City of Sunnyvale
Meeting Minutes - Draft
Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory
Commission
6:30 PM Online and Bay Conference Room (Room
145), City Hall, 456 W. Olive Ave.,
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
Thursday, August 17, 2023
CALL TO ORDER
Chair Oey called the meeting to order at 6:33 p.m.
SALUTE TO THE FLAG
Chair Oey led the salute to the flag.
ROLL CALL
Chair Timothy Oey
Vice Chair Bryce Beagle
Commissioner Alex Bonne
Commissioner Dan Hafeman
Commissioner Leia Mehlman
Present 5 -
Commissioner Arwen Davé
Commissioner Sharlene Liu
Absent 2 -
Commissioner Davé (excused absence)
Commissioner Liu (excused absence)
Councilmember Russ Melton (present)
PRESENTATION
A 23-0824 Active Transportation Plan Progress Update
Angela Wong, Transportation Engineer, gave a presentation on the Sunnyvale Active Transportation Plan Progress Update. Highlighting the following:
- Active Transportation Plan Background
- Completed Bicycle Improvement Projects
- In-Progress Bicycle Improvement Projects
- Future Bicycle Improvement Projects
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August 17, 2023Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory
Commission
Meeting Minutes - Draft
- Active Transportation Plan Bikeway Mileage
- Completed Pedestrian Improvement Projects
- In-Progress Pedestrian Improvement Projects
- On-going Pedestrian Improvement Projects
- In-Progress Safe Routes to School Improvement Projects - Future Safe Routes to School Improvement Projects
- Next Steps
- Implement Bicycle, Pedestrian and Safe Routes to School Improvements - Look for grant funding opportunities
- Continue to deliver funded bicycle and pedestrian projects Commissioner Hafeman asked about the following:
- What is the status of the Homestead Road Bike Lanes Project? - When will the Homestead Road Bike Lanes become an active project? Ms. Wong and Mr. Ng addressed the questions.
Commissioner Mehlman asked about the following:
- Why aren't there elevated pedestrian walkways presented as an option for the school routes and high volume streets?
- Please explain the "Proposed Remaining" under the Active Transportation Plan Bikeway Mileage
- Will there be more Class II once it is finished?
Mr. Ng and Ms. Wong addressed the questions.
Vice Chair Beagle asked about the following:
- Is the Sunnyvale Avenue Grade Separation Project in progress? - What is the difference between "In-Progress" and "Upcoming" - Is the 15 miles of Class III bike lanes mostly from the Slurry Seal List? - How did the slurry seal change the categorization of the roads? - Slide 15 - Is the sidewalk project near the elementary school completed? - Slide 21 - What do the orange dots indicate specifically on what is happening? Mr. Ng and Ms. Wong addressed the questions.
Commissioner Bonne asked about the following:
- Shouldn't the bike lane be extended all the way down to McKinley Avenue from Mathilda Avenue?
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August 17, 2023Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory
Commission
Meeting Minutes - Draft
- What is the public's reaction to the bulbouts? Particularly from the bicyclists? - Does the bike lane width begin at the curb or the edge of the gutter? - Can the speed radars be camera equipped for information only and given to the police department?
Ms. Wong and Mr. Ng addressed the questions.
Commissioner Oey asked about the following:
- Page 12 - What is the difference between a Class III versus Class IIIB? - Can there be a simple metric like a thermometer to show the bike and pedestrian progress?
- Page 14 - When is it decided to do pavement lighting versus Rectangular Rapid Flash Beacon (RRFB)?
- Page 21 - Is there a list of the improvements for reference? Ms. Wong and Mr. Ng addressed the questions.
Public Comment opened at 7:19 p.m.
Nathaniel Wolf, member of the public, commented on the following:
- Plans to construct a bikeway on Olive Avenue over its full length Deo, member of the public, commented on the following:
- Bulb outs are dangerous
Sharlene Liu, member of the public, commented on the following:
- Routes in the Active Transportation Plan (ATP)
- Plans to complete whole length of routes before the ATP is completed Public Comment closed at 7:25 p.m.
B 23-0825
VTA Measure B Education and Encouragement Potential
Projects
Angela Wong, Transportation Engineer, gave a presentation on the VTA Measure B Bicycle and Pedestrian Education & Encouragement Program. Highlighting the following:
- Background - Funds projects to promote, educate, or encourage safe walking or bicycling
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August 17, 2023Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory
Commission
Meeting Minutes - Draft
- Update on FY 22/23 Projects
- FY 22/23 Completed Projects
- FY 22/23 On-going Projects
- FY 23/24 Proposed Projects
Commissioner Hafeman asked about the following:
- Page 10 - How do you decide who gets the purchased helmets for the students? - Who uses the bicycle counts and why is it collected?
Mr. Ng addressed the questions.
Commissioner Mehlman asked about the following:
- Could there be a program for pedestrians?
Ms. Wong addressed the question.
Commissioner Bonne asked about the following:
- Do the traffic cameras at signalized intersections collect traffic count information? - How does one find out where the traffic signal cameras are installed? Mr. Ng addressed the questions.
Chair Oey asked about the following:
- Any consideration for doing StreetLight data or Strava Metro data and correlating it with on ground counters with big data?
- Page 6 - Was the Bike Rodeo only at the Art and Wine Festival? Mr. Ng and Ms. Wong addressed the questions.
Public Comment opened at 7:42 p.m.
Sharlene Liu, member of the public, commented on the following:
- Suggests that the City make a bigger effort towards the encouragement and educational activities at schools
Public Comment closed at 7:45 p.m.
Russ Melton, Sunnyvale City Council, commented on the following:
- Active Transportation Plan goals
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August 17, 2023Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory
Commission
Meeting Minutes - Draft
- Bicycle sub element leverage community resources - increase interest in bicycling and raising the bicycling mode share from 1.5% in 2017 to 10% by 2030 - More data is a good thing to measure the progress towards the goal Vice Chair Beagle commented on the following:
- Slide 9 - Not colorblind friendly. Please make slide more colorblind friendly in the future
Commissioner Hafeman commented on the following:
- Why did the bicycle and pedestrians counts go up and down in the fall? Mr. Ng addressed the question.
Commissioner Mehlman commented on the following:
- There should be one more northern Sunnyvale location where there is more of a residential feed in the area
- Instead of line graphs make them column graphs which are easier to read and have actual counts within the columns
- Bicycle and pedestrian counts should be on separate pages Chair Oey commented and asked about the following:
- How much is the education and encouragement budget?
- Strava Metro data has a good and very large sampling set and you can see a heat map
- Happy to see the bicycle valet in a visible and easy to find location - Great location, great visibility and a lot of participation for the energizer station Ms. Wong and Mr. Ng addressed the questions.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
Public Comment opened at 7:50 p.m.
Deo, member of the public, commented on the following:
- Would like to see counts from Bernardo Avenue to Mary Avenue - Bike lanes will soon disappear along Mary Avenue and Fremont Avenue when doctor offices are torn down
- Delivery vans blocking bike lanes are more common nowadays - Should have City policies for when new apartment buildings are put up to have big pull outs for the delivery drivers
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August 17, 2023Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory
Commission
Meeting Minutes - Draft
Public Comment closed at 8:02 p.m.
CONSENT CALENDAR
Public Comment opened at 8:02 p.m.
No speakers.
Public Comment closed at 8:03 p.m.
1.A 23-0823
Approve the Bicycle and Pedestrian Commission Meeting
Minutes of July 20, 2023.
Approve the Bicycle and Pedestrian Commission Meeting Minutes of July 20, 2023 as submitted.
Commissioner Mehlman moved and Commissioner Hafeman seconded to approve amended item 1.A.
The amendment was made by Commissioner Hafeman who stated on the bottom of page 9 that says "There were no other nominations for the Chair position" should be "There were no other nominations for the Vice Chair position".
The amendment carried with the following vote:
Yes Chair Oey
Vice Chair Beagle
Commissioner Bonne
Commissioner Hafeman
Commissioner Mehlman
5 -
No 0
Absent Commissioner Davé
Commissioner Liu
2 -
PUBLIC HEARINGS/GENERAL BUSINESS
2 23-0826 Report and Discussion of Recent Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Bicycle and Pedestrian
Advisory Committee (BPAC) Meeting
Commissioner Bonne, VTA BPAC Sunnyvale Representative, gave the meeting summary report regarding the following topics:
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August 17, 2023Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory
Commission
Meeting Minutes - Draft
- Taylor Swift fans broke the historic ridership records to Levi stadium with 23,400 boarding's on July 28th and 22,000 boarding's on July 29th. Exceeding previous highest Levi's station ridership event by almost ten thousand boardings. - Service change to VTA Bus: Route 255 to stop at Fremont High School - VTP 2050 Call for Projects is open, deadline September 1, 2023. Any questions or concerns contact John Sighamony at [email protected] - VTA August events:
- August 5 & August 26 - Highway cleanup. Volunteers provided with lunch and safety equipment
- August 10 - VTA Open House at Branham Station
- August 14 - I-280 & Winchester Boulevard., public meeting for new off-ramp from 280 north near Winchester Boulevard.
- ATP update coming in October/November
- Measure B update - status as of May 2023
- Sunnyvale City Council voted to create a permanent full-time bike lane on Homestead Road, by removing on-street parking
- Car focus needs to change when designing streets
- Presentation by Caltrans representative, Jasmine Stich. Ms. Stich gave updates on what Caltrans is doing
- Mountain View and Palo Alto bikeways
- VTA Climate Action and Adaptation Plan
- VTA board declared a climate emergency in 2020
- Identify opportunities to reduce Greenhouse Gases (GHG) - VTA most vulnerable to extreme heat (rail buckling, equipment overheating) and flooding
- Report from the Airports Commission for Santa Clara County - Crossroads software is database of county-wide collection of crash data from CHP and local police
- Goal is to unify data collection among 17 different jurisdictions in Santa Clara County, so that with a single data request a report for the entire Santa Clara County can be created
- Software is available for City Planners as well as the Police Department.
Contact Thien Pham or Quynh Vo for user account: [email protected] and [email protected]
- There were 2 pedestrian fatalities in Santa Clara last month Commissioner Mehlman asked about the following:
- Were there any reports of actual incidents of overheating on any of the rail lines or light rails or buses?
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August 17, 2023Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory
Commission
Meeting Minutes - Draft
- Please ask VTA at the next meeting why all bus stops are not covered - Where were the 2 pedestrian fatalities located?
Commissioner Bonne addressed the questions.
Commissioner Hafeman asked about the following:
- Was there any mention about electric buses to reduce VTA greenhouse gas? Commissioner Bonne addressed the question.
Vice Chair Beagle commented on the following:
- Electric buses are more contentious within the bus community because they are more expensive to run than regular buses
Commissioner Mehlman commented on the following:
- Big thanks to the Public Safety Officers for keeping pedestrians safe during the Taylor Swift concert at Levi Stadium
Public Comment opened at 8:20 p.m.
Sharlene Liu, member of the public, commented on the following:
- Interchanges around state highway entrances and exits need to be improved for bicycle safety. No need to ask for public input to make these obvious changes - Need to make Caltrains more convenient for people to ride Public Comment closed at 8:24 p.m.
STANDING ITEM: CONSIDERATION OF POTENTIAL STUDY ISSUES
NON-AGENDA ITEMS & COMMENTS
-Commissioner Comments
Commissioner Mehlman commented on the following:
- Registration spots available for the 2023 Silicon Valley Bike Summit which is occurring on August 24. More information at
https://bikesiliconvalley.org/events/summit
Chair Oey commented on the following:
- Biked through Boston which has great bike trails with amazing signage - Smart cycling classes offered by the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition at
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August 17, 2023Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory
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Meeting Minutes - Draft
https://bikesiliconvalley.org/ed
- Monthly bike repair at the Sunnyvale Public Library courtesy of Bike Sunnyvale and the Sunnyvale Library
- Bike to the Bay on Saturday, October 14 from Sunnyvale to Alviso - Bike to the Future on Sunday, August 29 out of the Santa Clara County headquarters
-Staff Comments
Ms. Wong commented on the following:
- Roadway lighting infrastructure has been completed
INFORMATION ONLY REPORTS/ITEMS
23-0827 BPAC 2023 Annual Work Plan
23-0828 Active Items List August 2023
23-0829 2023 Deferred Study Issues
Commissioner Hafeman asked about the following:
- Has the City received clarification on the new state law for reducing speed limits on city streets and should there be a study issue put forth to the City Council to look at spending efforts for reducing speed limits on our city streets? Mr. Ng addressed the question.
ADJOURNMENT
Chair Oey adjourned the meeting at 8:32 p.m.
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