The Regular Meeting of the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) was called to order at 6:09 p.m. by
Chairperson Sullivan in Room B-104, VTA, 3331 North First Street, San Jose, California.

ROLL CALL

Members Present                                      Members Present
John Carpenter                                             David Simons
Scott Chan                                                    Jim Stallman
Bob Eltgroth                                                  John Sullivan, Chairperson
David Kobayashi                                           Richard Swent
Thomas Muniz                                               Bart Thielges
Bill Reisinger                                                 Herman Wadler
                                                                     Joseph Walton

A quorum was present.

There were no Public Presentations.

Member Chan requested on Agenda Item # 9., TDA Article 3 Project Priority List for FY 2005-2006 Page 3 of 8, # 10), City of San Jose be replaced with County of Santa Clara.

Member Chan requested on Agenda Item # 12., Announcements, Page 7 of 8, Permanente Bridge be replaced with Permanente Creek.

Member Kobayashi requested on Agenda Item # Page 9., TDA Article 3 Project Priority List for FY 2005-2006 Page 5 of 8, #1) six-inch be replaced with four-inch.

Member Stallman requested on Agenda Item #3., Minutes of October 13, 2004,  Page 2 of 8, second paragraph, Member Sullivan be replaced with Member Stallman.

Member Stallman requested on Agenda Item # 7., 2004 Tier 1 Bicycle Projects Biennial Review, Page 7 of 8, first paragraph, Bernard changed to Bernardo.

Member Stallman requested on Agenda item # 12., Announcements, Page 8 of 8, second paragraph, ago be placed after years and note that the shoulder has been fixed.

Member Carpenter took his seat at 6:14 p.m.

Member Simons requested on Agenda Item # 12., Announcements, Page 7 of 8, first paragraph, one m be deleted from Simmons.

Member Muniz requested on Agenda Item #12., Announcements, Page 8 of 8, accidents involving accidents be replaced with accidents involving bicycles and pedestrians.

M/S/C (Stallman/Eltgroth) on a vote of 12 ayes, 0 noes, and 1 abstention, to approve the Minutes of November 11, 2004, as amended.   Member Reisinger abstained.

Celia Chung, Senior Transportation Planner and Staff Liaison, reported that staff did the bid opening for the Guadalupe/River Oaks Bridge Project on December 8, 2004.     Ms. Chung noted that approximately seven bids were received but all were significantly higher than the Engineer’s Estimate.

Ms. Chung stated that she would provide more information at the January 2005 meeting once staff has had a chance to review the bids.

Member Simons recommended staff work with three or more agencies at a time such as the Water District and PG&E to streamline the process.

On order of Chairperson Sullivan, there being no objection, the Committee Staff Report was received.

Chairperson Sullivan provided a follow-up on the pedestrian access on expressway issues, stating that he went to the City of Los Altos to examine the records of 1980 Council Meeting where it was requested that the County remove the prohibitions and found that there was no mention of pedestrian access on expressways one way or the other.   Chairperson Carpenter noted that the Los Altos City Clerk is not sure whether the 1980 action was a resolution, but was definitely not an ordiance.   Neither staff at Public Works or the City was able to point him to any pedestrian prohibition on expressways.

On order of Chairperson Sullivan, there being no objection, the Chairperson’s Report was received.

The Agenda was taken out of order.

Ms. Chung stated that the prioritized list of projects will be forward to the Board of Directors for approval and submitted to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) for the Regional Bicycle/Pedestrian Program.

Ms. Chung noted that there is $8 million region-wide for Fiscal Years 06-07.   Ms. Chung stated that the projects are:   1) City of San Jose – Guadalupe River Trail Reach A-G for a requested amount of $2,000,000, 2) City of Monte Sereno – Highway 9 Corridor Bicycle/Pedestrian Improvements for a requested amount of $1,675,000, and 3) City of Mountain View – Stevens Creek Trail Reach 4 Segment 2 for a requested amount of $1,000,000.

Ms. Chung reported that MTC requested each county’s Congestion Management Agency (CMA), which is VTA for Santa Clara County, to coordinate the projects and prioritize them before sending them to MTC.   VTA issued a call for projects October 2004, applications were accepted until November 12, 2004, and the list will be forwarded to MTC by January 21, 2005.   A Scoring Committee was created consisting of VTA staff, BPAC Members Swent and Walton, City of San Jose staff, Town of Los Gatos staff, and City of Sunnyvale staff.  A total of four applications were received and forwarded to the Scoring Committee on November 15, 2004, with the evaluation criteria.  The Scoring Committee met on November 22, 2004 to evaluate, discuss and create a list of prioritized projects.  

Ms. Chung stated that the City of Saratoga’s project will not be forwarded to MTC at this time because it is somewhat smaller and a subset of the overall Highway 9 Corridor Project.   This is usually not an issue, but because there are three other substantial projects the Scoring Committee decided on the top three at this time.

Ms. Chung noted that MTC is not obligated to use the Scoring Committee’s priority system but may decide to use their own scoring committee, which may score projects in a different priority order.

Member Swent stated that the Guadalupe River Trail was a clear winner in the rankings and the other two projects were very close to each other.

M/S/C (Thielges/Carpenter) to recommend the VTA Board of Directors approve the prioritized list of projects to be submitted to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) for the Regional Bicycle/Pedestrian Program.

James Wightman, Interested Citizen, commented on bicycle lockers and bicycle trails. 

Chris Augenstein, Principal Transportation Planner, provided background information on the Community Design & Transportation Program stating that the Program has had enough funding for three cycles to fund $275,000 for each cycle for planning grants.   The first cycle has just been completed.   In July 2004 there was a call for projects and ten proposals were received, evaluated and came up with the initial list provided in the agenda item.

Mr. Augenstein stated that the four projects on Final Project List are:   1) City of Milpitas – Midtown Transit Sub Area Plan, 2) City of San Jose – Pedestrian Master Plan Update, 3) City of Sunnyvale - Tasman/Fair Oaks Bicycle and Pedestrian Circulation Plan, and      4) City of Sunnyvale – Caltrain Station North Pedestrian Access Improvements. 

Mr. Augenstein explained that the City of Sunnyvale had another project, Downtown Murphy Avenue Streetscape, which was dropped because the project received Transportation for Livable Community (TLC) Grant from MTC.   Dropping that project allowed the project next in line to move above the line, City of Sunnyvale’s Caltrain Station North Pedestrian Access Improvements, which brought the total to $450,000.

Mr. Augenstein stated that the staff contacted the City of Mountain View and were advised that the City of Mountain View had received numerous proposals for their Mayfield Center Bicycle/Pedestrian Avenue Improvement Plan which came in under the initial estimates and further advised staff that $25,000 would be sufficient to meet their needs.   Mr. Augenstein referenced a hand-out entitled FY 2004/05 Community Design & Transportation (CDT) Program:   First Cycle Planning Grants – Minor Change to Agenda Item which explains staff’s next step and references a revised list.

Member Stallman queried regarding the City of Sunnyvale Tasman/Fair Oaks Bicycle and Pedestrian Project proposal.   Mr. Augenstein responded that he would provide the proposal for the Committee’s review.

Chairperson Sullivan recommended a condensed version of the CDT Manual be made available to the public.

On order of Chairperson Sullivan, there being no objection, the Community Design & Transportation Program:   First Cycle Grants was received and filed.

Chairperson Sullivan stated the BPAC is open for volunteers for the BPAC to nominate candidates chairperson and vice chairperson for 2005.

Stephen Flynn, Sr. Management Analyst, reported that the Bylaws dictate that in the January meetings the BPAC elect a chairperson and vice chairperson.   VTA’s process has three components one of which is establishing the Nominating Committee.   At the January 2005 Meeting the Nominating Committee will provide their report and then election for the chairperson and vice chairperson will be held. 

Mr. Flynn stated that at tonight’s meeting, the nominating committee will be established and general protocol is to call for two to four volunteers and if there are no volunteers, the Chairperson has the prerogative to appoint a nominating committee.

Mr. Flynn explained that the function of the Nominating Committee is to ascertain who is willing to serve in either position.   Mr. Flynn noted the current Chairperson and Vice Chairperson are eligible for re-election.

Chairperson Sullivan, Member Walton and Member Simons volunteered to be part of Nominating Committee. 

Mr. Flynn advised that the Nominating Committee will provide a report on the nominees and then a vote will be taken for chairperson and vice chairperson.

On order of Chairperson Sullivan, Chairperson Sullivan, Member Walton and Member Sullivan were appointed to the Nominating Committee. 

Member Swent, City of Palo Alto, reported that a bid on the Homer Avenue Underpass is unofficially opening December 10, 2004, with the official grand opening ceremony February 2005.

Member Kobayashi, County of Santa Clara, reported he and County Staff are reviewing plans for bicycle and pedestrian friendliness for Montague Expressway Crossing. 

Member Thielges, City of San Jose, recommended agendizing a discussion regarding amending the by-laws to allow alternates.

Chairperson Sullivan, City of Santa Clara, there is a BAC Meeting scheduled for January 26, 2005 at 4:00 pm.

Member Walton, City of Cupertino, reported that the City made the front page of paper regarding an incident that occurred in the City of Campbell in September 2004.   The article addresses cyclists and motorists sharing the road.

On order of Chairperson Sullivan ,there being no objection, the meeting was adjourned at 7:15  p.m.

Respectfully submitted,  

Gilda M. Grozdanich, Board Assistant
VTA Board of Directors

NOTE:    M/S/C MEANS MOTION SECONDED AND, UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED, THE MOTION PASSES UNAMINOUSLY.