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SCTF 04-24-01 City of Cupertino Stevens Creek Trail Feasibility Study Approved Minutes of Meeting Stevens Creek Trail Task Force S~udy Area A - Trail Alignment Meeting Tuesday, April 24, 2001 ATTENDANCE: Task Force Members Present Richard Lowenthal, Cupertino City Council Jeanne Bradford, Cupertino Parks and Recreation Commission Susie Brain, Friends of Stevens Creek Trail John Buenz, Meadows Home Owners Association Ann Cleaver, Meadows Home Owners Association John Giovanola, Hanson Permanente Cement David Greenstein, Cupertino Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee Mary ]o Gunderson, Linda Vista Neighborhood Scott Hathaway, Deep Cliff Golf Course Steve Haze, Cupertino Historical Society Beez ]ones, Stevens Creek Canyon Homeowners John Kolski, Stevens Creek Quarry Chuck Noble, Scenic Circle Neighborhood Craig Breon, Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society Dave Constant, Cupertino Swim & Racquet Club Task Force Members Absent - None Staff Members David Knapp, City Manager Mike O'Dowd, Recreation Supervisor, Blackberry Farm Marie Preston, Parks and Recreation Admin. Secretary Therese Ambrosi Smith, Director, Parks and Recreation Consultant Jana Sokale, Environmental Planner Call to Order David Greenstein, Chair, called the meeting to order at 7:08 p.m. II. March 27 Meeting Minutes The minutes were unanimously approved as drafted. III. Oral Communications (items not on the agenda) - None Page 1 City of Cupertino Stevens Creek Trail Feasibility Study IV. 01d Business Study Area A - Trail Alignment Recommendations: Jana Sokale reviewed the recommendations and changes to the map of Study Area A. She addressed questions and concerns from the Task Force members. Areas of concern were staging areas, parking, safety, and impact on neighborhoods. It was noted that the County of Santa Clara Parks and Recreation Department is being kept informed. Limited parking at San Antonio Park is a concern. Public Comment Paul Metz, a San Jose resident working in Cupertino, stated that in Study Area A (I need a description for the area he is discussing), leaving that area as gravel so that kids and neighbors can have access sounds good. The singular demand lights sounds like a good idea. If money is needed for that, he believes Safe Routes To School was re-approved, so there might be money to pay for such a connection. If the park (San Antonio Park) is growing, then possibly another staging area would make sense in order to get people into this section of the park. Judy Hogin, home backs up to Linda Vista Park. She expressed concern that there will be a huge impact on neighborhood in respect to privacy and parking. There are 35 parking spaces in the park, which is a small handful for what will be needed. Believes that Linda Vista Park is not an ideal location for the trail to go through. Stephanie Constant lives near Linda Vista Park. Concerned that with the already busy Linda Vista Drive. She believes there would be an increase in traffic, as well as parking problems. Currently, parking for Linda Vista Park overflows onto the streets during weekends. If Linda Vista Park becomes a staging area, this will only increase current problems. Mrs. Constant is an avid bicyclist and strongly supports the efforts to build more bike trails. Jim Bodwin, (Jana, after your review of this paragraph, please reword to the best of your memory as it was inaudible and difficult to know what he was talking about so it's as verbatim as I could make it) He asked for expansion of the legend to show where mountain bicyclists are welcome. He also requested that we check with who owns the lands to make sure that they won't arbitrarily close those trails to mountain bikers or other bikers at a later date, which has happened in some of the Midpeninsula areas recently. He believes that Areas A and B are the most important areas from a bicyclist's point of view. There are alternatives to these areas, but no alternatives through the other Page 2 City of Cupertino Stevens Creek Trail Feasibility Study areas. On Area B, right about here is where a bicyclist was killed on Stevens Canyon Road and this would represent a way for bicyclists to access Fremont Older without having to go up Stevens Canyon Road where there are a number of trucks which use the road, so this is a very important safety issue I think to have an open way to get through here on bikes.. There is an existing footbridge across the creek here and a trail back in this way which might be a good way to tie this into this parking lot for probably only for walkers, but I think this is something that should be looked at. Also this road continues to cross here to a parking lot and then Old Stevens Canyon Road goes up and hooks back up and is still actually recently paved and it is like going on a road bike, and that would provide an alternative assuming a road biker could get through here. At least for mountain bikers could get almost to the base of the dam and avoid Stevens Canyon Road so I think this needs to be looked at emptying into. This looks like this may be nature 'trailish' as oppose to mountain biking. You're thinking mountain biking for that? This is fairly steep here and this is a section that you may want to look at some alternative alignments - one for mountain bikers, one for hikers, or perhaps even one that is downhill and one that is uphill for bikers and hikers because bikes don't go uphill very fast. I would like to see this done in a way that there are fewer conflicts between mountain bikers, but this is going to be an important access route into Fremont Older for people like me who don't want to be killed on Stevens Canyon Road. Action: The Task Force approved the Trail Alignment Recommendations for Study Area A with the exception of adding the area from the rotary to the park edge, and also looking at adding gravel access with the appropriate traffic control and leave the staging for future discussions. Jana Sokale was directed add an agenda item to a future meeting to review the whole alignment. New Business Study Area B - Trail Alignment Review Jana Sokale gave a slide presentation on the proposed areas with a major focus on Study Area B - Stevens Creek County Park to Linda Vista Park. She explained that in the planning process, a final feasibility report will be developed that will identify viable trail alignments. These findings will be used to prepare environmental documents. Up to this point, the following documents have been developed: biological report, geotechnical report, as Page 3 City of Cupertino Stevens Creek Trail Feasibility Study well as a draft feasibility report. The Task Force reviewed the site feasibility characteristics, the trail alignment map and trail alignment alternatives. Jana Sokale was directed to: · Get projected trail use figures for next month's meeting · Investigate what the County of Santa Clara takes in park-use fees on an average week at Stevens Creek Park · Show another alignment that connects to the lower Stevens Creek County Park parking lot · Add restoration opportunities to the habitat and trail maps Public Comment - Randy Ong, home backs up to Linda Vista Park. He expressed concern about putting a staging area at Linda Vista Park. The rear of his home is exposed to the park and he is concerned about the possibility of an increase in crime and a decrease in privacy. He and his family are excited about the trail and they are also bikers and hikers. Rod Brown, President of ROMP and Cupertino resident near Linda Vista Park. As a resident, he believes that the costs are worth the efforts and that things can be done to mitigate the impacts in the neighborhood, such as setting up Blackberry Farm as a staging area. He is concerned about excluding equestrians from some of the trails, and believes the Task Force should avoid these exclusions. He believes that in separating trail users, the stage will be set for complaints of discrimination. For instance, if speeding cyclists are a problem in the area, install speed-reducing features instead of prohibiting cyclists from that area. Also from a management point of view, this would simplify things, since Fremont Older is generally open to all users on all trails with only a couple of exceptions - parallel trails for different users increases costs to the system. Craig Cummings - He believes Linda Vista Park does have parking issues, especially on weekends, and neighborhood traffic would be impacted. He stated that Linda Vista Park is a daytime use only park and is closed at sunset. He believes that if a trail goes through Linda Vista, the park would have to be open during the night. He was informed that the park will be locked at night and there is a potential for people's cars to be locked in until the morning. Page 4 City of Cupertino Stevens Creek Trail Feasibility Study Jana Sokale was asked to: · Develop policy recommendations regarding the possible staging area at Linda Vista Park · Look at specific alignments through and around this park · Investigate the number of annual passes the County of Santa Clara has sold A Task Force member requested investigating putting a staging area in the privately owned old Dorsa quarry area, whether a school is built there or not. VI. Feasibility Study Goals Action: The Goals had been voted on by 13 of the 15 members. The Task Force agreed to wait to finalize this list at the May meeting after all of the members have place their votes. VII. Trail Funding - Tabled to a later date. VIII. Announcements · Jana Sokale asked the Task Force to review the distributed Trail Funding Case Study and Trail Funding Report. These comment on the various funding program sources, grant monies, and their processes. · If there is any interest in doing another tour of the Mountain View section of the Trail, Jana Sokale stated she would be happy to organize another trip. · There will be a tour of Study Area B on May 15. · For those members who are interested in the feasibility study process, on May 23, the City of Mountain View is presenting their draft of their feasibility study of segment two of the trail. Adi ournment The meeting was adjourned at 9:45 to Tuesday, May 22, at 7:00 p.m. Respectfully subm_j3tted, IVl~r~ ~reston, Reco dig Se reta y Page 5