the March 27, 2018 meeting at 6pm.