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BPC 04-21-2021 FINAL MINUTES MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE BICYCLE PEDESTRIAN COMMISSION April 21, 2021 The meeting was called to order at 7:02 p.m. ROLL CALL: Present: Gerhard Eschelbeck, Ilango Ganga, Erik Lindskog, Jack Carter, Maanya Condamoor Absent: None Staff: David Stillman, Staff Liaison Others Present: Susan Michael, Capital Improvement Programs Manager Item 1: Approval of March 17, 2021 Minutes Chair Eschelbeck noted that the draft minutes included a reference to an attached Mayor’s meeting notes. David Stillman, Transportation Manager noted that this was an error because Mayor’s meeting notes will not be included in the Bicycle Pedestrian Commission (BPC) minutes going forward. The minutes will be amended to remove the reference to Mayor’s meeting notes. Chair Eschelbeck motioned to approve minutes as amended, Commissioner Lindskog seconded the motion. Motion passed 5-0. POSTPONEMENTS No postponements ORAL COMMUNICATIONS Rushil Jayant inquired if the City was planning on installing touchless pedestrian push buttons at traffic signals and if so, were they going to be installed near Homestead High School. David Stillman, Transportation Manager responded that there is one installation in the City, and the City may be installing more as intersections are being upgraded. The installation depended on Council approval of a Work Plan item to install touchless push buttons at multiple locations. Byron Rovegno spoke to ensure the Bicycle Pedestrian Commission (Commission) was aware of the discussion that occurred at the Council meeting regarding Carmen Road Bridge. There was a proposal of a Semi-rural Designation for Carmen Road and the designation of streets as Semi- rural when they are on a Safe Route to School. WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS No written communications OLD BUSINESS Item 2: Future Agenda Items (Eschelbeck) Carmen Road Bridge McClellan Separated Bikeway Phase 3 Public places for bike racks Education on how to use two-stage left turn boxes Path between Lincoln Elementary and Monta Vista High School Next steps for commission work plan item Touchless pedestrian push buttons The impact of semi-rural designation on bike and ped projects/priorities Adaptive traffic signal pilot update Multi-modal traffic count pilot update Cupertino crash data analysis NEW BUSINESS Item 3: Review of FY2021-2022 Capital Improvement Program Bicycle and Pedestrian Projects (Michael) Susan Michael, Capital Improvement Programs Manager gave a presentation on the completed, existing, and proposed project list for the FY2021-2022 Capital Improvement Program (CIP). Byron Rovegno asked if the Bicycle Pedestrian Commission (Commission) would vote to support the Carmen Road Bridge and keep it as a high City priority. Larry Dean supported the inclusion of the Stelling Road/Alves Drive crosswalk in the CIP recommended list. He also asked if the Barnhart leg of the Bike Boulevard Project was going to be included in next year’s CIP, and what the plan was for the crosswalk across McClellan Road at the Linda Vista Trail. David Stillman, Transportation Manager reported that Barnhart was part of the Bicycle Boulevard Phase 2 Project and was expected to be completed this year. He described the features of the high-visibility crosswalk that was to be installed east of the McClellan Ranch driveway, across McClellan Road for the Linda Vista Trail. Vice Chair Ganga inquired about the phasing of the Stevens Creek Boulevard Protected Bikeway Phase 2 Project. Ms. Michael explained that the design will include Wolfe Road to Highway 85, but the construction would be from Wolfe Road to De Anza Boulevard. Chair Eschelbeck wondered why the project was not continuing to Foothill Boulevard. Mr. Stillman explained that it was not practical to construct more than the Wolfe Road to De Anza Boulevard segment due to resource limitations and construction scheduling. Splitting the project also provided an opportunity for staff to apply lessons learned to future segments. Vice Chair Ganga inquired if Council was moving forward with the Carmen Road Bridge Project, and if the Bicycle Boulevard Project was scheduled to move forward. He wished for Stevens Creek Boulevard Separated Bikeway Project to move forward, and to have the Traffic Garden Feasibility Study take a lower priority. Commissioner Lindskog inquired if right-of-way was needed for Carmen Road Bridge, if it was narrower, as stated in the Feasibility Study. Mr. Stillman responded that right-of-way was still needed regardless of the width of the bridge from the property on the eastern side of Carmen Road, north of Stevens Creek Boulevard. Chair Eschelbeck noted that besides the Stevens Creek Boulevard Project, other projects were a step back from the high energy Bicycle Pedestrian Plan implementation. He was worried that if the planning slowed down, there would be problems with construction. He wanted to double down on projects that had strong support from the community. Ms. Michael replied that the City Work Program priorities were not yet published but the plan was to have a follow-up session to go through the next stages. She said the Traffic Garden Project did arise out of the Safe Routes to School Project. Chair Eschelbeck suggested the Commission proceed with a Motion regarding their priorities and that this be forwarded to the Council. Commissioner Carter suggested weighing what the Commission wanted, versus what was possible. Commissioner Condamoor felt that the ongoing and proposed projects were more bicycle-oriented projects, rather than pedestrian- oriented and suggested that staff provide a way to visually see where projects were located in the City; she wanted projects to be equitable throughout all neighborhoods. Commissioner Lindskog noted that the Carmen Road Bridge Project was in the Bicycle Pedestrian (BPC) Plan but was not moving forward very quickly. Commissioner Carter emphasized having pictures of where projects were located throughout the City. Chair Eschelbeck inquired about the Traffic Garden and wondered if a location would already be decided before the Feasibility Study is conducted. Mr. Stillman explained that a feasibility study looked at all aspects of a project, including where a project could potentially be located. Vice Chair Ganga explained infrastructure cannot just built and then people come to use it, projects were ongoing investments; there needed to be educational activities to motivate children to come to use facilities that were built. Regarding the projects listed in the Work Program Priorities, his priorities were still the same. There were projects that could be immediately addressed with the funding and staff resources that were on hand. Mr. Stillman noted that even though the Traffic Garden was not a high priority for the Commission, it was important for the school community and for the Safe Routes to School Program, as an educational tool. Chair Eschelbeck returned to the topic of a recommendation to the Council. He suggested using the project list the City used and putting them in order, according to priority, for the next Council meeting where the budget will be discussed. Regarding the Traffic Garden Project, Commissioner Carter was unsure about giving a recommendation toward a project that he was unsure would work. Commissioner Lindskog noted that the Traffic Garden Project was not something that the Commission recommended to the Council. Ms. Michael said, of the four new projects that were presented with the CIP, the Commission supported Stevens Creek Boulevard, Phase 2, construction at Stelling and Alves, Carmon Road Bridge, with the emphasis that Carmon Road Bridge be a priority, and the request to have Carmon Road Bridge be more than a Feasibility Study, making progress on the design, and the need to continue Stevens Creek Boulevard Design beyond the current design to 85, up to Foothill. Vice Chair Ganga wanted to proceed with Stevens Creek Boulevard Phase 2 implementation, all the way up to Highway 85 because he did not want to push the project out another year. Chair Eschelbeck clarified what Vice Chair Ganga said about including design up until Foothill and including construction up to Highway 85 because the construction might be delayed for the second part, up to Highway 85. Mr. Stillman noted that was not going to be possible within the next Fiscal Year (FY) because there were practical limitations on how much was able to be constructed in a year. Commissioner Lindskog motioned: The Bicycle Pedestrian Commission support the Stevens Creek Boulevard Separated Bikeway Phase 2 construction between Wolfe Road and De Anza Boulevard, Stevens Creek Boulevard Separated Bikeway Phase 2 design between Wolfe Road and Foothill Boulevard, the Stelling Road/Alves Drive crosswalk installation, and Carmen Road Bridge right-of-way acquisition, with an emphasis on progressing toward the Carmen Road Bridge project following acquisition of right-of-way. Vice Chair Ganga seconded the motion. Motion passed 5-0. Item 4: E-bike Operations in Cupertino (Eschelbeck) David Stillman, Transportation Manager gave a presentation with an overview of the regulations pertaining to the operations of electric bicycles (e-bikes). Commissioner Condamoor asked for a similar presentation pertaining to electric scooters (e- scooters). E-scooters were in high demand, so she suggested evaluating both simultaneously because there was a lot of overlap and they were growing in demand and use. Commissioner Carter recommended following existing regulations until there was a problem or until it was known there was an issue. Commissioner Condamoor shared that other cities have encouraged e-bike use by issuing more formalized statements or Requests for Proposals (RFP) to bring in external partners to have a city run e-bike program. If the City wanted to have a city coordinated e-bike program, that would require more proactive participation and recommendation from the Bicycle Pedestrian Commission (Commission). Chair Eschelbeck clarified there were two types of situations, a personally owned e-bike and having a City hosted E-bike Program. David Stillman, Transportation Manager noted that the City does have the discretion to allow or restrict various classes of e-bikes on various types of roadways, if they wanted to enact ordinances. The Commission discussed California Vehicle Code (CVC) restrictions. Chair Eschelbeck thought it was good to discuss this topic further, at later meetings. Vice Chair Ganga added that it was good to see what neighboring cities were doing and he wanted to discuss the safety aspects as well. STAFF AND COMMISSION REPORTS Item 5: Staff Update and Commissioner Activity Report (All) No staff update was given. Commissioner Lindskog gave a summary of the April 2021 Mayor’s Meeting. He gave a summary of the Safe Routes to School Working Group meeting. The summary is attached to these minutes. There was no Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) or Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Commission (BPAC) meeting this month. ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned at 9:37 p.m. SUBMITTED BY: ____________________________ David Stillman, Staff Liaison