[0:00] It's Tuesday, December 15th, it's 7.01. That's on to a roll call.

[0:31] Okay, declaration of posting of the agenda.

[0:33] You did a husband posted for the government code.

[0:36] Great. Everyone, pledge of allegiance?

[0:39] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States.

[0:45] I'm sorry, my daughter is spending money.

[0:59] Is there any public comment?

[1:04] So, checking our attendees list, oh, you know what?

[1:15] I think I am going to be able to bring in.

[1:21] It looks like Craig is an attendee.

[1:23] Yeah, I just added in.

[1:28] Just realize that.

[1:31] Chair van Killing, are you there?

[1:41] There he is.

[1:47] You're muted.

[1:57] Yeah.

[2:00] I guess you got on mute yourself from me to handle the gavel Craig.

[2:08] There you go.

[2:10] Sorry guys, apologize.

[2:13] I finished the pledge and now we're seeing if there's public comment.

[2:18] Thank you.

[2:19] And I do not see any actually members of the public on the Zoom.

[2:24] So, I'm assuming there's no public comment.

[2:31] Wow, you guys did that all in two minutes, excellent.

[2:36] All right, let's see here.

[2:38] We have a community services director report.

[2:44] Thank you, Mr. Chair, just a brief report tonight.

[2:48] Just to provide an update on Parks and Recreation through our COVID-19 experience.

[2:55] As I'm sure everyone's aware, we are under the state home order of the state implemented by the county.

[3:05] And we're pretty similar to where we were last month all of the week.

[3:10] We're still offering swimming and outdoor fitness at the Centennial Recreation Center and Aquatic Center with the condition at the CRC fitness.

[3:21] It's 100% masking based on the new state home order except for those with medical exemptions or disability exemption.

[3:30] Our CRC membership is actually about 50% of what it was before COVID, which is not terrible.

[3:37] Our parks are still seeing good use a little bit less use than we were seeing during the summer.

[3:43] Pretty much all areas of parks are currently open.

[3:46] I think you probably saw on the news originally the state home order required playgrounds to be closed and then a day later the playgrounds could be open.

[3:55] So we close the playgrounds and then reopen the playgrounds all of the areas have signage and for the required modifications and directions for people.

[4:05] We don't see too many people actually in the parks that are that are not following the social distancing or masking requirements with one exception, which is our skate park, which we've been trying to work with the users for the last week.

[4:24] To get some sort of compliance but it's not possible so we will be closing the skate park unfortunately starting tomorrow just just made that decision because there's just a whole slew of adults and youth in there all standing next to each other completely unmasked.

[4:44] The other other updates just the city city and general trying to support our businesses downtown is you've seen we've been working in that area quite a bit as well as businesses across the way with streamlined permitting and that sort of thing.

[5:00] But the recent orders and the cold weather are just a huge struggle for our restaurants and businesses.

[5:09] The city's doing work for trying our best and I know the restaurants and businesses are trying their best but it's just a pretty difficult.

[5:19] Our sales even our operations are now impacted by COVID-19 not just because we have employees that test positive but we also have people who have close contacts with people who test positive so it's reducing and when that happens people are out of work so it's depleting our.

[5:37] The ability to provide service especially in the areas of maintenance and we're trying to to go to basic services so you might see things a little bit less maintained that before.

[5:46] But we're all we're doing okay just like no different than most other cities around.

[5:51] That concludes my report and be happy to take any questions anyone might have.

[5:56] You know.

[6:01] Good question.

[6:02] Chris not to put you on the spot you can tell us at a later time but just kind of wondering what's the fiscal impact of CRC membership.

[6:09] Couldn't have.

[6:11] So it's not just that fiscal impact of the CRC membership cut in half.

[6:16] Because it's also all the other programs we can't often offer as well as the rentals but we're thinking we are we are about.

[6:26] One point nine million dollars down from what we projected for budget what that's what will be at your end.

[6:35] So it's a pretty big impact for us it's it's big in recreation because we are almost full cost recovery but recreation we're pretty far down.

[6:46] And that's but we we do have expensive savings so we are we are doing quite a bit there as well.

[6:56] Yeah but overall okay.

[6:59] Is the 1.9 a net number then or is that the revenue number.

[7:05] And that actually the 1.9 is kind of worst case scenario if things open sooner it could be a little bit better but that's a net not a gross.

[7:13] So that's after the savings we have and then the revenue being down.

[7:19] Thank you.

[7:22] Any other questions.

[7:26] All right thank you very much Chris we have emotionally adopt the agenda.

[7:34] I moved to adopt the agenda.

[7:36] Second.

[7:37] All in favor.

[7:39] I.

[7:40] I.

[7:41] Be opposed any extensions.

[7:43] All right.

[7:44] The agenda's been adopted.

[7:46] Okay first item of business.

[7:48] We have emotionally approve the October 20 and 20 meeting next.

[7:52] Please.

[7:55] Thanks.

[7:56] I motion we approve it.

[7:59] Second.

[8:00] Second.

[8:01] All right.

[8:02] All right.

[8:03] Any discussion.

[8:04] Seeing none all in favor.

[8:06] I.

[8:07] I.

[8:08] And I opposed.

[8:10] I wasn't there.

[8:11] Any extensions.

[8:13] Thank you.

[8:14] That motion passes.

[8:17] There we have a report.

[8:20] I assume with regard to the community based transportation plan.

[8:24] Yeah.

[8:25] I'll give you a short report.

[8:28] Reef introduction.

[8:29] I'm going to turn it over to John.

[8:32] It's a money from the VTA.

[8:35] So in 2019 and this has been delayed a little bit.

[8:40] The VTA actually reached out to us because they received funding grant funding to do a community based transportation plan for Morgan Hill.

[8:49] So John and his team have been the ones leading that planning process.

[8:54] Completely involved us from the city perspective from the South perspective and also did considerable.

[8:59] Community outreach through.

[9:02] Through Morgan Hill.

[9:04] And various areas.

[9:06] And pretty will probably at least not be your delayed and getting this to you all.

[9:12] But that is really because of COVID and other priorities.

[9:15] But the draft plan is attached for your review and John's going to walk walk you through that.

[9:21] And what we'd be looking for tonight is a recommendation on adoption of the plan by the city council.

[9:27] We'll see it in January.

[9:30] With that, I'll turn it over to you, John.

[9:33] Anything you need, everyone?

[9:34] I'm John Sugami.

[9:35] I'm a planner at the VTA.

[9:37] As Chris mentioned, the city and VTA both worked on developing a community based transportation plan.

[9:44] I have a short PowerPoint slide deck.

[9:47] I'll share with you.

[9:49] And as Chris mentioned, you do have the report in your packet.

[9:53] When your commissioner is David Lobato was actually one of our leads on community outreach on the project.

[10:00] So he was involved as well.

[10:02] So we want to give him a shout out for that.

[10:05] So let me go ahead and share my screen.

[10:10] Can you guys see the presentation?

[10:15] Yes.

[10:17] And so basically the community based transportation plan is a product of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, which has the role in funding projects.

[10:31] And one of the funding sources that they have is the Lifeline Transportation Program, which goes to do studies for community based transportation plans, as well as sometimes fund operations for other transit agencies.

[10:46] In the past, we've done quite a few of these community based transportation plans.

[10:50] However, as you know, on some of the dates on some of the plans here, there are a little bit old now.

[10:56] So what the process will start again is that once we finish this community based transportation plan will then begin to kind of update the other previous ones.

[11:06] And the hope is after a few years, we'll go back and revisit the Morgan Hill community based transportation plan.

[11:13] And to update it based on conditions, as well as we'll have an opportunity to go back out to the public.

[11:19] And after a few years and go, these are the projects that we identified as part of the plan.

[11:26] If the conditions are right, we can change some of those projects.

[11:29] And if we complete some of those projects that I'll go through later on, that's not something you need to do that as well.

[11:35] And the goals of the CBTP are actually two-fold here.

[11:41] They are to improve access and mobility for low-income and undeserved community.

[11:46] So the basis of doing a community based transportation plan is actually focused on low-income and minority communities.

[11:54] And as an opportunity to engage those residents and community organizations in doing some analysis and devising some of the recommendations in the former projects.

[12:04] And the former projects and programs.

[12:08] So on the project management team, we actually had not only the city in Morgan Hill, but the Chamber of Commerce, John from the Chamber of Commerce, was a part of this process.

[12:17] And we actually collaborated with quite a few groups within Morgan Hill and actually used those groups to help us reach out to the community.

[12:27] And in fact, one of the things that we did, in the past one of the ways to do public outreach for us,

[12:33] was to have a couple public meetings, get feedback, we may get 10 or 20 people at the most, and then we kind of go back and do the report.

[12:43] However, this time around what we did, which we decided to talk to a lot of these collaborators and figure out what's the best way to reach out to the public.

[12:51] We did have a public meeting, but we also went out to various affordable housing complexes, senior center, senior groups that were meeting.

[13:01] And we also tried to reach out to some of the nonprofits within Morgan Hill.

[13:07] In terms of what a community concern is, NTC actually identified these locations within the map.

[13:14] Now, the locations that NTC chose were based on old census data.

[13:19] And look, the communities of concern as of 2020 may be a little different than what you're seeing here on the map.

[13:27] NTC is actually working on a process to update the definition of communities of concern, and they intend to update the map in 2021.

[13:36] But for the most part, there was a small segment within Morgan Hill that fell within that definition.

[13:44] And from the map here, one thing I'd like to share is that, if I can point right over here, there was this little section here that was considered a community of concern.

[13:56] Well, a lot of the project effort actually focused on some of those locations.

[14:01] What we then did was we then went back to NTC and said, you know what, it doesn't make any sense to use such a small section to look at improvements.

[14:12] And what they allowed us to do was to expand our sphere of influence for Morgan Hill, so it included the entire city boundary of Morgan Hill as well as kind of some segments right outside the city limits.

[14:28] What we did find out was some of the people that lives kind of in the county or in unincorporated portions of the area.

[14:35] They considered themselves Morgan Hill residents, so we did include some of those folks as well.

[14:41] Some of the locations that we did reach out to were in these areas.

[14:47] As Chris mentioned, we were delayed a little bit.

[14:50] In fact, the project manager for the project is not is in a different department at BTA.

[14:56] So we were kind of moving forward to kind of wrapping this up early part of the year.

[15:00] Here, when COVID happened, we had to go back and we had the other things to do and think it's time to get messed up for a little bit for kind of gut use of the normal that COVID has right now.

[15:11] And then now we're coming back to kind of finalize our report and do a final report to the city council in January.

[15:20] As I mentioned, one of the things we hope to do as part of this is to actually come back in a few years time and revisit some of the things that we outlined here.

[15:27] And then kind of go back and see if there are changes that need to be made and if they're kind of refresh the plan.

[15:35] One of the things we did was kind of highlight location or communities that within Morgan Hill, we did find out that there's a big segment of the population and minority population that was Asian and Hispanic origin.

[15:49] So we did prior best when we did our survey to have it in multiple languages.

[15:54] And again, we did go to different locations where in some cases where if it was an affordable housing complex that had a large number of Latino residents,

[16:04] we had someone from the actual complex, translate our presentations into Spanish.

[16:13] And this just another chart that just kind of shows within the census tract, the percentage of limited English speaking households was about 7% in terms of the city market hill that was about 4% but a lot of that was in that census tract.

[16:31] And in terms of poverty level, the census tract was well below kind of the cities average as well as the county average.

[16:38] And the number of folks that were in living below poverty was actually 10% within that census tract in the city market hill.

[16:48] Some of the outreach message that we did was kind of do focus group meetings.

[16:54] That was probably the best way to reach out to folks.

[16:57] As I mentioned, we did have public meeting that wasn't very well attended.

[17:02] However, we felt like because we went through all these different venues to talk about it, we did get a lot of feedback from that.

[17:11] We also did a lot of social media and partner posts and David actually helped out a lot with some of the dissemination of information by a Facebook or a detailed website.

[17:21] We did one of the big things we did was release a survey that actually had questions kind of asking folks in Morgan Hill or some of the improvements that they would request.

[17:33] Some of the other things that we did, as you see, David over here, we did do a little table and table laying at the Morgan Hill business expo in the senior nutrition program and we had numerous meetings with city staff.

[17:48] And this graphic is something that we just kind of put here that kind of shows the amount of outreach that we did.

[17:56] One of the things that was hard was to try to reach everyone that we could, but we did the best we could.

[18:04] A lot of folks actually took our survey via email and we had various drop boxes around the city.

[18:11] If when we handed out physical copies of the survey, they were able to drop it off at the city hall.

[18:20] And some of the results that we got from the work from the CVTP, we asked some of the transportation challenges and concerns.

[18:30] Of course, number one was, I find bus coverage within the city.

[18:35] As folks know, we're in a government pandemic.

[18:39] VTA has to make some decisions on reducing service.

[18:43] I know in the city of Morgan Hill I think I believe the 68 is the only line that you have right now that's going through.

[18:49] The other area that we saw a lot of comments on was kind of.

[18:55] Seven months of the population having difficulty crossing the street.

[18:59] The speed of cars was it was a big issue of having pedestrian improvements was big.

[19:07] When we went to the youth advisory council here, a lot of them felt that they felt unsafe biking.

[19:15] A lot of it had to do with the absence of bike lanes.

[19:20] Also another part where we heard a lot from the public was traffic addition on U.S. 101 at the time.

[19:28] And during commute hours and there was a discussion about a freeway project that could widen 101.

[19:36] And another thing we heard was the limit availability of these, you know, bike share, scooter share, Uber on demand kind of service.

[19:47] There weren't many particular projects that could come out with that.

[19:51] There was just one of the things that we heard as part of our outreach process.

[19:57] And so gathering kind of the feedback from the various ways we did it.

[20:03] We worked with the city and other partners to develop a set of projects.

[20:07] And those projects, you know, kind of vary from highway, local street, bike and pad to transit.

[20:13] And once we identified what those projects were and a lot of the times there were projects that were in the city's general plan.

[20:21] The county is expressway steady.

[20:23] VTA's own planning efforts in our highway program.

[20:28] And when we did that, what we did was we kind of separated out the projects.

[20:32] And when I get to the project list, I don't have them separated by the way of the criteria and how they're listed here.

[20:39] However, what we had to do was identify, you know, what projects we can do.

[20:45] Did you see?

[20:47] What did you get grant funding for those projects?

[20:51] What's the best way that we can implement them?

[20:55] Are there community benefits to them and what's the timeline?

[20:58] So that the biggest thing was, what are the projects we can do in a short-term timeframe, which is zero to three years?

[21:05] And a mid to long timeframe, which is about four to six years.

[21:10] And anything long-term was six years or more.

[21:16] And so some of the projects in terms of local roads and highways.

[21:21] One of the projects that was big was these panetaries at L-Cortor, road and trail between Duitt and Maine.

[21:28] You see a black check box right next to it because over time we were able to fund the project.

[21:34] That project is actually under the lead of Santa Clara County.

[21:38] It's part of their expressway study.

[21:40] And they were able to get measure B funding from VTA to do that project.

[21:46] There's a signalized sanctuary and Watsonville at the intersection.

[21:52] There's another signalization project that's actually being done.

[21:55] That's why you see a black check mark.

[21:57] That's another project that the county is actually doing.

[22:00] And they got funding for it.

[22:02] Some of the other projects that we see here is kind of the phase two of, you know, the trail and road work on San Teresa and the Hill corridor.

[22:12] Again, another big one is the expansion of 101, adding one expressway through Morgan Hill.

[22:18] I would like to say that for that project, that was actually submitted as a project as part of the regional long range transportation plan.

[22:29] That the Metropolitan Transportation Commission has a project thus far.

[22:34] And there's various signal timing projects for a regional traffic and on our trivial streets that have been identified by the city that can alleviate some of the challenges that people are seeing.

[22:46] In terms of bike and pad programs.

[22:49] There's intersection improvement program.

[22:51] That's actually part of the transportation element of the general plan.

[22:56] And there's various city wide pedestrian safety improvement projects along various streets in Morgan Hill that have been identified.

[23:05] There's safety improvements for some of the school children here.

[23:11] The main avenue bike lane sidewalk project that's a project that the city Morgan Hill got a grant to do is going to be doing.

[23:18] As well as the Modron channel trail, which is something that I believe the city Morgan Hill.

[23:23] Working with the water district and other state grant funds was able to establish some funding for.

[23:31] And there's the little Yagas Creek trail project.

[23:34] There's various phases of that project, some of which are funded.

[23:37] But there's some other sections that are not funded that the city will work with both VTA, the state and the water district to fund some of that.

[23:46] And the safe route school program implementation, which is really trying to find a coordinator to manage that program for the city.

[23:55] And those are some of the things that we identified.

[23:58] In terms of public transportation, there's a pilot program that VTA is working on.

[24:04] It's to look at their paratransit service and make improvements to it.

[24:08] So they were supposedly running a pilot program beginning at the start of the year.

[24:12] However, I think that's been put on hold for now.

[24:15] But the funding is done through VTA's existing budget, so that's paid for.

[24:20] So when the conditions get better, they're able to do that.

[24:24] There's a mobility assistance program.

[24:26] That's another pilot project that the Metropolitan Transportation Commission has funded fully.

[24:32] That project is actually going to get started in 2021.

[24:37] The Cooper Start program, which is a means-based fair discount program pilot, but also be underway fairly soon.

[24:46] And that, again, is funded through MTC.

[24:48] They're actually managing the program.

[24:50] And it's actually for fairs for things like CalTrained Service.

[24:56] Then there's a volunteer driver program that can be funded.

[25:01] And this is one of the projects that actually came out of our interaction with some of the senior housing folks.

[25:08] And looking to do that.

[25:09] And in order to have that, you need about 100,000 annually to do that.

[25:15] So we'll work with the City of Morgan Hill to find some way to fund that.

[25:21] Then the final two, Morgan Hill Transit and many of these improvement project.

[25:25] That is actually a project that's fully funded through VTA.

[25:28] That's going to look at updating all the bus stops.

[25:31] In fact, we met with both Chris and Edith Ramirez to look at some locations where we can make some improvements to the bus stops.

[25:40] And finally, one of the things we also heard was great separation work for CalTrained, high-speed rail, a tenant and done.

[25:48] And that's about $80 million project.

[25:52] And there's no existing funding for that right now.

[25:54] However, it's also on the regional transportation plans project list to get funding in the future.

[26:01] What is the checkmark mean again?

[26:03] Does that mean that it's funded or what?

[26:05] The checkmark means it's been funded.

[26:07] Like, although money has been captured.

[26:09] All I've indicated, but it obviously hasn't started.

[26:12] Correct.

[26:13] We're completed.

[26:14] Okay.

[26:15] Thank you.

[26:16] So the next step, we're just going to finalize the draft that we have in the funding view.

[26:20] We're looking for adoption of the plan by City Council that we'll take it to our VTA board to get it adopted.

[26:25] And again, as I mentioned, one of the things we'll have to do is revisit the plan again in a few years.

[26:29] I put five years down, but depending on the timeframe, we can do it sooner if necessary.

[26:34] And the hope is we can look back and see if some of the projects that we listed here, if they've been completed or not completed or there are other priorities that have popped up.

[26:45] We can then go back and make updates to the plan.

[26:48] And so I'll end my presentation there and stop to see if you have any questions.

[26:54] Thank you, John.

[26:56] Do we have any questions of John?

[27:00] What, I have a question.

[27:03] You know, with the pandemic and I know tax receipts are impacted and you know, this could be a crisp question.

[27:09] It could be a combination question.

[27:11] I think a lot of local jurisdictions are expecting an impact to a number of funding sources,

[27:17] or measure B is the one that BTA controls.

[27:21] What expectation is there that there's a modification to the funding that maybe some of these that are partially funded.

[27:29] The horizon gets a little bit longer because of the situation that we're in right now.

[27:34] Yes, this a hard question to answer.

[27:36] I'm actually working on the measure B side of things.

[27:39] I know the believe the VTA board has heard some discussion on that in the past few meetings.

[27:46] And I know the technical advisor committee, which is made up of members of all the cities, public works in engineering.

[27:53] Planning folks are working with VTA to kind of find a solution for what's the best way to do this.

[27:58] There may be some, you know, so we, you know,

[28:02] one, you know, there may be some decisions made by the VTA board in the coming months that could really determine where we go with measure B.

[28:11] I personally don't know where what that is. It really depends on what the board and it's members want.

[28:18] I can just add commissioner Scott.

[28:23] That you've probably seen in the newspapers and other areas that, you know,

[28:29] Bart is going to take the money and there's not going to be money left everyone's seen that discussion too.

[28:34] So, so he's been involved in that, which that hasn't been decided yet,

[28:39] but there's a lot of a lot of discussion going on with that.

[28:42] For us specifically in Morgan Hill, so we have, we are in contract for the Hill Avenue extension money.

[28:49] That's the only county expressway money that's allocated for Morgan Hill within the measure.

[28:57] So we already are in contract with that.

[28:59] The city is so we have that secured. It's already been allocated.

[29:03] So we don't have a lot of other projects that are written into the measure to be funded,

[29:08] except for our local roads funding, which is a big concern for us if that drops that's close to a million dollars a year for us,

[29:15] actually 800,000, that we get to maintain our streets.

[29:19] And if we, and we actually use, as you've seen in some of the things when we fix our streets,

[29:24] we actually fix our bike lanes and everything else at the same time.

[29:27] So it makes a big difference.

[29:30] Yeah.

[29:31] So if that funding is reduced, then we go.

[29:34] That we actually have a 1.5 million dollar grant.

[29:39] We just applied for under the innovative transit for from measure B, which would, you know,

[29:46] support some of the mobility into in through the city, the public transportation.

[29:52] So there's, and then all the trail grants and the other grants that John had talked about for potential funding in the future.

[30:00] If that funding is out there, then we won't be able to apply for that.

[30:02] So there's impacts, but our major project is kind of locked in.

[30:07] I'm glad to hear that the city is fully aware of it.

[30:12] Thank you. Are there any other questions?

[30:18] John, I had a quick question. I know we said five years ago to revisit this plan, but with a lot

[30:24] of new housing and infrastructure changes going out with Morgan Hill, that fluid, that five-year revisit,

[30:31] because Morgan Hill will definitely be looking different.

[30:34] Yes, I think population in four or five years.

[30:37] That's really up to us, because we secured money from MNTC to do these community-based

[30:43] transportation plans. It's really up to us when we want to come back and look at it. We

[30:46] could do it sooner, too, if we want.

[30:48] I would add one thing that we're hoping to kick off this fiscal year is an update to the

[30:57] city's general plan. Circulation element will also call that our transportation master plan.

[31:04] And the hope is that that will include much more in the ways of bikeways and pedestrians, so

[31:10] the PRC would be involved in that as we get moving forward on that project, too, which would

[31:15] be another set forward and moving some of these projects along and getting them formally

[31:21] in some of the planning documents for the city.

[31:25] Another thing I would just add, too, in terms of funding, there is the Metropolitan Transportation

[31:30] Commission is actually working on the next release of the one-day area grant. It's just kind

[31:35] of a combination of grants that go towards projects related to local streets and roads, bike and

[31:43] pad, and areas that are called priority development areas. Those are locations that are

[31:47] city-nominated spots within the city limits that have a lot of transit, bus service and things

[31:56] like that. So, there's funding coming in the new year that some of these projects can also look

[32:02] forward from MTC that are not related to any measures here, so that funding will come out.

[32:09] So, I think, let's say it's spring of 2021.

[32:15] Kind of a build-up of what David was saying, and I apologize for not reading the whole report before

[32:20] the meeting. But, you know, what kind of projections are there if they even exist for transit

[32:26] ridership as city-expans? And I think we're trying to build a downtown and kind of the post-COVID

[32:32] world, is the viability of VTA and the projections looking ahead? Is it better? Is it look

[32:39] better in the future? Or is it just like, it's just too hard to tell right now?

[32:42] It's really too hard to tell right now, because I think one of the things that we do know is that obviously

[32:48] this pandemic has created a new normal for everyone. And there is still, our ridership has gone down

[32:55] just like every other transit agency here in the Bay Area. The challenge is getting operational,

[33:03] operations, funding, funding, bus service throughout all parts of the county. And each transit

[33:10] authority is actually dealing with that same crisis. We did get the CARES Act money that gave us some

[33:17] additional operating revenue for the next couple of years to pursue bus service. However, before COVID

[33:25] happened, we're actually in the process of implementing a new transit service plan. Obviously, we COVID

[33:29] could do that. And so unfortunately, right now, what we're doing is we were then going to adjust it,

[33:36] which was supposed to be adopted by our board in the early part of 2021. Just increase service,

[33:42] basically, is what you're saying? Or just modify service because of COVID to generate ridership.

[33:51] In some cases, some locations would get the frequent service would stay. I believe in Morgan Hill,

[33:57] there were actually two routes that were going to stay. However, as I said, they were supposed to adopt

[34:02] that the part of the new year, but they put a hold on that for right now. So right now, I think the only

[34:08] bus service Morgan Hill has at this period is the 68 line. The intent originally was to have more frequent

[34:16] service down here. And when COVID that kind of with ridership the way it is, it kind of dropped off.

[34:22] The interesting challenge for transit is what happens after the pandemic? How do you build up

[34:27] the same ridership you had before that? Are people going to be more freaked out about

[34:33] being in close quarters with other people on a bus or rail or anything? And as you know,

[34:39] caltrane, they're a ridership. I think they lost 90% of their ridership because there's a lot of folks

[34:46] just commuting in and out. And a lot of those folks are tech workers. I can stay home and work.

[34:51] So there's all these big questions that really kind of, you know, I know that vaccines out

[34:57] once everyone gets vaccinated that's going to take a while. So what happens after that is that's the

[35:02] big question. We don't know. To people who are going to rush back to transit or is it going to be kind of a

[35:07] slow thing where for the next five years, it's going to be kind of a slow go until people feel comfortable

[35:14] when we get to be in close quarters. So there's really hard to say. Yeah, no, I mean, understanding that

[35:19] kind of we're in a very unique time. Like what's the, how long is this plan viable for? I mean,

[35:24] how long is it relevant? You know, where conditions, I mean, we're in such a we're time right now, right?

[35:31] So like, through the conditions change enough in three years that it needs to be reevaluated and

[35:37] is there a cycle where we will do that? There's really got to us. You know, we can see how the next

[35:42] couple years go. And if, you know, either things are slowly creeping up or not at all we can

[35:50] go ahead and we visit the plan again and say, okay, this is what we identified as projects and programs

[35:55] are just still viable right now or there are other priorities that need to be accommodated for.

[36:00] One of the things that has been really interesting during the pandemic is that some early studies have shown

[36:07] that high school ridership has gone up and some cities have taken the opportunity to really do

[36:15] complete streets projects within their boundaries. To, in some cases, do a road diet or, you know,

[36:23] or have the ability to actually build more trails or improve bike lanes along actual streets. So

[36:31] those are kind of some of the things that we can look at in the coming years saying is, do we want to really

[36:35] move over to doing things like that? I have more bike impending access. That's what they have to us.

[36:44] I would, I would just add on the bike impending components. I think those kind of, we have this plan

[36:52] outline several pieces. Our bikes and trails master plan outlines and if we update our transportation

[36:58] plans, we have these other plans that are kind of stepping past each other to keep updating as you

[37:03] saw the check mark next to the main avenue bike lane project. If you drive down main avenue, we have

[37:10] the first really buffered bike lane in the city and that was intentional from some from our previous

[37:17] planning documents and work with our bike advocacy group is that we want to get from target to downtown.

[37:24] So we've completed those buffered bike lanes and we've just finished with the grant funding John talked

[37:29] about paving the major on channel trail north to where target is. It's kind of a big accomplishment for

[37:35] us and those things are still outline to keep moving on the bike and pet program. But to your point

[37:41] on the public transportation, I think it's just it's crazy and I think it's crazy here in Morgan Hill.

[37:47] What we've noticed unlike where you know in the middle of San Jose where you see some of the streets

[37:52] and highways not full at all and it's easy to get around. One of one through Morgan Hill is still

[37:57] packed and we still have cut through traffic and we're and John knows this because I've been

[38:02] bugging him about statistics and asking him to help me find stats which I think will have early next year

[38:07] from VTA but but we think that there's the some of the workers who can't tell a commute who might be in

[38:14] the support roles. They're coming from the south of us. They're still coming through Morgan Hill and

[38:19] much higher rate. The 68 is still I think it was one of the top buses for having pass ups right where

[38:25] they couldn't pick up everyone and get them on the bus so our north south is is still pretty busy here

[38:32] but then we still have that suburban problem of not having any like east west to connect to those

[38:38] tramp hubs to go north south so it's just it's going to be interesting and we still have I think some of the

[38:44] safe problems we've had all along. Thanks. All right any other comments?

[38:55] Discussion's questions? All right seeing none I guess Chris you just need a recommendation. You want

[39:01] a motion or do you want Chris? A motion to adopt would be great if you feel appropriate. Sure we have a motion

[39:08] to adopt the report. I'm sorry Mike you're a motion to recommend adoption by the council. A motion to

[39:18] we have a motion to recommend adoption by the council please. Some of the motion to a second.

[39:26] Second we have a second. Second. All right. Any further discussion? Seeing none all in favor? I.

[39:36] Any opposed? Any abstentions? All right that passes. Thank you very much John for your report. We appreciate it.

[39:43] Thank you. Thank you John. Was a motion in the second by I can tell I'm sorry. I made the motion

[39:50] on Neil made this was the second. Okay. Commission work plan updates.

[39:59] Hey I can start with the. Let's just go in order. Okay. Let's see here.

[40:17] Number one get youth more active in parks and recreation. I don't have any thing at the time I can't be

[40:24] meeting with you so we're kind of stopped right now. Okay. Thank you. Number two support

[40:31] bicycle and trails development efforts. Mr. Berman and this for his on for actually.

[40:38] No update on my end there was just a workshop meeting. I'll make with VTAB pack to look at countywide issues.

[40:47] There's a link. Linking looking at maps and such for future future programs. That's what we did last week.

[40:56] Great. Thank you. Do you anything to add? Yeah thank you. Thank you. Support efforts to create an

[41:04] inclusive playground is to the sister of Mr. Berman and Mr. Scott. Okay. The playground has been

[41:12] underground is in. It's been graded and pretty soon just start to see stuff on top of the

[41:20] this guy actually see them actually putting stuff on top of the park and we anticipate an

[41:27] opening sometime between April and May. Is anybody else having to add? All right. Thank you.

[41:37] Well I do want to add one more thing. We are looking for donations for to help us with maintenance

[41:46] and repairs and it's through the city to the city. It's a Morgan Hill.ca.gov slash

[41:56] magical bridge and they go online and make donations for their maintenance and upkeep.

[42:03] Chris has just started that. All right. Support planning for updated sports facilities and

[42:13] partnerships. I have nothing to update Mr. Berman. Do you have anything to update? Okay. I

[42:21] number five support city and grant opportunities. Mr. Scott or Mr. Berman.

[42:28] No, not nothing. No update. Okay. Thank you. Probably not matter. Be.

[42:36] Number six the last item I believe. Increased volunteer adopt the park program participation. Mr. Scott

[42:44] in Mr. Levato. I want to pay for me. Okay. Very good. Thank you very much.

[42:53] Perfect. Who have any announcements? Chair. There's actually a second page of the work plan

[43:01] with publicized. Excuse me. Number seven, evaluate opportunities to increase use involvement in

[43:08] park planning. There's on. Archie and Mr. Levato. Excuse me. I think for me.

[43:17] All right. No update. Support city park planning efforts. Mr. Levato.

[43:27] I have no update. No update for me. I have identified one potential dog park that staff is

[43:34] reviewing now. Great. Thank you very much. Are you allowed to tell us where that is or is it

[43:43] confidential? Sure. Yeah. We're working with Chris on trying to reuse the butterfield

[43:51] community garden site. So that organization has removed all their facilities and it's just a

[43:57] necessary now. I prepare a sketch shared it with Chris and we're talking about the potential

[44:04] budget and how to raise the money. Make it happen. Great idea. That's a good luck. It's fought. Lots of new houses.

[44:10] Is any of that land combed by VT or CalTrans? I know the parking area nearby is combed.

[44:17] It's all seen, right Chris? Yeah. Okay. But it's nice. It's got parking already there. So it's

[44:25] let's walk up all the downtown. Always parking at the courthouse. That's right through.

[44:31] Well, you got the skaters already over there. They're the ones that probably got kicked off the skate park

[44:37] and they're right there at the sheriff's office. They use that area now. Here. All right. Great. Thank you very

[44:43] much. Number nine last item. Would you pedestrian access to park space for low income housing areas?

[44:50] This is for Zahn Fachi and Mr. Money's. I don't necessarily have an update, but I kind of

[45:00] I've just submitted my stuff for school. So I've got a little bit of a break. So I'm going to start, actually, I just want to actually walk it myself and create like kind of like a, a little map of this piece from kind of house to park it and really kind of note the experience. And that's kind of how I want to start. So that's why I plan to do over the next month.

[45:25] I think I just had, I think some of the work that you, you do, you guys do on that could inform some of the update to our transportation master plan down the road. We can look at incorporating.

[45:41] Yeah, definitely commissioner reach out and I'll, I'll join you.

[45:46] Great. All right, thank you very much. Does anybody have any announcements?

[45:56] None. Does anybody have any future commission items they'd like to have?

[46:03] None. We're adjourned. Thank you. Thanks, Chris.

[46:09] Thank you.

[46:10] Thank you, everybody.

[46:12] Happy holidays.

[46:25] You

[46:55] Thank you.

Parks and Recreation Commission Regular Meeting

Agenda

Transcript