{"body": "CityCouncil", "date": "2015-02-25", "page": 1, "text": "MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING\nWEDNESDAY- - FEBRUARY 25, 2015- -7:00 P.M.\n(15-142) A Special Meeting was called to allow the Council to attend the Special Joint\nTransportation Commission and Planning Board Meeting addressing transportation at\nAlameda Point Site A and Citywide.\nLara Weisiger\nCity Clerk\nThe agenda for this meeting was posted in accordance with the Sunshine Ordinance.\nRegular Meeting\nAlameda City Council\nFebruary 25, 2015", "path": "CityCouncil/2015-02-25.pdf"}
{"body": "TransportationCommission", "date": "2015-02-25", "page": 1, "text": "Transportation Commission\nMarch 25, 2015\nItem 4B\nAction\nJoint Meeting Minutes of the Transportation Commission and\nPlanning Board\nWednesday, February 25, 2015\nCommissioner Michele Bellows called the Joint Planning Board and Transportation Commission\nmeeting to order at 7:00 p.m.\n1.\nRoll Call\nRoll was called and the following was recorded:\nTransportation Commission Members Present:\nMichele Bellows (Chair)\nEric Schatmeier (Vice Chair)\nJesus Vargas\nChristopher Miley\nThomas G. Bertken\nMichael Hans\nGregory Morgado\nPlanning Board Members Present:\nMike Henneberry (President)\nDania Alvarez\nDavid Burton\nLorre Zuppan\nJohn Knox White\nStanley Tang\nStaff Present:\nAlex Nguyen, Assistant City Manager\nJennifer Ott, Chief Operations Officer for Alameda Point\nAndrew Thomas, City Planner\nVirendra Patel, Transportation Engineer\nGail Payne, Transportation Coordinator\nLev Kushner, Alameda Point", "path": "TransportationCommission/2015-02-25.pdf"}
{"body": "TransportationCommission", "date": "2015-02-25", "page": 2, "text": "Transportation Commission\nMarch 25, 2015\nItem #4B\nPage 2 of 10\n2.\nAgenda Changes\nNone.\n3.\nAnnouncements/ Public Comments\nNone.\n4.\nProvide Feedback on Recommended Approach to Citywide\nTransportation Delivery Strategy\nJennifer Ott, Chief Operations Officer for Alameda Point, presented the report.\nNate Conable, Principal at Fehr Peers, presented the transportation trends of the City.\nBoardmember Knox White stated that well over a decade, the City worked with BART to identify\na BART stop. He wanted to know if Jennifer Ott included BART in the discussions because\nAlamedans comprise 50 percent of Fruitvale BART ridership.\nJennifer Ott replied the omission was not purposeful because her team focused on current\ntransportation services. However, she felt that BART should be added to the stakeholder list.\nLorre Zuppan asked staff if discussions with the City of Oakland also should be conducted.\nCommissioner Schatmeier said the overriding goals presented were the Estuary Crossing and\ndecreasing Single Occupant Vehicle (SOV) trips. He wanted to know if staff went through a\nprocess of reviewing a number of possible goals and boiling them down. He felt the other goal\nthat staff should review would be for Alameda to become a multi-destination with multiple\ntransit service options city.\nJennifer Ott said staff listened to the collective experiences resonating from the community\nmeetings and from discussions at City Council meetings.\nBoardmember Burton stated that Jennifer Ott talked about having one goal with two\ndeliverables, but he needed clarification.\nJennifer Ott replied staff identified the deficiencies, and would review the citywide approach to\nTransit Demand Management (TDM) and would update the transit plan. She explained that they\nwould hire a consultant team to prepare the citywide TDM and transit plan documents. Staff\nalso could focus on increasing transit for the rest of Alameda by increasing transit usage by say 1\npercent, but the main concerns were focused on congestion at the crossings.\nCommissioner Bellows opened the floor to public comments.", "path": "TransportationCommission/2015-02-25.pdf"}
{"body": "TransportationCommission", "date": "2015-02-25", "page": 3, "text": "Transportation Commission\nMarch 25, 2015\nItem #4B\nPage 3 of 10\nTony Kuttner, President of Greater Alameda Business Association, was concerned for the\nbusiness community and the City's community as a whole. He would like to see a free local\nshuttle that serves the businesses and residents similar to the city of Emeryville's Emery Go\nRound shuttle. He stressed that a free, reliable transit system could be funded from a variety of\nfunding sources, and he emphasized the goal of the plan was focusing on the Estuary crossings\nand reducing SOV trips because the transit plan should serve businesses and residents within the\nCity.\nKurt Petersen, Alameda resident, has been in sales for 35 years before retiring and he told the\nBoard and Commission they are getting a hard sale. He believed the idea of the plan was great\nand needed, but he was concerned about the outcome of Site A and the several developments in\nthe pipeline. He urged the Board and Commission to take some time and analyze the results. He\nalso felt ongoing community input was not taken into consideration.\nJim Strehlow, Alameda resident, explained that a plan to force people to mostly ride public\ntransit would not work and this plan is for a transportation czar for the City. When he reviewed\nthe statistics, he did not see how that would fit into the real world because people do not fit into\nstatistics. If parking is not available then residents will place their vehicles in the surrounding\nneighborhoods. He also mentioned that recently an accident in the Webster Tube created havoc\nfor people trying to get into the City. So, the impending month long closure of the High Street\nBridge will be an experiment to see how hard it will be for residents to get off the island.\nLinda Morris, AC Transit Senior Transportation Planner, stated that the presentation was\nappreciated and she looked forward to working with the City. She said the plan was timely\nbecause AC Transit is preparing a Comprehensive Transportation Analysis (COA) and is going\nout to the community to elicit feedback. She will present the results at the Transportation\nCommission. She explained that one thing to focus on was the timeline because AC Transit\ncreated a short, medium and long range plan and in terms of the short range there will be service\nonline starting March 15 and weekend service to the Faction Brewery. In terms of the short and\nmedium timeline, she said there will be a public hearing in the summer of this year and the AC\nTransit Board will approve and implement a plan in late fall with some service increases for\nAlameda. Regarding the discussion of shuttles in Alameda, she said the job landscape of the\nCity is less dense than the city of Emeryville. Staff could work with developers to create an AC\nTransit Easypass for residents to use the bus network.\nEugenie Thomson, Alameda resident, thanked the staff and Board and Commission for\naddressing the TDM plan. She pointed out that the City is looking towards the biggest growth\nplans in quite some time. Therefore, she urged the Board and the Commission to maintain the\nexisting good quality of life and to recognize that goals need to be set for TDM and Vehicle\nMiles Traveled (VMT) with all the upcoming growth.\nTrish Herrera Spencer spoke as an Alameda citizen and thanked Tony Kuttner for raising the\nissue of how the shuttle could support local businesses. Traffic is a problem.\nCarol Gottstein, Alameda resident, echoed Jim Strehlow's comments and restated that the plan", "path": "TransportationCommission/2015-02-25.pdf"}
{"body": "TransportationCommission", "date": "2015-02-25", "page": 4, "text": "Transportation Commission\nMarch 25, 2015\nItem #4B\nPage 4 of 10\nwould create a transportation czar that is too behavior controlling. She urged the Commission\nand Board to see that the City must be inclusionary and not select residents based on their\ntransportation choices.\nCommissioner Vargas stated that in the future he would like to see the materials sent in enough\ntime for everyone to read it. However, he felt that it was good to see different agencies such as\nAC Transit and BART collaborating and he wanted the city of Oakland to be included in the\ndiscussions. He noted that the VMT information will be required to report on to the\nMetropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and to the state of California.\nCommissioner Miley explained that the City should look at this process as an opportunity since\nthe passing of Measure BB. He also said the future street work around Broadway and Jackson\nStreets in Oakland should be included in the analysis. He asked Jennifer Ott why the\nTransportation Commission, Planning Board and City Council would participate in the\ncontractor selection process because in his experience working with the County these bodies are\nnot involved in that process.\nJennifer Ott explained that in the past staff have invited the president of the Planning Board to\nparticipate. However, she said she will confirm with the City Attorney's office before asking a\nmember to join.\nCommissioner Miley said he seconded Boardmember Knox White's comments about BART\nbeing a critical partner in this discussion. He felt the plan should include all the City's bridges\nincluding Bay Farm Island Bridge because island circulation is critically important. He also\nthanked staff for bringing the update to the Board and Commission, but he thought the timeline\nto get things accomplished was quite aggressive.\nBoardmember Burton said that naming the plan according to its intent and its meaning to the\ncommunity was vital. The goal should be to minimize net increases of SOV travel in and out of\nthe City. He also recognized that congestion and mode shifts are an economic development issue\nwhere the City should provide incentives and opportunities to current residents to reduce VMT\nthrough job creation within the City and focusing on TDM strategies for all new developments.\nHe said staff needed to coordinate with the existing plans and explain this effort to the public. In\nterms of the staff report, he said three items were left off or not fully explained: 1. on page 5 of\nthe staff report the recommended approach to divert SOV trips was not mentioned and it should\nbe; 2. the first major tasks should be to define the project and scope of work and 3. outline the\ncommunity and stakeholder engagement process.\nBoardmember Tang stated it was important to engage with people who do take public\ntransportation to gather their feedback. Younger generations do not drive as frequently.\nBoardmember Zuppan said the project's scope was too narrow when speaking about the estuary\ncrossings. She urged staff to think bigger and analyze citywide traffic reductions.\nBoardmember Alvarez said she feared staff was not engaging with the city of Oakland because of", "path": "TransportationCommission/2015-02-25.pdf"}
{"body": "TransportationCommission", "date": "2015-02-25", "page": 5, "text": "Transportation Commission\nMarch 25, 2015\nItem #4B\nPage 5 of 10\nthe issues that we are facing with the accessibility to freeways when crossing the bridges and\ntunnels. She also felt excluded because she did not see a lot of work on Harbor Bay or Bay Farm\nIsland. Overall, she would like to see the entire island especially the area that has limited\ntransportation options reviewed. Furthermore, she questioned the ability to have a portable\nbarrier on Park Street Bridge similar to Golden Gate Bridge or the old Caldecott Tunnel.\nCommissioner Schatmeier stated that focusing on the estuaries crossings should not be the only\ngoal in this effort because there are all kinds of transit needs.\nCommissioner Morgado concurred with Commissioner Schatmeier stating that the City should\nupdate the plan to create more livable streets.\nBoardmember Knox White stated that he agreed with everyone, but he felt they need multiple\ngoals like no new net trips or setting a threshold for VMT. There are benefits to VMT, but there\nare also a lot of risks. He noted that livability is a goal by maintaining or reducing current traffic\nlevels.\nCommissioner Vargas stated that rather than focusing on the goals and the aggressive timeline of\nsetting these goals, he believed the idea of measuring and monitoring the results is important.\nBoardmember Henneberry said that intercity circulation should include traffic calming.\nCommissioner Bellows stated that another goal should be to look at different transit options other\nthan public transportation based on the type of trip. She felt people with cars should not be\nvilified and there should be an option to deal with peak periods trips on and off the island for all\npoints of access including Doolittle Drive.\nJennifer Ott said she will speak with the City Council on March 10, and there were a lot of\ncommonalities found in the comments between the Commission and Board.\n5.\nApprove Cross Alameda Trail Preliminary Design for the Ralph\nMemorial Appezzato Parkway Section\nStaff Payne presented the report and introduced the project consultants Eric Swanson of BKF\nEngineers and Sarah Sutton of Placeworks Inc.\nEric Swanson, Civil Engineer, BKF Engineers presented.\nSarah Sutton, Principal Landscape Architect, Placeworks Inc. presented.\nCommissioner Bellows asked Sarah Sutton to describe a rain garden.\nSarah Sutton replied that a rain garden can be described as a bioswale that is flat and captures the\nwater.", "path": "TransportationCommission/2015-02-25.pdf"}
{"body": "TransportationCommission", "date": "2015-02-25", "page": 6, "text": "Transportation Commission\nMarch 25, 2015\nItem #4B\nPage 6 of 10\nCommissioner Bellows asked Sarah Sutton if the rain garden will be irrigated.\nSarah Sutton replied the project does not have funds for irrigation, so they chose low water\nneedy plants.\nCommissioner Bellows mentioned that in the presentation Sarah Sutton said the area was flat, so\nshe wanted to know where the trees fit in the area.\nSarah Sutton explained that the placement varies because they do not want to place trees on the\nbottom in case of heavy rain activity in the future.\nCommissioner Bellows asked staff if the federal funding could be used for the remediation.\nStaff Payne replied yes and there was $1.8 million for the project. Staff is not sure how much the\nremediation will cost.\nCommissioner Miley wanted to know the total budget for the complete build out.\nStaff Payne replied right now the cost estimate is for $1.8 million and some elements can be\nadded into the construction document for example the Webster Tower would be an added\nalternative.\nBoardmember Burton said that there was not an attached resolution included in the staff report,\nso wanted clarification on the process.\nStaff Payne replied that staff would be asking for approval on the preliminary design and there\nwas no need to take it onward, but just to continue the work.\nBoardmember Knox White asked staff if they would be able to approve how the plazas look\nexactly or conceptually.\nStaff Payne replied the design was the ultimate vision.\nBoardmember Knox White replied so if the whole $1.8 million was adequate to completely build\nout then approving the design was the final review.\nStaff Payne replied yes.\nCommissioner Miley asked staff if she needed a separate action from the Board and the\nCommission.\nStaff Payne replied one action since it is a joint meeting.\nCommissioner Hans said that last time when they voted on this design the schools came to talk", "path": "TransportationCommission/2015-02-25.pdf"}
{"body": "TransportationCommission", "date": "2015-02-25", "page": 7, "text": "Transportation Commission\nMarch 25, 2015\nItem #4B\nPage 7 of 10\nabout how they used the pathway for parking. When he passed by the area the other day he saw\nabout 50-60 cars between the school and the Boys and Girls Club. He wanted to know if the\ndesign goes through where will the staff park.\nStaff Payne replied they have met with Alameda Unified School District and the school\nmanagement plans to look for parking offsite. She explained that the Housing Authority and\nPark and Recreation Departments have underutilized parking lots close to the school and near\nHometown Donuts.\nBoardmember Tang asked if there would be low lighting along the multiuse path or water\nfountains.\nStaff Payne replied not at this phase for the lighting and no for the water fountains.\nCommissioner Bellows opened the floor to public comments.\nRion Cassidy, Alameda resident, said he was an avid bicycle rider and wondered why there was\nnot a bike lane on Appezzato Parkway. He was glad to see the project come to light, but he did\nnot understand the need to construct a park there just to get a bike path built. He also called for\nresponsible government by not overspending to get the site built and then not maintaining the\nsite afterwards. Additionally, he questioned the 15 foot set back from the bike path to the street\nfor a future bus only lane because that limits the amount of lighting on the path.\nJim Strehlow said he rode his bicycle from Bay Farm Island along Fernside Drive and the bike\npath when heading towards High Street was pleasant. Yet, when he rode his bicycle near Fifth\nStreet, the middle bike lane caused him to have cars on his left and on his right, which was\nuncomfortable. So, he questioned the design on Fifth Street. Furthermore, he asked staff what to\ndo about bus stops adjacent to the path and how can pedestrians access them especially with a\ncycle track in the way.\nTrish Herrera Spencer said there was not much parking near Hometown Donuts, so she would\nlike more specificity. Also, she was concerned about the bike path being set back because of\nvisibility issues especially for females and children.\nBoardmember Knox White stated that he was concerned about the Webster Street Plaza because\nthe configuration focused everyone sitting at the wall and looking at the expanse of intersection\nconcrete. He believed that turning the plaza to focus on places where people want to be was\na\nbetter option.\nStaff Payne replied she had the same reaction and she wanted the plaza to be flipped as well, but\nwhen she brought the idea up to the Webster Street Business Association Design Committee they\ndid not like the idea. Ultimately, she said the committee would like a gateway that serves their\narea.\nBoardmember Knox White asked staff if there was a way to remove the curb or the double", "path": "TransportationCommission/2015-02-25.pdf"}
{"body": "TransportationCommission", "date": "2015-02-25", "page": 8, "text": "Transportation Commission\nMarch 25, 2015\nItem #4B\nPage 8 of 10\nyellow line near Hometown Donuts at Appezzato and Main Street.\nCommissioner Miley stated that as a jogger he really liked the meandering path and he liked the\nfact that pedestrians were buffered from the traffic. However, he was concerned about approving\nthe design without knowing that the budget can create the full vision and that will leave open\nquestions on the precise design. So, he asked staff if there were time constraints from the other\nfunding sources.\nStaff Payne replied there are no time constraints with the other funding sources except for the\nfederal monies, which need to be expended by December. She explained there are few ways of\nhandling the design based on the outcome of the funds. Firstly, the competitive grant that was\nreceived was for multiuse and jogging paths. If there are funding issues then staff will have to\ngo with the original approach for the first phase, which would be to construct the multiuse path\nand later on construct a separate walking path. If the project is delayed due to environmental\nremediation then staff may have to scale back the separate path concept.\nCommissioner Miley moved the item and asked staff to come back to the Commission and Board\nif the Board is interested with any changes, updates or delays. Commissioner Schatmeier\nseconded the motion. The motion was approved 13-0.\n6.\nApprove TIGER Grant Application: Naval Air Station Alameda\nMultimodal Regional Connections Project\nLev Kushner presented the report and asked the Commission and Board for an endorsement of\nthe concept.\nCommissioner Schatmeier stated that the proposal had a circle with a \"T\" inside and labeled\nproposed transit center.\nLev Kushner replied the symbol represented the linkage of the bus rapid transit and ferry\nterminal.\nCommissioner Schatmeier said there was a star located north side of the ferry terminal icon on\nanother map and that interface was different so, he wanted a clear understanding of what the\nicons represent.\nLev Kushner said he will revise the maps since it was not clear.\nBoardmember Burton asked Lev Kushner to describe the Central Avenue bike lane changes in\ndetail and describe in detail the changes to the bus lanes on Stargell Avenue.\nLev Kushner said along Stargell Avenue there will be queue jump lanes at the two intersections\nof Main and Fifth Streets headed towards the Webster Tube.", "path": "TransportationCommission/2015-02-25.pdf"}
{"body": "TransportationCommission", "date": "2015-02-25", "page": 9, "text": "Transportation Commission\nMarch 25, 2015\nItem #4B\nPage 9 of 10\nJennifer Ott replied there was an existing right of way that has enough room on the street to\naccommodate queue jump lanes.\nBoardmember Knox White asked staff about the location of the queue jump lanes on Main Street\nand Stargell Avenue.\nJennifer Ott replied the maps presented are for their trip to Washington D.C. and they will be\nrefined at a later time.\nCommissioner Miley moved staff recommendations. Commissioner Schatmeier seconded the\nmotion. The motion was approved 13-0.\n7.\nPresentation on Site A Development at Alameda Point, Including\nInitial Discussion of the Site A Transportation Demand\nManagement Strategy\nJennifer Ott presented the report.\nJoe Ernst, Principal of SRM Ernst, presented.\nWilliam Duncanson, BAR Architects, presented.\nPhil Olmstead, Nelson Nygaard Consulting Associates, presented.\nCommissioner Schatmeier stated that the Clipper Card does a lot for people and he was glad to\nsee it in the presentation as something to be explored.\nCommissioner Vargas asked staff what was the underlying intent of the presentation and what\nshould the Commission likely see in the future.\nJennifer Ott replied that they wanted additional feedback to incorporate in the plan and gain\nadditional feedback. She said that they will return for the March 25 Transportation Commission\nmeeting to explain more about the TDM strategy and gather more feedback.\nBoardmember Knox White asked Jennifer Ott if there was an intent to meet the TDM goal since\nthey plan to review the outcome every year.\nJennifer Ott said staff will meet with Nelson Nyggard about the results of reviewing the TDM\nevery year.\nBoardmember Knox White replied the plan does not specifically say what we are doing and he\nfelt establishing goals and meeting them was important.", "path": "TransportationCommission/2015-02-25.pdf"}
{"body": "TransportationCommission", "date": "2015-02-25", "page": 10, "text": "Transportation Commission\nMarch 25, 2015\nItem #4B\nPage 10 of 10\n8.\nAnnouncements/Public Comments\nJim Strehlow, said the Panama Pacific Exposition will have its 100 anniversary on Saturday,\nFebruary 28 at the Palace of Fine Arts and the exposition incorporates a lot of Alameda history.\nHe also felt that the Commission and Board did not answer his or other speakers' questions or\ntake in feedback and that greatly concerns him.\nStaff Payne said at a previous Commission meeting the Commissioners decided to create an ad\nhoc transit committee to better understand what the city's highest transit priorities are. So,\nmembers of the Planning Board can join and the procedure would be for the President\nHennebery to nominate members.\nTrish Herrera Spencer said that three speakers on the items presented received no discussion or\ninput from the Board or Commission and she encouraged future acknowledgement and input.\n9.\nAdjournment\n11:02 pm", "path": "TransportationCommission/2015-02-25.pdf"}