MINUTES
BICYCLE USERS SUBCOMMITTEE
Council Conference Room - City Hall
Wednesday, September 19, 2007 - 5:30 p.m.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT:
Gene Hiegel, Chairman
Edmundo Duvignau, Vice-Chairman
Davis Barber
Kent Morris
James Donovan
Banning Ostrow

COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT:
James Barnum

STAFF PRESENT:
Ron Bowers, Senior Civil Engineer

CALL TO ORDER

The regular meeting of the Bicycle Users Subcommittee was called to order at 5:35 p.m.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

The August 15, 2007 meeting minutes were approved with corrections.

NEW BUSINESS

1.DISCUSS DEVELOPMENT AT THE NORTHWEST CORNER OF CHAPMAN AVENUE AND COMMONWEALTH AVENUE.

Mark Miller, City Traffic Engineer, stated Commonwealth Avenue striping has two lanes in each direction and has a class II bike lane.There is a development on the west side of Commonwealth from Chapman Avenue to College Place that will be built for student housing and retail use at ground level.With the retail use a proposal to allow parking on the west side of Commonwealth from College Place to Chapman is being considered.This would cause the bike lane to drop off before the intersection for southbound traffic.Staff did a traffic analysis on Commonwealth Avenue and determined that four lanes of traffic are not needed.The proposed striping on Commonwealth Avenue would have one lane going southbound between College Place and Chapman and still maintain the two lanes going northbound with the bike lanes.The Sub-Committee discussed the bike lane dropping off before the intersection and requested that the parking near the intersection be removed so that the bike lane would be continuous to the intersection.

The Sub-Committee asked Mr. Miller if the new lane configuration will be enough for all the new residents.Mr. Miller replied yes and that there will be several new entrances off of Chapman Avenue.

BUSC September 19, 2007 Meeting Minutes

Page 2

The vision of this development is that there will be narrow roadway and more landscaping while maintaining the bike lanes.The landscape median will remain and may be widened.

There will be two lanes of traffic with a bike lane from Nutwood Avenue to College Place going southbound.There will be a right-turn pocket at College Place and the bike lane will move to the left side of the left turn pocket.

The consensus of the Sub-Committee was that the class II bike lane should be continuous from Nutwood to Chapman and that proposed parking near the intersection that would interfere with the bike lane should be removed.

2.DISCUSS EXISTING BIKE ROUTES.

The committee will be reviewing the existing bike routes as part of the General Plan update.Maps were provided.This item will be discussed in detail later as the General Plan progresses.

3.DISCUSS MUCKENTHALER BICYCLE FESTIVAL

North Orange County Bicycle Coalition is hosting a Bicycle Festival on October 28, 2007, Sunday at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center.BUSC should have a representation at the Bicycle Festival.Matthew Leslie of Muckenthaler Center can coordinate a table for BUSC.BUSC should share a table with another non-profit organization so it can also help with staffing issues and also consider having a banner.

4.OCTA CALL FOR PROJECTS, 2007 (BIKE PROJECTS) AND OTHER FUNDING SOURCES

There is approximately $13.5 million available funding over next 3 years from OCTA for projects geared towards transportation system for bicycles usage. The maximum grant for one project is $500,000 with a 25% minimum match from the local agency.Projects are more likely to get approved for funding with a 50% match.

City of Fullerton is applying for continuation of the trail behind the Independence Park north of Valencia and south of Walnut adjacent to the old abandoned railroad right of way to connect with the Transportation Center.Parks and Recreation Department is also applying for trail grants to do a joint use for bicycles and pedestrians.

Another project to consider is the cost of the Puente Bike Trail Extension.If there is a funding deficiency, we have to apply for additional funding.The third project will be behind the Tennis Center to connect with Bastanchury.However, no matching money is available at this time.

Another source of funding is the $60,000 from Rivers and Mountains Conservancy that the Parks and Recreation applied for such as connecting trail between the Independence Park and the Transportation Center.During a September 18, 2007 Council Meeting, an agenda item mentioned that there is another source of funding through California State Park.

There were also discussion about Bastanchury Road widening and how it was going to affect the bicycle route behind St. Jude Hospital and the Tennis Center.Since the design for the Bastanchury Road widening is about 70% complete and the design is on hold due to lack of funding for widening the street.There is still more questions than answers on how the bicycle lanes can be accommodated.

5.NON-AGENDA ITEMS

Nora Kutner trail became a very high speed off-road bicycle route.The BUSC wants to see a way to accommodate hikers on the quieter side of the interface with least impact to the burden of wildlife preserve.Parks and Recreation Department is working on that issue.BUSC wants a line of communication with Joe Felz, the Director of Parks and Recreation to discuss the trail issues.

There was also a discussion of Hiltscher Trail crossing Euclid Avenue.There is a project with Parks and Recreation Department to mitigate the crossing of Hiltscher trail at Euclid Ave.

OLD BUSINESS

1.DISCUSS POTENTIAL BIKE RACKS AND LOCKER LOCATIONS.

PUBLIC COMMENTS

None

ACTION ITEMS

BUSC member was going to e-mail Ron about the Hiltcher trail where it crosses Euclid and the trail that leads to Laguna Lake and the e-mail was going to be forwarded to Alice and Joe at Parks and Recreation for their consideration.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 6:35 p.m. until the next regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday, October 15, 2007.