City Council
Staff Report
From: City Manager
Report Type: CONSENT CALENDAR
Lead Department: Transportation
Meeting Date: April 21, 2025
Report #:2503-4396
TITLE
Adoption of a Resolution Endorsing the Updated Safe Routes to School Consensus Statement and Approval of the Amended City/School Transportation Safety Committee Bylaws; CEQA Status – Not a Project.
RECOMMENDATION
The City/Schools Liaison Committee and staff recommend that Council adopt the attached Resolution (Attachment A) to endorse the proposed Safe Routes to School (SRTS) National Partnership Consensus Statement and approve the City/School Transportation Safety Committee (CSTSC) Bylaws. This action recognizes the City of Palo Alto, the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD), and the Palo Alto Council of Parent Teacher Associations (PTA) Partnership in reducing risk to students commuting to and from school, re-aligns the current local Consensus Statement to match the National Partnership Consensus Statement, and initiates minor edits to the Bylaws.
BACKGROUND
The National SRTS Partnership Consensus Statement was developed by a coalition of partners working to address historic declines in walking and biking to school in 2006. In 2005 and 2006, the City, PAUSD, and the PTA endorsed a local version of the SRTS National Partnership Consensus Statement (Attachment B). The Palo Alto Council of PTAs approved the proposed Consensus Statement and Bylaws at their General Association meeting on February 19, 2025, followed by City/School Transportation Safety Committee approval on February 27, 2025, and a recommendation that the City Council and the PAUSD Board of Education endorse the proposed revisions by the City/School Liaison Committee (CSLC) on April 1, 2025. An equivalent Resolution has been forwarded to the Board of Education for Palo Alto Unified School District review and approval.1
1 The original National SRTS Partnership Consensus Statement and original CSTSC bylaws are available at the City’s Safe Routes to School Partners and Program History webpage.
ANALYSIS
The recommended action replaces the local Safe Routes to School local Consensus Statement with the National Safe Routes Partnership Consensus Statement. The two substantive changes add Equity to the five program pillars of Education, Engineering, Engagement, Encouragement and Evaluation, and rename the Enforcement program pillar Engagement. The CSTSC informally added Equity as a sixth E in 20172 and changed Enforcement to Engagement in 2020.3 The amended Bylaws rename the City School Traffic Safety Committee the City School Transportation Safety Committee to recognize that the work of the CSTSC extends beyond traffic considerations.
The 2024-25 school year marks the thirty-year anniversary of the (SRTS) Partnership. Thirty- year Partnership achievements include in-school K-3, 5 and 6 grade bicycle and pedestrian safety education, a local commitment to prioritizing school commute route safety and accessibility, and success in growing and sustaining nearly four times the national student walk and bike mode share rate. Programs help eliminate roughly 3,824,000 yearly car trips from local roadways, reducing risk for families who walk, bike and use transit, and improving roadway access for families who must drive.4
FISCAL/RESOURCE IMPACT
The SRTS has 3.0 FTE supporting the program, with 1.0 FTE funded through 2016 Measure B Local Streets and Roads Funding. The program has an annual operating budget of $0.4M and receives an annual appropriation of $0.1M in the SRTS Capital Improvement Project (PL-00026).
Staff is not requesting any supplemental funding at this time, and no additional budgetary action is required.
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
The Safe Routes to School Partnership is a collaborative program. According to the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2), collaborative programs allow for partnership with members of the public to identify problems and develop solutions. SRTS partners include the Palo Alto Office of Transportation and Police Department staff, PTA-appointed Transportation Safety Representatives for each PAUSD school and PAUSD Facilities staff, school principals and other PAUSD administrators. For decades, the City of Palo Alto, PAUSD, and the PTA have hosted a monthly student-transportation safety-focused collaboration called the City/School 2 2016-17 Safe Routes to School Annual Report; https://www.cityofpaloalto.org/files/assets/public/v/1/agendas- minutes-reports/reports/city-manager-reports-cmrs/year-archive/2017/7867.pdf. Page 2 3 2021-22 Safe Routes to School Annual Report;
https://www.cityofpaloalto.org/files/assets/public/v/1/transportation/safe-routes-to-schools/annual-reports- information/srts-annual-report-2021-2022.pdf. Page 2
4 City School Liaison Committee, April 1, 2025. Agenda Item #4 SR# :2503 4407 https://cityofpaloalto.primegov.com/Portal/Meeting?meetingTemplateId=17126 Transportation Safety Committee (CSTSC). A Five-Year Action Plan guided the work of the CSTSC through 2023.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
Council action on this item is not a project as defined by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) because approval of this resolution endorses a continuing administrative activity.
CEQA Guidelines section 15378(b)(2). Individual Safe Routes to School projects that make physical changes to the environment undergo appropriate CEQA review.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A: Resolution endorsing SRTS National Partnership Consensus Statement and Approving amended CSTSC Bylaws
Attachment B: PAUSD and City of Palo Alto Resolution endorsing the original SRTS Partnership Consensus Statement
APPROVED BY:
Lily Lim-Tsao, Interim Director, Office of Transportation