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BPC Final Minutes 09-21-20221 Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Regular Meting September 21, 2022 FINAL MINUTES MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE BICYCLE PEDESTRIAN COMMISSION September 21, 2022 Final Minutes The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. ROLL CALL: Present: Jack Carter (VC), Gerhard Eschelbeck, Ilango Ganga (C), Grace John, Erik Lindskog Absent: None Staff: David Stillman, Staff Liaison Others Present: None APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1.August 17, 2022 Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Minutes MOTION: Commissioner Eschelbeck moved, seconded by xx, to approve the minutes as presented. Vice Chair Carter commented that on the Bicycle Facilities Improvement section, fourth paragraph, it says “Vice Chair Carter felt the City of Cupertino was not set up to install bike facilities.” He meant the layout of the City of Cupertino was not good for bike parking facilities. If there were bike parking facilities, they needed to be in locations that were easily visible. David Stillman, Transportation Manager stated that the meeting minutes needed to reflect what was stated, not what might have been intended. Chair Ganga asked for a correction of what Vice Chair Carter wanted. Mr. Stillman interjected that staff could go back and see if the recording reflected what Vice Chair Carter said. If it did then the minutes needed to stay as they were, if it did not, then a correction could be made, per what was said in the recording. MOTION FAILED DUE TO LACK OF A SECOND 2 Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Regular Meting September 21, 2022 MOTION: Commissioner Eschelbeck moved, seconded by Vice Chair Carter to defer the August 17, 2022 minutes until the October Bicycle Pedestrian Commission meeting, pending review of Bicycle Facilities Item 5, paragraph 4. MOTION PASSED: 5-0 2. September 8, 2022 Parks and Recreation Commission, Planning Commission, and Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Joint Special Meeting Minutes Commissioner Eschelbeck felt these minutes did not state the substantive discussion that was had. In addition, the minutes did not reflect some of the key points that were discussed. He was not able to approve the minutes, due to the lack of the substantive discussion. Chair Ganga brought up that Commissioner Eschelbeck’s name was misspelled. He agreed with Commissioner Eschelbeck and said there was a lack of content. For example, page two the minutes stated commissioners asked clarifying questions but there was a substantial number of questions and answers that were not captured. It was not simply clarification that was needed, those questions and answers needed to be recorded. David Stillman, Transportation Manager recommended a vote be taken to approve or not approve the minutes. He suggested each Bicycle Pedestrian Commission (Commission) member make their own decision with a vote and then he would proceed with next steps. Chair Ganga suggested stating they be approved, pending corrections of comments. Mr. Stillman was in control of what happened to the Commission minutes, but the Joint Commission minutes had to be approved by two other commissions and he did not have full control of those. He recapped his suggestion to take a vote to approve the Joint Commission minutes. If they did not get approved, he suggested bringing them back next month, either with new minutes to approve or information on what was learned in researching the outcome. MOTION: Vice Chair Carter moved, seconded by Chair Ganga to reject the minutes as presented. MOTION PASSED: 5-0 MOTION: Vice Chair Carter moved, seconded by Chair Ganga to request revisions for the September 8, 2022 minutes as follows: 3 Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Regular Meting September 21, 2022 1. Address the lack of details in comments 2. Address the lack of completeness of the meeting minutes 3. Correct the misspelling of Commissioner Eschelbeck’s name MOTION PASSED: 5-0 POSTPONEMENTS No Postponements ORAL COMMUNICATIONS None WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS None OLD BUSINESS 3. Future Agenda Items (Ganga) Carmen Road Bridge Education on How to Use Two-Stage Left Turn Boxes Path between Lincoln Elementary and Monta Vista High School The Impact of Semi-Rural Designation on Bike and Ped Projects/Priorities Adaptive Traffic Signal Pilot Update Multi-Modal Traffic Count Pilot Update Reassess the Intersection at Bubb Road/McClellan Road Stevens Creek Boulevard, Phases 1-3 Legally Allowed Behavior at Stop Signs for Bicyclists Vision Zero (Workplan Item) Lead Pedestrian Walk Interval (LPI) (start the pedestrian green before vehicles) Lawson Middle School Bike Path Input from Seniors on the Bicycle Pedestrian Improvements Bollinger Road Safety Corridor Project AB 43 – Summary and how Commission can support implementation (to what extent we can reduce speed limits) Bicycle Licensing (to prevent bike theft) Bicycle Facilities (Workplan Item) NEW BUSINESS 4. Cupertino’s Class IV Separated Bike Lane Experience (Stillman) 4 Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Regular Meting September 21, 2022 David Stillman, Transportation Manager gave a presentation on the review of the Class IV Separated Bike Lane Experience. Vice Chair Carter observed that anyone doing any kind of work liked to park in the bike lane, which left no room for the bicyclist to escape. Commissioner Lindskog liked the design on McClellan Road. Important was the visual impact. The separations on McClellan Road looked nice. Regarding the trash cans, he preferred to place those on the driveways, if there was a park strip. Vice Chair Carter noted that trash cans were run robotically, so the arm of the machine needed to be long enough to grab the trash can. When the garbage can gets placed down by the machine, it needed to not fall over. Mr. Stillman noted some discussion he had with Recology (waste contractor of the City of Cupertino) a few years ago and they did not favor any solution which would have the machine arms of the garbage truck go across the bike lane. Vice Chair Carter did not like the McClellan Road solution because the bicyclist gets trapped in the bike lane and the concrete was just high enough for people to fall over but not high enough to prevent cars from coming in. McClellan Road was not like Bubb Road where a wide Class IV bike lane could be constructed. When there was debris in the bike lane the alternative was to take the road, which was dangerous for bicyclists. McClellan Road was tough to negotiate; in a perfect world, it should be made wider. The tradeoff for McClellan Road is whether it is a safe route for children or an efficient commute route. Commissioner Lindskog noted there was an award for the design of that bike lane. Vice Chair Carter remarked bicyclists he talked to did not like the design. Commissioner Lindskog mentioned that bicyclists he talked to liked the design on McClellan Road. Commissioner Eschelbeck did not have a preference between the two design choices, either precast or cast in place. Both served a purpose. The thing on McClellan Road that he would change were the openings, places where a person could go in and out because the current design made a person feel trapped; the gap was too small. If the gaps could be made wider, that would be good. The other issue was cleanliness, debris in the bike lane. A third point was to measure the use, such as were there times of day where it was used more often. It was always good to measure success. Chair Ganga liked the pre-cast option. The second point was improving the aesthetics because it looked like a block of concrete and there needed to be enough escape points, especially for children. Regarding the left turn boxes, he was not sure how useful they were; it was hard for more than one bicyclist use at a time. Regarding the ‘no right turn’ signal, they were more easily seen at night than during the day. Maybe that was why people did not pay attention to them. 5 Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Regular Meting September 21, 2022 Vice Chair Carter pointed out cars block the bike lane. People wanting to make a right turn were stopping in the green zone at Bubb Road and McClellan Road; right now, cars were stopping in the bike lane, which was dangerous. Chair Ganga wanted to see the design implemented for the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) bus stops. He referenced a raised bike lane so people could cross over to the island. Mr. Stillman confirmed that was planned on Stevens Creek Boulevard. Chair Ganga was anxious to see if it was practical once it was installed. Chair Ganga questioned whether there was information on the bollards, as opposed to the concrete barriers. He noted that bollards were used in quick builds to test something out and see if it was useful before something more permanent was installed. Also, it was better to have the plastic bollards installed than to not have anything installed. Vice Chair Carter said none of the solutions discussed will prevent a car from coming in the bike lane. Mr. Stillman said there was a location in front of Homestead High School where some posts were used in the buffer to create a kind of Class IV separation. A similar construction was to occur on Bubb Road, in from of Kennedy Middle School. The bollards were only done on short segments, such as on bridges or in front of schools. Commissioner Lindskog commented on special traffic lights for bicyclists. Maybe there was a situation where cars on the right had to give their right-of-way to cyclists. This preserved the flow for the cyclists. Vice Chair Carter said one problem could be people were preoccupied and did not pay attention to changes in traffic. Commissioner Lindskog remarked that changing the way cyclists crossed the side-streets made it easier for the cars and the cyclists to see one another. This was done by recessing the place where the cyclist crossed the side street. 5. Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Website (Stillman) David Stillman, Transportation Manager gave a presentation on the Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Website. Chair Ganga brought up that the Bicycle Pedestrian Commission (Commission) web page was last amended in 2015 and there was a goal for 2025 to establish a mission statement, including measurable objectives to be achieved by the end of 2025. He wondered if there was data on the mission statement and understood there were some percentages in the 2016 Bicycle Plan. Mr. Stillman answered that there was data regarding biking to schools but there was not data regarding biking overall. The City of Cupertino had not recently applied to the League of American Bicyclists to upgrade our standing. He added that there was data going to and from schools. Vice Chair Carter remarked on “expand intra-city trips for errands and leisure by adults and seniors … etc.” It was hard for him to imagine what that meant, so it was hard to measure. Mr. Stillman agreed. 6 Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Regular Meting September 21, 2022 Chair Ganga commented that if the objectives cannot be measured, there needed to be a baseline, which was a way to measure accomplishing the goals and how far the City was from their goals. Mr. Stillman commented that the first two objectives listed on the website could be quantified but the second two were very difficult. Commissioner Lindskog commented that the last bullet could be measured with a survey. Mr. Stillman said yes if the employer was willing to participate. Commissioner Lindskog suggested the last bullet be changed to “Expand bicycle pedestrian commuting to and from Cupertino.” Vice Chair Carter agreed and added the goals were good, there just needed to be a way to know they were accomplished. Commissioner Eschelbeck said there were two points to discuss, one had to do with the measurability of the goals, the second dealt with refining the wording. Vice Chair Carter said it was easier to measure traffic in the bike lane than it was to determine where the bicyclist was headed, except with schools. Mr. Stillman relayed counts can be made at intersections where there is video detection, but it would still not be known where people were going or coming from. Chair Ganga thought there should be objectives that were more measurable, and they should align with what is being done in terms of developing the bicycle pedestrian facilities. Commissioner Eschelbeck commented on measurability related to the website and suggested eliminating specifics and have it say to conduct regular measurements. One important aspect related to facilities was, were the facilities being used and how often. McClellan Road was a good candidate to measure growth in bike traffic. Vice Chair Carter agreed; if more people road their bikes, then the Commission succeeded, it did not matter where they were riding from. Chair Ganga thought it was important to have a base line to measure success against. Then there needed to be a plan in place to achieve the goals. Commissioner Eschelbeck wondered if there was a way to measure traffic and how many traffic cameras were in place to perform traffic counts. Mr. Stillman said there were video detection cameras at a dozen or more intersections and a lot of those video systems could perform counts. Commissioner Eschelbeck wondered if older data was available. Mr. Stillman said data would only be collected if the system was configured or told to do so. Chair Ganga questioned Mr. Stillman about the multi-model traffic count pilot and wondered if there was anything learned from that. Mr. Stillman said it was learned that the traffic adaption portion of the pilot was not very beneficial but the multi-model counts could still be performed for bicyclists and pedestrians. Commissioner Eschelbeck asked if a motion was needed. Mr. Stillman said no, he just wanted to have an idea of where to do the monitoring. He could then bring information back to the Commission as an update for multi-model counting Chair Ganga thought that was a good idea, that way there could be a baseline for the data. Mr. Stillman shared a bike counter he saw in Boston and asked the Commission if they wanted him to investigate something like that. 7 Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Regular Meting September 21, 2022 Commissioner Eschelbeck asked if those counters were permanent or mobile because he would want something like that in an area where improvements were recently made. Mr. Stillman said the ones he had seen were permanent. Vice Chair Carter felt the counters should be mobile because they could be placed in certain areas around the City and become a reminder to people to be aware of bicyclists and pedestrians. Chair Ganga thought objectives two through four were the same. They collaboratively stated the Commission wanted to increase commute trips of bicyclists and pedestrians. The Commission needed to consider adding two other points, such as current projects and safety improvements. He suggested the Commission revisit the objectives on the website and rewrite them, as the Commission was not ready for the text today. Vice Chair Carter mentioned that if there was data, he suggested it be related to commuting to work or school, based on time and strategic locations. Commissioner Eschelbeck suggested one blended number that showed the increase of traffic and bicycle/pedestrian activity. The Commission needed to come up with a number that was doable. Chair Ganga said there needed to be changes to the objectives that were more measurable and second, there needed to be a way to collect data. He suggested each Commissioner make up some proposals and then bring them back for discussion. Commissioner Eschelbeck summarized that the website was good as is, but the objectives needed to be updated. That required a Subcommittee from Commissioners bringing back suggestions for the objectives. A second point was to update the profiles of the Commissioner’s. Independently, separate from the website, there was discussion of data measurements. Commissioner Eschelbeck and Chair Ganga agreed to be a Subcommittee to update the website. STAFF AND COMMISSION REPORTS 6. Staff Update and Commissioner Activity Report (All) David Stillman, Transportation Manager, mentioned some upcoming events and Engage Cupertino pages for the Capital Improvement Programs group. The Fall Bike Fest was happening September 24. Mr. Stillman reported that staff applied for three highway safety improvement grants on projects that came out of the Local Road Safety Program (LRSP.) Commissioner Eschelbeck asked for feedback on the LRSP to come back to the Bicycle Pedestrian Commission (Commission.) Mr. Stillman continued that a second grant applied for was the ‘Safe Streets for All’ Federal grant, related to the Bollinger Road Corridor for $360,000. This money allowed work to continue from the Bollinger Road Corridor Safety Study. This proposed money was to get the project to the design documents for improvements along the corridor. Regarding Vision Zero, he reviewed the draft Request For Proposals (RFP) for a consultant to do the Vision Zero study; he 8 Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Regular Meting September 21, 2022 planned on having a final RFP and scope within the next week. He suggested convening a meeting with the Subcommittee, so they were able to review the scope and RFP and discuss thoughts and edits. Regarding Lawson Middle School, staff hired Hexigon to perform the study. Commissioner Lindskog gave a presentation about the VTA BPAC meeting on September 7. Chair Ganga discussed the Mayor’s meeting and Safe Routes to School meeting (SR2S.) Commissioner Eschelbeck attended in September. Commission John was scheduled to present on Mayor’s Meeting and SR2S meeting for October. ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned at 9:31 p.m. SUBMITTED BY: ____________________________ David Stillman, Staff Liaison Note: Any attachments can be found on the Cupertino Website https://www.cupertino.org/our-city/agendas-minutes