FAIRFAX TOWN COUNCIL MEETING
SUPPLEMENTAL STAFF REPORT
1 SUPPLEMENT TO AGENDA ITEM #6
MEETING DATE October 15, 2025
PREPARED FOR Mayor and Town Council
PREPARED BY Jeffrey Beiswenger, Planning and Building Services Director Bryn McKillop, Associate Planner
SUBJECT Supplement to Agenda Item #6
RECOMMENDATION
Accept replacement Staff Report, which deleted one paragraph that contained residual text.
FAIRFAX TOWN COUNCIL MEETING
STAFF REPORT
AGENDA ITEM #6
MEETING DATE October 15, 2025
PREPARED FOR Mayor and Town Council
PREPARED BY Jeffrey Beiswenger, Planning and Building Services Director Bryn McKillop, Associate Planner
SUBJECT Adopt a Resolution Authorizing a Grant-Funded Contract for the Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan Update in the Amount Not to Exceed $75,000
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the Town Council adopt a resolution authorizing a contract for the Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan Update in the Amount Not to Exceed $75,000.
BACKGROUND
The Town applied for a grant to update the Town’s bicycle and pedestrian master plan, last adopted in 2016. Since the 2016 plan calls for an update within 5-10 years of its adoption, staff applied for a grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) for this purpose.
MTC awarded Fairfax the grant of $82,917 for Pedestrian/Bicycle Master Plan project funding on August 28th, 2024. The award letter states all invoices need to be submitted to MTC by August 31st, 2027. Funds not used revert to the MTC fund. Eligible costs for the project must be incurred on or before June 30th, 2027.
At the Town Council Meeting on May 21, 2025, staff presented a draft Request for Proposal (RFP) to solicit contractors for the project and ask for the Council’s direction on how to budget for the project’s tasks. Town Council directed staff to include technical tasks in the scope of work for a contractor and utilize staff and community resources to engage with the public throughout the plan’s development, rather than include community engagement as a task in the contractor’s scope of work. As authorized by the Council, the RFP listed tasks that require specialized knowledge or software to produce such as:
maps, surveys, funding eligibility and compliance research, cost analysis, and engineering analysis.
To assist in accomplishing the staff-led community engagement task, Town Council directed staff to form a Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC). The Committee members were chosen during the June 4th, 2025, Town Council meeting. At the first Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee meeting on September 15th, 2025, the Committee approved a working Community Engagement Framework. The BPAC members voted to review the engagement plan every meeting.
On August 25th, 2025, staff interviewed the firm TJKM to be the contractor for the project. TJKM was the only firm that submitted a proposal. TJKM is well qualified to complete the project and has completed bicycle and pedestrian plans, sometimes referred to as active transportation plans, throughout the United States. TJKM has offices throughout California, including offices in Santa Rosa, Pleasanton, San Jose 2 and Sacramento. As a part of their response, TJKM provided a Scope of Work that met all the requirements listed in the RFP.
On June 16th, 2025, staff participated in a demo for the survey software Maptionnaire and allocated $4,960 of the MTC grant to contract with them as a part of the staff conducted community engagement effort. This survey software is a low cost and effective way to obtain public input.
DISCUSSION
Attachment A includes a Scope of Work and the Town’s General Services Agreement for a contract with TJKM. As an interdisciplinary transportation and design firm, TJKM is uniquely positioned to find a balance among the Town’s mobility goals and challenges while staying committed to maintaining the natural aesthetic of Fairfax. They have completed or are in the process of completing plans for many Bay Area jurisdictions such as Patterson, Pinole, Belmont, Tiburon, Fresno, and Dinuba.
During the TJKM interview, the Town Manager, Public Works Director, Planning and Building Services Director, and Associate Planner asked several questions related to how the firm would ensure their policy recommendations accounted for the implementation costs. The firm offered to produce a prioritization matrix/ranking table (see Task 7 in Attachment A). The matrix will list recommended projects based on criteria the Town will establish, with the possibility of including cost as a criterion. This way, when the Town receives funding or decides to allocate its budget towards bicycle and pedestrian projects, it can reference this matrix to select what to prioritize for implementation. The public will have the opportunity to review and comment on the matrix before it is adopted next year. Additionally, the community engagement process will inform the drafting of the matrix. As a firm who has done this kind of work for agencies around the Bay, they will have the experience to accomplish this kind of task among the others listed under the Scope of Work (Attachment A). Authorizing the contract (Attachment A) will secure TJKM as our contractor and allow them to begin their tasks.
Dedicating staff time to the engagement piece of the project is a measure to keep the cost lower than it would be with an extensive engagement task included in TJKM’s contract. Since the Town is leading the community engagement effort, a subscription to survey software will be essential to developing mapbased surveys. The proposed software contract with Maptionnaire will offer the Town the opportunity to conduct two surveys over the course of the next year. One will be focused on evaluating existing conditions and one will be focused on evaluating proposed policies. Maptionnaire is an especially useful tool because it is a map-based survey and will be accessible online to those unavailable to attend in person engagement events. The surveys will provide precise geo-based data to inform planning decisions. Staff will use their time to craft the surveys but will ask for input from the BPAC at public meetings before launching them.
GENERAL PLAN CONSISTENCY
The overall objective of the General Plan’s Circulation element is to plan for the efficient and safe movement of people and goods within Fairfax, including the setting of goals for bicycle and pedestrian transportation. The purpose of the master plan is to outline priorities for improving bicycle and pedestrian transportation within Fairfax. The update to the master plan will build off the following Circulation element goals:
3 • Goal C-1: Maintain Sir Francis Drake as a functional regional artery. • Goal C-2: Promote the safe use of collector streets by automobiles, cyclists and pedestrians. • Goal C-5: Consider pedestrian and bicycle facilities as an integral part of a complete circulation network that provide affordable, healthful and ecological means of transportation. • Goal C-6: Promote less reliance on single-occupant vehicles.
CLIMATE ACTION PLAN CONSISTENCY
The Fairfax Climate Action Plan 2030 (CAP) contain mitigation measure related to the Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan. The master plan implements mitigation measures to encourage alternative, climate friendly modes of travel, including: T-2 (Bicycling); T-3 (Walking); and T-4 (Safe Routes to School).
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact. The full amount of the consultant contract ($75,000) is funded with a grant from Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and will have no fiscal impact. Having a current and up-to-date Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan is often a prerequisite for obtaining grant funding for certain public improvements, so approving this contact could have a long-term positive fiscal impact.
ATTACHMENTS
A. TJKM Scope of Work and Contract
B. Resolution