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The Regular Meeting of the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) was called to order at 6:07 p.m. by
Chairperson Jensen 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
Marc Jensen, Chairperson                      Richard Swent
David Kobayshi                                        Bart Thielges, Vice Chairperson
William F. Manry                                       Herman Wadler
Thomas Muniz                                           Joseph Walton

Members Absent                                               
Bill Reisinger 

A quorum was present.

Kevin Jackson, City of Sunnyvale BPAC, expressed concern regarding public safety on Montague Expressway and Highway 101.    

Member Stallman requested on Page 6, Item #9., Announcements, fourth paragraph, “removed” be changed to “trimmed”.

Member Chan noted that he was not in attendance at the April 13, 2005 meeting.

Member Carpenter requested on Page 6, Item #9., Announcements, second paragraph, “future meeting” be replaced with “next month’s meeting”.

M/S/C (Chan/Stallman) to approve the Minutes of April 13, 2005, with amendments.

Chris Augenstein, Transportation Planning Manager and Staff Liaison, introduced Michelle DeRobertis, Bicycle/Pedestrian Program Manager.   Ms. DeRobertis provided her bicycle and pedestrian background.

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

Agenda taken out of order.

Deborah Goldeen, Interested Citizen, expressed concern regarding Measure A and BART/Caltrain options.

Paul Pascoal, Santa Clara County Roads & Airport Department BPAC Liaison, provided a status on SB 1233 (Senate Transportation Committee) and the County of Santa Clara’s involvement.

Mr. Pascoal distributed a handout entitled County of Santa Clara 2004 Legislative Policies and Priorities, which discusses SB 1233.

Mr. Pascoal stated that in response to Members queries with regard whether or not SB 1233 affect bicycles on expressways, it does not any affect bicycles on expressways. 

Member Carpenter expressed concern that counties may have a different definition of expressway than Santa Clara County’s definition.

Member Eltgroth advised that SB 1233 did add a definition of expressway throughout the State of California.   Mr. Eltgroth referenced that 21960(a), stating that the verbiage “may prohibit or restrict the use of the freeways, expressways, or any portion thereof by pedestrians, bicycles, or other non-motorized traffic” which contradicted Mr. Pascoal’s report.

Chairperson Jensen advised that in adhering to the Brown Act the Committee that questions be addressed to the Chairperson and that each Committee Member can only make two comments per agenda item.

Member Swent stated that after careful review of the document from the  County of Santa Clara he found that the document does preclude bicyclist from being on county freeways. 

Member Eltgroth referenced Streets & Highway Code 888, which states “The Department shall not construct a state highway as a freeway that will result in the severance or destruction of an existing major route for non-motorized transportation traffic and light motorcycles, unless it provides a reasonable, safe, and convenient alternate route or such a route exists” and was not modified in SB 1233 to give the same protection for expressways.   Mr. Eltgroth expressed concern that access can be cut off to expressway even if there is no alternative route. 

Member Sullivan expressed concern with regard to the wording of the Bill and further expressed concern regarding that due to the changes in Vehicle Code Section 21906 expressways can now be treated exactly the same as freeways anywhere in the State of California even though the County of Santa Clara is the only county in the State of California which has expressways.   
                                                              
Mr. Sullivan advised that he received a copy of the Minutes for the Transportation Committee’s Meeting of February 2004. 

In response to Chairperson Jensen’s query,  Mr. Sullivan stated
that the only thing of substance the Transportation Committee added was a new
section of the Vehicle Code, Section 314, which provides the definition of an
expressway. 

Mr. Pascoal stated that with regard to Vehicle Code Section 21960, he is not completely versed in the legislation and would do further research if the Committee so desired.

Mr. Jackson expressed concern that legislation could go through the process and be implemented without any awareness whatsoever on the part of this PBAC.   Mr. Jackson requested the committee:  1) communicate to the Board of Directors in the strongest possible terms that this action is unacceptable and needs to be revoked as quickly as possible, 2) determine how this happened, who was behind this and why in order to ensure that it does not happen again, and 3) be persistent with these efforts until you get results because the bottom line is there is a great many of us who are counting of you guys to do your jobs.

On order of Chairperson Jensen, there being no objection the Committee discussed Senate Bill (SB) 1233 Legislation Related to Bicycles on County Expressways.

There was no Chairperson’s Report.

Jim McCutchen, Budget Administration Manager, distributed and referenced the power point presentation on staff’s recommended Fiscal Year 2006 and 2007 Budget.

Upon request from Chairperson Jensen, Mr. McCutchen forewent the written power point presentation and entertained queries from the Committee.

Member Eltgroth queried if the BART economic access impact analysis was completed.   Mr. McCutchen responded that to his knowledge it had not been.

Member Stallman queried if the transit side of VTA gets a certain claim to the county taxpayers pay to run transit or is that tax available to be spent on other things.  Mr. McCutchen stated that staff cannot legally misappropriate funds because they have to be used for mass transportation that is prescribed in law.

Chairperson Jensen queried how far in the red VTA is and Mr. McCutchen responded that currently VTA is not in the red but are achieving financial stability and actually being able to return some funds to reserves for the next rainy day.

Members Stallman and Swent expressed concern regarding wages and benefits and the budget balanced on the backs of the operators. 

Chairperson Jensen expressed concern about increasing fuel prices. Mr. McCutchen stated staff is monitoring weekly and fuel prices as of last week were almost $1.87 per gallon. 

Member Carpenter expressed concern regarding employee expenses with regard to medical and retirement benefits and the effect on the budget. 

On order of Chairperson Jensen, there being no objection, the Recommended Biennial Budget for Fiscal Year 2006 and 2007 was received.

Matthew O. Tucker, Chief Operating Officer, reported VTA continues to see strong performance relative to quality of service.   Staff is doing a good job at maintaining buses and light rail trains, which is minimizing the number of accidents. There has been a modest increase in the average fare received per customer due to the recent fare increases.

Mr. Tucker noted that although bus ridership has neither increased nor improved, light rail continues to increase month after month due to the fact that people are moving from bus to light rail.   Overall system ridership is down around 30 percent in this report, which is in result to loss of employment in this area and commute time improving. Mr. Tucker noted that with the Community Bus, Bus Rapid Transit, expansion of light rail and better marketing ridership will come back strong in the future.   In terms of items like productivity, there has been significant improvement in operator absenteeism.

On order of Chairperson Jensen, there being no objection, the FY 2005 Second Quarter Transit Operations Performance Report was received and filed.

John Sighonamy, Transportation Planner III, stated there is a provision in the Bicycle Expenditure Program (BEP) policy for amendments outside of the normal three-year funding cycle and to date four Member Agencies have requested amendments. 

The City of Milpitas Pedestrian/Bicycle Crossing funding will be reprogrammed to Milpitas’ Coyote Creek Trail Project, Reach 1 and the remaining funds will be reprogramming within the BEP to the Cities of Cupertino, Saratoga and the   City of Los Altos.

The City of Cupertino is requesting $7 million for the Mary Avenue Bicycle/Pedestrian overcrossing, a change from $5.4 million they have currently, City of Saratoga is requesting an increase of $95,000, and City of Los Altos Hills is requesting a new project which total cost is $840 thousand.

Michael McNeeley, City of Milpitas, Glen Goepcart, Director of Public Works City of Cupertino, David Louie and Dave Ross, City of Los Altos Hills, provided information regarding their projects and requested the Committee approve staff’s recommendation.

Member Muniz queried if the City of Cupertino has made any efforts to raise funding through the community for the bridge, if alternate designs were considered and expressed concern that the Committee will approve additional funding for a project that is very exquisite.   Mr. Goepart stated that alternatives were considered but crossing I-280 had to be taken into consideration but the signature bridge is what the community expects.             Mr. Goepart responded that no efforts have been made within the community to raise funding but are looking at other sources such as state funding.

In response to Member Chan’s query regarding bike lanes at the I-280 at El Monte Road, Mr. Ross responded that bicycle lanes have been proposed on the shoulder area. 

Member Swent expressed concern to regarding the speed of traffic at the I-280 undercrossing from the northbound off-ramp and requested stripping to slow down traffic.   Mr. Ross stated that Caltrans has initiated a safety study for the interchange.

Member Muniz expressed concern regarding the differences in percentage limit for the projects.   Mr. Augenstein advised that exceptions and amendments can be made to the limits that have exceeded the 25 percent slightly.

M/S/C (Thiegles/Simons) to review and recommend that the VTA Board of Directors approve amendments to the Countywide Bicycle Expenditure Program project list as presented below.

Stephen Flynn, Senior Management Analyst, stated that a few months ago the Policy Advisory Committee requested changes to their Bylaws and during the Board’s consideration of the requested changes, the Board of Directors noticed that the voting provision, Section 5.4, was the majority of a quorum as opposed to the majority of the full membership.   The Board of Directors expressed its desire that the Policy Advisory Committee, as well as all other Advisory Committees, consider changing their Bylaws to majority of total membership.   The reasons that they gave was the increased roles and responsibilities of the advisory committees and the need for vote of County of Santa Clara and not just a portion, when advisory committee represents member agencies.

Chairperson Jensen expressed concern regarding the Board of Directors recommended change and the affect on BPAC.   Mr. Flynn stated that up until two years ago majority of full membership was the requirement and the Committee had functioned with that and in the process of changing the Bylaws for different reasons, the question was asked what the voting requirements for the advisories.   At that time CAC and PAC were in the process of changing from the majority of a quorum because they had an attendance issue that BPAC has never suffered through.  Mr. Flynn stated that average he calculated for 2004 and part of 2005 is over 13 Members per meeting. 

Member Swent expressed concern regarding alternates because it is difficult to attend all of the meetings and the Board of Director’s recommendation will not make it easier on BPAC to get things accomplished. 

M/S/C (Elgroth/Wadler) on a vote of 13 ayes, 0 noes and 1 abstention that the Committee consider the amendment to the Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) bylaws requested by the VTA Board of Directors modifying the number of affirmative votes required to pass an item.   Member Sullivan abstained.

Mr. Sighamony stated that approximately $1.8 million is available to spend on bicycle and pedestrian projects of which 70 percent will be allocated to Member Agencies based on California Department of Finance population estimates, 30 percent of the allocation is dedicated to projects in the Countywide BEP. 

Mr. Sighamony advised that this cycle the following three BEB projects are requesting funding: in the City of Campbell, Campbell Avenue Bridge Widening over Los Gatos Creek Project, in the City of Palo Alto, of Palo Alto Bicycle Boulevard Network project, and in the City of Saratoga, Cox Avenue Railroad Crossing Project for the amount of $410,000, leaving a balance of $131,093 for this funding cycle.

Mr. Sighamony stated that staff is recommending providing BEP funding to the City of Sunnyvale for their Calabazas Creek Trail Project for materials in the amount of $86,000 and in return the City of Sunnyvale will forego next year’s Guarantee Funds up to $86,000.   Staff is recommending a one-time grant out of the BEP to the City of Campbell to complete their Westmont Avenue Street Improvement Project in the amount of $39,992.

Mr. Sighamony informed the Committee if they are in need of specific project description information to contact him and he will provide.

On order of Chairperson Jensen, there being no objections, the Committee discussed the project priorities for the FY 2006 Countywide Transportation Development Act (TDA Article 3) program.

Mr. Flynn referenced Page 2, CMP Work Program, which outlines VTA’s major goals and major tasks being done during the years, including 2005 Congestion Management Program, CMP Monitoring and Conformance Report, programming the 2006 STIP, and programming funds.

Mr. Flynn noted the undertaking of a Countywide Pedestrian Issues & Needs Assessment, was omitted from the Work Program.

Mr. Eltgroth queried as to the status and purpose of the Gateway Studies and the Southern Gateway Land Use and Transportation Study.   Mr. Augenstein stated that the studies have not commenced and the purpose is to understand better what the growth patterns in that entire area.           

Mr. Eltgroth expressed concern regarding US-101 south of SR-25 being converted to freeway without any alternative routes for bicycles.   Mr. Flynn stated he will check as to the status of the project and will provide the information at the June 8, 2005 meeting.

Member Stallman stated there is a general concern that bike circulation concurrence be integrated into the planning activities.  

Mr. Stallman recommended that when doing the Gateway Studies accommodation be made for the different modes of transportation as well as the features that transit and bicyclists need.

On order of Chairperson Jensen, there being no objection, the Committee reviewed and commented on the Recommended FY 05-06 Congestion Management Program Work Program and Budget being distributed to Member Agencies for review.

Kat Mereigh, Management Analyst, reported that Community Bus Service in the Town of Los Gatos will begin on July 4, 2005, and Bus Rapid Transit Service on Line 522 will begin on July 5, 2005. 

The final kick-off for the summer will be the opening of the Vasona Light Rail Service on August 12, 2005. 

VTA has a Summer Blast-Off Promotion, which will allow younger riders a 50 percent off fares for the summer.   On May 16, 2005, the sale of $75 three-month youth pass will commence.   Along with the pass a $15 discount will be given at Great America and discounts at the Great Mall, Valley Fair and Eastridge.

Ms. Mereigh distributed an addendum to Attachment C, Responses to VTA’s Long-Term Transit Capital Investment Program.

Ms. Mereigh stated that earlier this year staff discussed the Long-Term Transit Capital Investment Program, which is the transit part of the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP) 2030 Program. The draft plan was distributed to city councils, the County of Santa Clara for discussion and comments.   Some of the general comments received were: 1) No strong countywide support for a half-cent sales tax to fund local transportation;                           2) Discussion of Silicon Valley Leadership Group’s poll on countywide; 3) Concerns about the viability of federal and state funding; and 4) Continued support for the BART to Silicon Valley Project, but not at the expense of other 2000 Measure A projects.

Ms. Mereigh stated there was interest in developing both Measure A and non-Measure A projects which would sever countywide transportation needs while still delivering the BART project.

Ms. Mereigh reported that once the comments were received, VTA staff presented new funding scenarios for the half-cent, quarter-cent sales and no new sales tax with updated figures for the federal and state funding levels to the Board of Directors at their Workshop on April 22, 2005. 

On order of Chairperson Jensen, there being no objection, the Committee received and filed the comments regarding VTA’s Draft Long-Term Transit Capital Investment Program. 

Member Kobayashi noted the City of Santa Clara, Agilent Technologies, and   City of Milpitas’ Elmwood Residential and Commercial Development doing mitigations measures, which the City of San Jose should consider incorporating when projects are called out in the study. 

Chairperson Jensen expressed concern that comments are made late in the planning process and do not always get followed on and requested the process be changed that will enable comments to be received earlier.

Member Simons clarified that with regard to City of Sunnyvale Lowe’s Home Improvement Center Project, fourth bullet, the project will only build partial bicycle lanes up to a certain point until there are some utilities, which are extremely costly to mitigate are dealt with.

Member Stallman stated that with regard to the City of San Jose’s Campbell Avenue Resident Project, pedestrian crossings be included.   Samantha Swan, Environmental Planner responded that she would need do some research and provide the information at a later date.

Mr. Muniz stated that after careful review of the traffic impact analysis with regard to the annexation project he found many inconsistencies and inaccuracies.   Mr. Muniz requested VTA staff review the analysis in respect to pedestrian and bicycle traffic.  Ms. Swan advised that staff will review the documents.            

On order of Chairperson Jensen, there being no objection, the Proactive CMP Reviewed and Approved Projects Quarterly Status Report January through March 2005 was received and filed.

Member Simons reported that the City of Sunnyvale has approved adding bicycle lanes on Wolfe Road.

On order of Chairperson Jensen,there being no objection, the meeting was adjourned at 8:46 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Gilda M. Gozdanich, Board Assistant
VTA Board of Directors