HomeMy WebLinkAbout12/8/2020 Item 20, Englert
Purrington, Teresa
From:Jesse Englert <jenglert@gmail.com>
Sent:Saturday, December 5, 2020 2:20 PM
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Agenda Item 20 - Study Session on Draft Active Transportation Plan
Dear City Council,
While I am a Board Member for Bike SLO County, I am writing as a resident of SLO for the past 19 years and
as a safe streets advocate to comment on the Active Transportation Plan (ATP). I am writing to express my
support for the ATP as unanimously recommended by the Active Transportation Committee. I have been
involved with the ATP creation since the beginning, attending many of the ATC meetings discussing it. After
reading through the plan, I fully support it and encourage you to keep it as is, without major revisions, for
adoption in February. The amount of public outreach that Staff did on this plan over the last 2 years is
commendable. Staff and ATC members have done an excellent job of creating this plan.
I would like to specifically highlight the categorization of projects into a tiered structure by recommending that
all projects remain in their tiers as currently categorized. Staff and ATC have done a wonderful job of
creating a data driven approach to scoring active transportation projects. I suspect that some people will be
disappointed that their favorite project is not on the Tier 1 list. Please do not let outspoken public comments
promoting these passion projects undo the data driven approach that has been developed. The benefit of
following this data driven approach is to remove the finicky and sometimes irrational wants of those who are
invested in a specific project that will not get us closer to meeting the City’s climate action, mode share, &
equity goals.
The Bob Jones Trail, for example, will likely get support from some community members because they’ve been
focused on it for a long time and may feel frustrated that it is not prioritized. I too would like to see the Bob
Jones Trail completed some day but after the most impactful projects are implemented. I’d like to point out that
the section of Bob Jones Trail classified as a Tier 2 project scored just 1 point as shown in the ATP Project
Prioritization List on the “Tier 2” excel tab.
Class 1, or “Shared Use Path,” will also likely get support from some community members. These types of
facilities were prevalent in the original bicycle plan and some people have become attached to them. The
problems with Class 1 facilities:
They are the most expensive facilities to build requiring right of way acquisition & bridges (e.g., the
Bob Jones Trail requires the city to buy land or go through the condemnation process).
They are the most time consuming facilities to build (e.g. working with Union Pacific on the RailRoad
Safety Trail @ Pepper St took a long time and prevented the City from getting more grant funding).
They prevent people from accessing key destinations because they are separated far away from
those destinations (e.g. the existing Bob Jones Trail at Prado Rd prevents people accessing
businesses on S. Higuera safely).
They appeal mostly to recreational use and do not help the City get people out of their cars to replace
trips to achieve the climate action and mode shift goals.
Protected bike lanes are the best infrastructure we have available for the cost to keep people safe when
getting them to key destinations around the city. It’s understandable that people will speak out against
protected bike lanes since they are unfamiliar with them because we do not have any protected bike lanes in
SLO yet. Many other cities have been installing protected bike lanes with great success. Once we get over this
unfounded fear of them, I believe they will be widely loved.
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When discussing the ATP I would like you to keep in mind that Staff and ATC members have put a great deal
of thought and public outreach into creating this plan:
At least six public outreach meetings
Online surveys
Statistically valid mailed surveys,
25 ATC meetings (18 of which were solely on the ATP)
In all of the above public outreach and ATP discussion, the Bob Jones Trail was never a forgotten project and
was prioritized accordingly.
Thank you for everything you do and once again, I encourage you to keep the ATP as it is without major
revisions. I want to see these Tier 1 projects considered in the FY21-23 budget cycle without delay so that we
can start to see real progress in support of active transportation in our city.
Sincerely,
Jesse Englert
San Luis Obispo
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