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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee 2023-08-02 Minutes1 BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE (BPAC) Wednesday, August 2, 2023 AT 6:00 P.M. REGULAR MEETING MINUTES CALL TO ORDER · Chair Bergman called the meeting to order at 6:05 P.M. ROLL CALL Commissioners Present: Chair Bergman, Vice Chair Mooney, Member (Alternate) Anne Coyne, Member Mark Kyle, Member Sylvain Frayer, and Member Marc Solomon Commissioners Absent: None Staff Present: Staff (Traffic Engineer) Nhat Phan Staff (Dean Allison Intern) Kelly Abey APPROVAL MINUTES Minutes for June 7, 2023 BPAC Meeting were approved. PUBLIC COMMENTS FOR ITEMS NOT ON AGENDA Lizzie H. doesn’t feel like San Rafael is a safe place for young kids and new riders to ride around. Would love for there to be more funding for San Rafael to be more bike friendly for families. Matthew Hartzell brings up that the Zoom link posted for the meeting is not the correct link. (The problem is fixed). Mentions AB 43 and how cities are now able to lower speed limits. Looks forward to the next steps during the public process to figure out what could be done. Susan asks about AB 43 and wonders about the details about the speed survey. Also wonders if it will take two months for the survey to be completed. Nhat responds that the 85 percentile and speed survey will help support the enforcement of current posted speed limit. AB 43 will be brought up again in October with a lot more detail. There are 48 segments of roadways that will be studied, and the process and implementation is being discussed. David Seltzer also called into the previous City Council Meeting about AB 43. Wonders if the speed surveys will be about average speed or the given speed in certain areas. Thinks that dropping the speeds will be beneficial. Dave Rhodes states that AB 43 is a big deal since it gives the City an ability to lower the speed limits in key commercial areas and corridors in the City. Recommends that the speed survey should not be required so that there is less of a wait for lowered speeds to be implements. Gives thanks to DPW for fixing the bike signal near SMART and Francisco Blvd. 2 AD-HOC COMMITTEE UPDATES a. North-South Greenway Sausalito – Golden Gate Market to Princess St.: Council voted to provide bike lanes along the stretch. It has been highly politicized. Will be about a six-month process before plans are seen. San Rafael – SMART bridge planned to break ground in Fall 2023 and complete in Winter 2024. Novato – 100ft bike path to get around landslide. Took four months to get done, no more detour needed. The path is closed three miles to the north after being open for nine days. Closure is only on the weekdays and the work will be done in September. PUBLIC COMMENTS: Kate Powers asks Philip where the design and plan is for the SMART bridge and is worried about the affects of sea level rise. Brings up t hat Vision Zero is no longer an ad-hoc committee update but would like to see Safety as an ad-hoc committee update. Vice Chair Mooney responds that the last board meeting had the most recent designs. There will be changes in the BPMP and Nhat will give updates on. CITY STAFF PRESENTATION – DPW TRANSPORTATION UPDATES Staff Traffic Engineer Nhat provides BPAC an update about what the City has been working on. 3rd St. Rehabilitation Project – Pavement restoration and restriping will take pace Aug/Sept. 2023. Construction should be completed in Oct. 2023. Recommends posting the plans to the website. Vice Chair Mooney praises the project management and communication. B St. Two Way Conversion – Thermoplastic Striping in October 2023. Grand Avenue Cycle Track – 100% design completed, and the project is out to bid. The construction contract award will be in Aug. 2023 and start of construction should be in Fall 2023. Vice Chair Mooney brings up previous BPAC worries about turn radius for cars for 2nd and 4th right turn. 2nd and 4th St. Intersection – 60% design completed, and the final design is projected to be completed in Summer 2024. Construction contract award planned to be in Fall of 2024. Start of construction will be in Winter 2024. Dave Rhodes questions the need for the left turn on to Marquard and if it is needed. Also brings up that the turn from East to West side of 4th St. should not be free flowing traffic and is glad to see that it is being addressed. Getting a presentation for this project at the next meeting would be beneficial. Trevor Martens reiterates Dave’s comments on the changes to the free-flowing traffic. Bike & Pedestrian Master Plan Update - Vice Chair Mooney presents. 2018 Master Plan has a section in the back for Tracking Milestones. It includes timelines and things that should be done to keep the City accountable. Interested in writing a letter to City council on behalf of BPAC to communicate findings and give a progress update. Six out of 19 projects are on track or completed, four more are in progress and nine have not been addressed. Wants committee approval to send letter to council as a progress update. Chair Bergman and Vice Chair Mooney mention that all projects necessary were addressed and due to lack of staff time and turnover, there have been issues with completing all the projects. Reiterates the need for resources without throwing people and staff under the bus. Patrick 3 Seidler compliments the BPAC for the work that is being done. Mentions that establishing a professional decorum with the council will increase relationship between BPAC and City Council for the future. Suggests doing a City Council presentation. After a lot of back and forth about whether to write a letter or do a presentation, it is determined that a subcommittee will be created for the BPMP update. Chair Bergman and Vice Chair Mooney nominated to be on the subcommittee. They will handle scheduling a meeting with City Council liaison and the letter. The BPMP RFP planned to go out soon. The staff, BPAC members and consultants will work together on the update once the consultants are hired. Safe Routes for All (SS4A) - Applying for SS4A grant has been postponed. Decided to use the current funds to move the BPMP update forward more quickly. Currently, City is working with TAM on studies. DPW wants to conduct drone surveys to get an arial view of traffic flows and patterns in real time instead of doing walking audits. Drone surveys will be held during pick up and drop off times. Outreach and Events - City wants to do more events downtown and work on engaging the community. Traffic cabinet painting project is getting started. Mobility hub updates will be brought back to BPAC after meeting with Caltrans. Listed below are comments from BPAC Members and the public. Vice Chair Mooney brings up that previous CIP Report had allocated $100,000 for a study of the East- West bikeway connection but is not in the new CIP report. Wonders where the money went and why it went away and de-prioritized. Kate Powers mentions her appreciation on all of the work that is being done and the effort put in by BPAC and Walk/Bike Marin. HOUSEKEEPING · None. ADJOURNMENT · Chair Bergman called the meeting to adjourn at 8:00 P.M. NEXT MEETING · Next scheduled meeting will be held on Wednesday October 4, 2023 at 6:00 P.M. FUTURE AGENDA TOPICS · Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan Update · AB 43 Legislation · Bike Parking Requirements Meeting minutes approved this 4th day of October 2023. Nhat Phan ______________________________ Nhat Phan, Traffic Engineer