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Home My WebLink About12/8/2020 Item 20, Veium Wilbanks, Megan From:Eric Veium < To:E-mail Council Website; Advisory Bodies Cc:Kristen Hazard; June Cochran; Garrett Otto Subject:SLO Climate Coalition: Active Transportation Plan Comments Clerk: Please share these comments with both the City Council re: Item 20 (12/8) and with the Planning Commission re: Item 4 (12/9). Thank you! Honorable Mayor, Council and Planning Commissioners, The SLO Climate Coalition is committed to creating a just, vibrant, and climate-resilient Central Coast. We believe that adopting and aggressively implementing a robust Active Transportation Plan is vital to achieving our community's commitment to equity, safety, and carbon neutrality. We would like to start by sharing our deep appreciation for staff and the Active Transportation Committee for their tireless efforts and extensive outreach developing this important plan. It is our studied observation that the draft active transportation plan as written, builds appropriately on the city's foundational guidance documents including the Climate Action Plan, Circulation Element, and Downtown Concept Plan and major city goals, such as Vision Zero, Diversity Equity and Inclusivity (DEI), and Sustainable Transportation. Honoring our city's commitment to carbon neutrality requires that we enable a significant transportation mode shift by building out a safe and comfortable bicycle and pedestrian network by 2030. The ATP identifies a key set of routes involving a network of protected bike lanes, shared use paths, and neighborhood greenway to be built by 2030 to help encourage this mode shift. These Tier 1 projects are the key routes that will connect community members with a low stress bicycle network to most schools, businesses, places of interest, and neighborhoods throughout SLO. We strongly encourage Council, Commissioners and staff to approve project tiers as proposed and prioritize implementation of the Tier 1 projects/routes designated in this plan. Furthermore, we believe that electric bicycles and other electric-powered micro-mobility devices should be elevated and highlighted throughout the plan. The following are important opportunities for your consideration to enhance awareness and access to electric bicycles and micro-mobility devices:  Plan and prioritize linear infrastructure to accommodate electric bicycles including priority streets and protected paths that allow space for safe passing and other potential electric bike-enabling considerations,  Prioritize promotion campaigns focused on electric bicycle use by families, retirees, and commuters.  Work with Central Coast Community Energy and other partners to create incentives for electric bicycles   Support a SLO City/Cal Poly Bike Share program that focuses on use of electric bicycles (being recommended by Staff)  Partner with Cal Poly to implement progressive policies and infrastructure that encourages use of electric bikes and diverse electric-enabled micro mobility devices such as skateboards, scooters, one-wheels, etc. Thank you for your on-going leadership on climate, equity, and quality of life for San Luis Obispo; these values are reflected in the proposed Active Transportation Plan. 1 Highest regards, Eric Eric Veium, CEM, CEP Chair SLO Climate Coalition (805) 835-3669 eric@carbonfreeslo.org 2