Cotati City Council
Agenda Staff Report
Item type: REGULAR AGENDA
To: City Council
Subject: PRESENTATION OF THE DRAFT COTATI ACTIVE
TRANSPORTATION PLAN
Date: March 12, 2024
Written by: JP Harries, Senior Planner
Recommendation
It is recommended the City Council receive a presentation from staff and the consultant team working on the Active Transportation Plan, receive public comments, and provide questions, comments, and direction to staff. No action is required at this time.
Project Description
City staff will support the consultant team in providing a presentation on progress and next steps in the development of the Cotati Active Transportation Plan. The primary focus of this meeting will be to review and discuss the Draft Active Transportation Plan, which has been released for public comment through March 25. Feedback on the Draft Plan, including proposed projects list/map, project prioritization, and programs and policies is requested from the public and City Council to ensure local needs are prioritized and met through this effort.
Background
The Cotati Active Transportation Plan (ATP) will be an update to the Cotati Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan adopted in 2014. The ATP is being developed as part of the Countywide Active Transportation Plan through a grant awarded to the Sonoma County Transportation Authority (SCTA) and contract held by SCTA.
City staff and SCTA have worked closely with the consultant team, Fehr and Peers and Leshner Planning, to gather data and establish existing conditions, engage the community, conduct technical analyses, and develop the Draft Plan. City staff and the consultant team presented an overview of the project to the Planning Commission on June 13, 2023.
On November 6, 2023, City staff and the consultant team presented draft Vision and Goals and a draft list of projects that would provide for a low-stress bicycle network and address existing network gaps.
On December 4, 2023, City staff presented the draft policies and actions to the Planning Commission for discussion and feedback.
On February 29, 2024, the consultant team and the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition, Sonoma County Transportation Authority (SCTA) and City staff hosted a community workshop to allow additional education, policy and project level input on the draft plan. This meeting was held at the Cotati SMART Depot and was well attended by members of the community.
Active Transportation Plan
The attached PowerPoint presentation provides an overview of the Plan Update and highlights key aspects of the plan such as public outreach, local conditions, vision and goals, planned projects, and recommended programs and policies. It also summarizes proposed implementationrelated strategies such as project prioritization, funding considerations, and monitoring metrics.
Overall, the ATP update focuses on:
• All Ages and Abilities – Creating spaces for people to walk, bike, and roll that are lowstress and lower risk to create more opportunities for more people to walk, bike, and roll. • Regional Coordination - Identifying and planning regional routes between jurisdictions as part of the larger Countywide ATP.
• Implementation – Prioritizing projects and identifying funding to focus and streamline implementation.
The maps presented in the attached PowerPoint presentation summarize existing local conditions as follows:
• Existing Bikeway Network: shows the existing bikeway network. • Existing Sidewalk Gaps: shows existing sidewalk gaps citywide and distinguishes between gaps on one side vs. both sides of the street.
• Level of Traffic Stress (LTS) and 2022 High Injury Network (HIN): shows the level of traffic stress (LTS) for bicyclists on local roadways overlaid by the 2022 HIN developed as part of the 2022 Sonoma County Vision Zero Action Plan. LTS scores range from LTS 1 – lowest stress to LTS 4 – highest stress and are calculated based on roadway contextual factors such as number of lanes, speed limit (or prevailing speeds), type of bikeway facility, lane widths, presence of median, etc. In general, a wider segment of the population is more comfortable riding on lower stress roadways (LTS 1 or 2) compared to higher stress roadways (LTS 3 or 4). Bicycle level of traffic stress analysis helps identify needs and opportunities to create lower stress networks that serve the needs of people of all ages and abilities. The countywide HIN network identifies road segments with an elevated risk of crashes resulting in an injury or fatality, identified through an analysis of the frequency, severity, and mode of past crashes. More information is available here: https://scta.ca.gov/vz/
• 2024 Proposed Bikeway and Corridor Projects Map: shows the location and class type of new or updated Proposed Projects to improve the bicycle circulation network. The map and project descriptions were reviewed by the Planning Commission at its November 6, 2023 meeting and subsequently updated based on feedback from commissioners, the public, and City staff.
• 2024 Proposed Sidewalk & Crossing Improvements: shows Proposed Projects to improve the pedestrian circulation network including crossing improvements and sidewalk gap closure projects.
• Existing & Proposed 2024 Active Transportation Network: layers the Proposed Projects (bikeway, corridor, and crossing improvement projects) over the Existing Transportation Network.
For more details, please refer to the attached PowerPoint presentation and/or the Draft Plan document (also attached).
Public Review Period
The Draft Active Transportation Plan was posted on Thursday, February 22 on the City’s website here: https://www.cotaticity.org/201/Active-Transportation-Plan-Update. Council members should submit their written comments to City staff. Members of the public should submit their comments to [email protected]. All written comments must be received by Monday, March 25.
City staff and the consultant team are also accepting photos of people walking and biking in Cotati to be considered for inclusion in the final Active Transportation Plan. Photos should be submitted (via cloud sharing link, preferred) to [email protected] also by Monday, March 25.
Schedule & Next Steps
Project next steps include:
• Presentation of Draft Active Transportation Plan to Planning Commission (March 18, 2024)
• Public Comments on Draft Active Transportation Plan due (March 25, 2024) • Finalize & Adopt Final Active Transportation Plan (PC April/CC May 2024)