A meeting of the Sunnyvale Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) was held on September 18, 2003  in the West Conference Room, City Hall, 456 West Olive Avenue, Sunnyvale. Committee Chair Mayer called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.

Members Present: 

Kevin Jackson
Kevin Gregory
Thomas Mayer
Ginger Wolnik
Thomas Granvold
Cynthia Cotton

Members Absent: 

Gerald Gras

Staff Present: 

Dieckmann Cogill, Public Works 
Kelly Diekmann, Planning 
Fred Bell, Planning
Manny Kadkhodayan

Visitors: 

Fred Wiesinger 
Art Schwartz
Carla Cremers 

ORDER OF BUSINESS

I.

Approval of Meeting Minutes from August 21, 2003. 

Motion to approve minutes 

Jackson/Granvold, Unanimous

II.

Public Announcements 

III.

General Business/Public Hearings 

1.

Wolfe Town home project - Bicycle Parking Review  

Bell presented the staff report and asked for BPACs comments regarding the bike parking proposal. 

The Committee made the following suggestions: 

1. That a 6' concrete pad be provided in front of the racks in addition to 2' for the door to swing out. 

2. Give consideration to drainage so that the inside of the locker stays dry. 

3. There should be one locker per unit provided.  

4. The style of the locker door should be similar to the lockers at the Caltrain Station (steel mesh) to encourage day use only. 

5. The lockers should be placed in a visible location.

6. The lockers could be flush against the wall or property line. 

7. Place curb cuts so that people can roll their bikes up to the locker. 

Mayer opened the public hearing. 

Wiesinger requested that effort be focused on pedestrian circulation and ADA access. He encouraged the committee to stay closely involved with the project development. 

Schwartz requested that the parking garage access at the east Target entrance be improved. He was concerned that the pedestrian safety problem in that location would be exacerbated with the potential opening up of Murphy to through traffic.  

The Committee listed the following bicycle and pedestrian circulation and parking priorities:

1. Provide crosswalks at mid-block locations where logical.
2. Consider bollards instead of curbs in some locations. 
3. Different textured and platformed crosswalks are preferable to simple striping. 
4. Provide curb-cuts at all crosswalk locations. 
5. Each destination should have reasonably visible and accessible bike parking.  
6. Secure Class 1 bike parking should be provided for the employees and residents using VTA Bike Tech guidelines. 
7. There should be bike lockers on the ground floor of the garages.   
8. Elevators should be large enough to accommodate bikes. 
9. Bikes should be expected to use vehicle garage entrances. 
10. Angled vehicle parking should be eliminated. This is very dangerous for bicyclists. 
11. Access to the property from Frances street should be enhanced because this will be where transit users are coming from. 
12. Hire a specialist to review bike parking and pedestrian circulation for the project. 
13. every business within in the project should be considered as a separate destination when considering bike parking locations. 
14. Transit stops should be located within the site. 
15. Street widths should be similar to Murphy Avenue. 
16. Pedestrian refuges should be provided where there is more than one lane per direction.
17. "walk your bike" legends could be placed on the sidewalk curb cuts to discourage bicycling on the sidewalk. This is done in downtown Palo Alto. 

3.

Mayer stated that based on the report analysis, the two roundabout options proposed would not be feasible. He asked Wiesinger to discuss this with the Committee. 

Wiesinger proposed an option to keep the existing ramp as is and construct a single lane roundabout at the Pastoria Avenue intersection. 

Public Comments 

Schwartz stated that the design radius of the loop ramp is smaller than the radius of the reconstructed ramps in Alt. 2. 

Wiesinger pointed out an error in the description of Alternative 1, which states that alternative 1 would require row from Applied Digital. He also asked staff to determine the cost of the construction of a single lane roundabout alone. He stated that this should have been an alternative that was explored. He also stated that the cost comparisons is confusing to the public and should be able to be evaluated for legitimacy. 

Motion - 
Recommend to Council that the bridge rehabilitation project be abandoned and that a single lane roundabout be constructed at Pastoria Avenue in order to bring motorists to downtown via Evelyn. 

Mayer/Wolnik

Mayer stated that this project, even with the additional bike space added, makes Mathilda a more dangerous place to bicycle. 

Jackson stated that any project that is done to Mathilda should improve the safety and convenience of bike access. He stated that the widened shoulders are nice, but the increased merge speed is more of a problem. 

Wolnik stated that she believes this project provides the most benefit for the lowest cost. 

Motion carries Unanimously

Mayer also requested that if staff is to move forward with the loop ramp alternative, that it be brought back to the Committee for review and comment. 

4.

The BPAC requested that staff bring the following potential study issue items back to the Committee for ranking in October:

1. Plan Line Study to Increase Bicycle Space 
2. Pedestrian Safety Opportunities Study 
3. Bicycle Facilities Requirement in New Development 
4. Department of Public Safety Bicycle Education 
5. ADA/Title 24 Requirements in Private Development 
6. Study Regulations of Items in the Street that Could be hazardous to Bicyclists 
7. Design Standards for Bike Lanes Adjacent to on Street Parking 
8. BPAC Review of Downtown Sidewalk and Bike Lane Closures 
9. Santa Cruz County e-bike incentive program and training.
10. Minimum green time requirements for traffic signals
11. CIP parking study
12. Corner vision triangles
13. Bicycle education program for residents 
14. Subsidize transit for low income residents

Cogill stated that she would prepare Draft Study Issue papers for each of the 14 items for the BPAC ranking of the items in October. 

IV.

Citizens to be Heard 

None 

V.

Non-Agenda Items and Comments 

Granvold reported three signal detection problems,  as well as a missing bike detector pavement marking at California/Mathilda. He also reported two pothole locations.  

Gregory reported a signal detection problem and stated that the pavement on Homestead road is rippled at the 85 exit ramp. 

Cotton announced the kick-off  of rideshare Thursdays.  

Mayer encouraged Committee members to email loop detector and other small maintenance issues rather than reporting them at the meetings.  He also suggested that the lane configuration at Evelyn adjacent to the plaza be changed to provide more bike space. He suggested that this could be done by removing one west bound lane of traffic. 

VI.

Information Only Items 

1.

Approved July 17, 2003 Minutes - Accepted as Submitted 

2.

BPAC Active Items Report  - Accepted as Submitted 

3.

BPAC Email - Accepted as Submitted 

VII.

Adjournment 

Motion to adjourn, Wolnik/Mayer, unanimous . Meeting adjourned, 10:00 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted, 

________________
Dieckmann Cogill 
Transportation Planner