>> Good evening. Gonna call
to order a meeting of the
Planning Commission for March
25, 2025. Madam Secretary, can
we have a roll call, please?
>>[CALLING ROLL]
>> I pledge allegiance to the
Flag of the United States of
America and to the Republic
for which it stands, one
Nation under God, indivisible,
with liberty and justice
for all.
>> Thank you.
Moving on to item four,
conflict
of interest declarations. Do
any commissioners have any
conflicts with the agenda?
Seeing none. Move on
to item five, changes
to the agenda. Director
Streeter, are there any changes
to the agenda tonight?
>> There are no changes
to the agenda, Chair.
>> Thank you. Moving on to
Item 6, presentations. Item
6.1. We'll have a presentation
on the Windsor active
transportation plan. Mr.
Euphret is here
to introduce this item.
>> Good afternoon, Chair
Kubota, Planning commissioners.
Carl Euphret with Public
Works. I'm here tonight
in place of Alejandro Perez,
our senior civil engineer who
manages the transportation
group for the town. And
Alejandro has managed this
project. He couldn't be here
tonight. My main focus right
now is actually just
to introduce Barry Bergman
from W Trans, who has assisted
in developing this plan. And
we'll be providing the
presentation tonight
at the very end. There'll be
questions, we'll take notes,
answer any questions we can,
and carry forward. So
with that, I'll turn it over
to Barry.
>> Thank you, Carl. Pleasure
to be here tonight and
to share the overview of the
active transportation plan
with you. And there's a lot
in there. It's
kind
of a high level overview, but I
welcome any questions and
comments once we get through.
So I just want to start out by
saying that this plan really
marks a shift in active
transportation planning
for the town of Windsor. And
that really reflects kind of
what's happening more broadly
just in the state of the
practice and the development of
complete streets and I'm sure
just the kinds
of facilities you've seen
in town here and elsewhere
in the area. Historically, the
common practice was really
to just add a bike lane stripe
on the road where there was
space available. And it really
just became a situation where
people realized that most
people just don't feel
comfortable biking
in those kinds of facilities.
Unless they're, you know,
really more dedicated cyclists.
And it's not appropriate
for all ages. And so,
so there's been a trend toward
designing more protected
facilities. And that was a big
thrust of what we
wanted to do here.
So, this plan was undertaken
with, with urging from council
to emphasize more protected
facilities and also
on the pedestrian side,
to look at crossings that are
currently uncontrolled, so
where there's no stop signs or
signals, and to get
across the major streets. So
this is the purpose of
the active transportation plan.
The recommendations combine
several things. We started with
the projects that were
identified in the 2014
Bicycle Pedestrian Master Plan
and then incorporated
recommendations from numerous
recent plans that were done.
As I said, we were focusing
on more protected facilities,
what we call low traffic stress
bicycle facilities,
and then looking for places to
enhance uncontrolled pedestrian
crossings. A couple
of the really important reasons
for doing something
like this is one, to have this
documented enables it's a lot
easier to condition incoming
development,
to provide facilities
along the frontages, and also
provides support and
eligibility
for grant funding,
which is a big way a lot
of these projects get funded.
So just a little bit
of background. This is just
commute data, which is most
of the data we have
about transportation. You can
see the biking and walking
percentages are quite low,
but that leaves out a lot
of trips. And so we have some
other data. This was based
on big data collected
from mobile devices, looking
at all trips. And so we look
at 10% of trips were under 1
mile in Windsor, 20% were 1
to 2 miles, and 27% were 2 to
5 miles. So take that
together we have more than half
trips or less than five miles.
So not all of those trips
obviously would be bicycling
walking trips, but we could
certainly imagine significant
increase over what's currently
out there. There was some
outreach done as part
of this project. We had a
project website where people
could log on, get information,
and then provide their input
and express their concerns. It
included an interactive map so
people are able to go
in and put a pin down, write
comments, comment
on other people's comments. So
that was a valuable source
of input. This is a word cloud
was collected from all the
comments that was generated.
So the larger ones are the ones
that were more dominant and not
too surprisingly, things
like traffic and school. And
you can see several familiar
street names popping up there.
So there was definitely some
consistent patterns that
emerged. So to identify the
bicycle improvements,
we looked at a number
of different factors. This map
here on the left shows where
There were clusters of
collisions involving
pedestrians and bicyclists. So
you can see a lot of them,
particularly along old
Redwood Highway, Windsor
River Road. And then
on the map on the right,
just those. A lot
of the key destinations,
places that people would want
to be able to access using
walking and bicycling. So
shopping centers, schools,
parks, center of town, just,
but, you know,
covers a pretty broad range
of the town. And those are
things that we looked
at when we try
to evaluate proposed projects.
Just wanted
to introduce a little jargon
for those of you who may not be
familiar. So there are six
classifications of bicycle
facilities that we're talking
about and I will show you some
images
to give you a better sense
for those who are not familiar
with it. Class one,
multi use paths. Class two are
the standard bike lanes. Just a
road stripe that's over near
Foothill regional park. Class
2B is a buffered bike lane. So
where you have some separation
between the bike lane and the
roadway, and that's a Windsor
Road. So it's a higher speed
environment. Class 3 is where
bicyclists mix
with vehicle traffic. So it's
typically a slower environment.
So there's less
of a speed differential. And
then we have a bicycle
boulevard, which is also
something where bicycles mix
with vehicle traffic. And the
difference between a bicycle
boulevard and a standard bike
route is that typically there's
some sort
of traffic calming measures
in there
to reduce the vehicle speeds.
And then we have Class 4, which
is similar
to the one I showed previously
with the buffer. But the
difference is that there's a
vertical element. It's
typically a bollard or
sometimes a curb and that sort
of thing. So this one's on
Brooks Road South. Just kind
of explain the rationale
for how we would, how we went
about constructing the
recommendations. These numbers
are based on a survey,
a national survey
of people just how they thought
of themselves in terms
of bicycling. So you can see
that 1% put themselves in the
strong and fearless category,
meaning they're basically
comfortable biking anywhere.
Then they have the enthused and
confident, so also somewhat
confident,
comfortable bicycling
in traffic. The number that
really jumps out is the 60%,
interested but concerned. So
people who really are deterred
from bicycling because
of potential problems
with traffic. And then there's
33% who basically have no
interest or perhaps no ability
to bicycle. So that's not a
group that we need
to be thinking about. It's just
not going
to make a difference.
But 60%, that's the group that
we're really trying to go
after here with having these
more protected facilities to
provide an environment that
attracts the broadest number
of users possible. And we can
get hopefully some substantial
increases in usage. So this is
just showing how different
types
of facilities are selected
for different roadways. You
know, obviously you have
to consider a lot
of different factors. Often
there's just not the space
available, but ideally. So the
dark blue area starts at
around 35 miles an hour. And
then on the vertical axis
you've got the traffic volume,
so about 7,000 vehicles per
day. And so the higher the
volume, the higher the speed.
You want more protection. So
either a shared use path or a
separated bike lane or some
kind of. Some kind
of just that protection, then
you have slightly lower speeds
and lower volumes. Buffered
bike lane is the preferred
treatment. And then when you
get down
to the lowest volumes,
less than 3,000 a day,
less than 25 miles an hour,
that's more an opportunity
where bicyclists and vehicles
can share the road. So getting
that speed differential
down is really important.
Bicycle parking is an important
thing to consider here.
There's certainly a lot
of racks available,
particularly around the town
of Green, right around here.
But we also want
to expand that to look more at
parking that could be provided
by employers,
which might require. So it'd be
longer term throughout the day,
so might require more
protection,
so they're less vulnerable to
weather and theft and that sort
of thing. So we have some
recommendations around that.
On the pedestrian side,
we're looking
at a few different types
of facilities. On the left you
can see that's the intersection
of Windsor Road at Ryman. And
that's a rectangular rapid
flashing beacon. And so those
are used as their push button
activated, they'll flash and
they have a very high rate
of yielding of motorists, much
higher than when they're not
present. The second shot is
of a curb extension. So that
reduces the crossing distance
and gets pedestrians in a
position where they can be more
easily seen by motorists. And
the third one,
there's also the flashing
beacon there,
that's up the freeway
on ramp,
but it has a raised crosswalk.
So it's similar
to a speed hump,
but a little flatter,
but provides requires motors
to slow
down as they're crossing,
a bicycle pedestrian facility.
So the project recommendations
to prioritize the projects,
we group the projects
in three different groups. So
with trail projects,
like I said, this was really a
focused update. And so the
trails. The city's trail study
that was done a few years ago
took A highly detailed look at
the trail projects and did an
analysis based on a number
of factors. And so we didn't
want
to throw that good work away.
But so projects that still had
not been constructed,
we basically carried forward
into the current plan on street
bicycle projects and pedestrian
crossing improvements. We
didn't want to. It is an apples
and oranges kind of thing.
But the types
of criteria we're using,
whether they provide access
to major destinations, so
hopefully that reflects some
level of usage, network
connectivity. I think
particularly where you're
talking
about bicycle projects, if you
have a bicycle facility and
then you suddenly ends or it
becomes a much less protected
facility, that for a lot
of users may be enough
to deter them
from using it altogether.
So just to have more
interconnected system address
safety issues. So we looked at
the collision history where
there was more of a need to
that and the warrant analysis
that's for the
pedestrian side,
when we look at where
to put those flashing beacons,
we look at things
like the vehicle speed, the
volume, the number
of pedestrians anticipated, and
there's a mathematical form
formula that determines whether
that's a good treatment
for that type of location. And
then community support,
we look to see which was
previously identified
in other plans and
through a public process. And
then we also gave some extra
weight on the bicycle side for
those facilities that did
provide some separation. So the
class 2B, the striped bike,
the buffered bike lane, or the
class four are the ones that
had the vertical element
in there. So looking
at the total
of the recommendations, the
trails, there are 18.8 miles
of trail segments for the
on street bicycle facilities,
a total of 24.5 miles. If you
total up, you look
at the buffered bike lanes. So
the Class 2B is 3.2 miles. The
separated bike lanes, the
Class 4 is 10.2 miles,
and the Class 2 or Class 4,
that requires a little more
study because sometimes whether
you can put a barrier
in there, you'd have to look
at driveways and other kinds
of factors. That just requires
a little more study. But when
you combine those three things,
that's about 17 miles
of bikeway out of the 24. So it
was definitely an emphasis on
those more protected facilities
for pedestrians. We looked
at third 33 enhanced crossings,
and a lot of those are those
flashing beacons or other kinds
of things where there might be
medians. And then there were
several sidewalk apps
along major streets that we,
that we included
in the recommendations.
After doing the prioritization,
we took the kind
of the top tier
of projects and presented them
to the public and tried
to see, well, which of those
projects do people feel most
strongly about
to help guide staff
in pursuing funding. And also
it's something that can be used
in a grant application to help
support and demonstrate that
the public is in favor
of these types of projects. So
the lines on there, the blue
segments represent the priority
bike projects and the numbers
are the locations
of the pedestrian crossings.
So here's a list of those. So
you can see Old Redwood
Highway, Shiloh Road, Arata
Star Road. So I think the
streets that most people would
predict that they would be
in favor of and these are the
ones where via usage and where
there is the opportunity
to put in these facilities.
The numbers with the circles
are the pedestrian projects.
You can see that it's like on
Shiloh Road on the bottom you
can see it says bike project
number seven. So it's a little
hard to see. That
on the next page. So these are
the pedestrian projects
in order. And the particular
intersections, you can see
there's different types
of treatments recommended.
There are FBs, the flashing
beacons, curb extensions,
crosswalks,
various treatments. There were
several other recommendations
aside
from the specific projects. As
I mentioned before,
we were looking
at bicycle parking. And so what
most jurisdictions have
traditionally done
around bike parking is to
require bike parking as a
percentage of the total parking
requirements, let's say 10%.
And what we wanted to do was
to look in a more nuanced way
at the needs
for specific land uses. So
for retail, for office,
what types of bike parking
would be appropriate? So
for example,
bike racks would be fine for
retail customers who wouldn't
be there for maybe more than an
hour or two. But
for an employee who's going
to be there for eight hours,
they're going
to want some sort
of a protected facility, a
locked, you know,
locker or a room or something
like that. So there were some
established, some, some, some
approaches that have been
taken. We included a sample in
there and it's really something
that needs to be Windsor
specific. But it was least we
provide some guidance as a
place to start. We also
recommend that the town
continue to support the Safe
Routes to School programming.
That's really gotten a
lot of participation and, and
it's especially as new
facilities come online
to get children more
comfortable
with using them and also
to look at opportunities
for reducing speeding. Part
of that
through enforcement and also
with the passage of AB
43, which provides the towns
more flexibility
to reduce speed limits and
at selected locations. So that
in itself is a whole other
process And I know it's just
starting to be implemented
in different places
around the area. Just wanted
to show a map of the network. I
don't know if anyone's had a
chance to review the plan
to put it online. It's a little
hard to see at this scale,
but it does give you a sense of
where the coverage and the
types
of facilities. I did zoom
in a little bit. So if you want
to take a closer look and ask
some questions. This is the
northern part of town and then
we have the southern part
of town. Pedestrian
improvements. These were the
intersection locations. You can
see a lot along Old Redwood
highway, in particular Star
Road. And that's all I've got.
I do have copies of the
project list as a table and so
just wanted to share that
in case you want to have that
in front of you.
>> Thank you very much. This
time we're going to open it up
to the commissioners
for questions of stop.
Commission Rennie, go
ahead.
>> When you're talking about
parking facilities or
bicycling, a lot of communities
and I think we only have one,
have tool stations kind of
along the main corridors
to be available for cyclists.
Are those considered
in these plans? Or either water
stations or tool stations
along these routes. So I think
that's be very favorable.
>> Yeah, it's not something we
currently have in there, but we
could certainly add that. I
mean, I know I have seen them
around. I think
in certain places they've,
they've been well received. I
have heard people express
concerns
about them getting vandalized.
So I think the location
probably needs to be consider
pretty carefully.
>> Yeah, the location probably
does make a difference. I just
have two that I pass from time
to time here on the town Green
and then on north street and
Healdsburg, which is right, I
think, right next to Town
Hall. So it probably is a
favorable location. And that
one has a bike pump where some
of the other locations don't.
It's a pretty nice amenity. If
we're looking
at really supporting cyclists,
both those in the community and
those visiting passing through,
those are really favorable
amenities to consider.
>> I have something quick. I
was looking
through the table and
through the presentation,
and there's one area of town
that I don't see really
represented well on here,
and that's Conde Lane, where
there is really no sidewalk or
bike lane to speak of. It's a
little isolated because I think
it's a retirement. Mobile homes
pretty much down there.
Approaching Bell Road. And it
may be something to do
with outreach
in the surveys and kind
of those responses, But I
believe that particular area
of town is kind of isolated
because there isn't a walk
around to get
to the town green, which would
probably be the closest
on the list
of things you presented.
>> Are you talking
about a particular part of
Condi Lane or?
>> It'd probably be from Bell
Road north to connecting up
where the bowling alley is?
>> Yeah, we have. I think there
is a recommendation
along pretty much the entirety
of Conde Lane.
>> But I think it's hard
to see on this. Chair, I
could say it is Conde Lane,
but one of my comments was they
got class one. And then, oh,
boy,
I am ferociously colorblind.
So these drive me nuts. So I
think you got Class 1
on there. Maybe Class 2.
>> 2B.
>> 2 or 2B from Bell Road
south.
>> Yeah, if I could jump
on that. I think I live
in that area. That should be an
absolutely protected bike lane.
There are a lot of people who
use motorized wheelchairs who
go on Conde and there's plenty
of space there. There's a
desire path, you know, a foot
off the lane that goes all the
way up.
>> Are you talking about the
southern section there or. I'm
just. I know the
characteristics change the
road, Conde.
>> Essentially from. Once you
get about a quarter mile past
Mitchell heading north.
>> Okay.
>> Then you have a very wide
shoulder that you can see
people traverse all the time.
And a lot of them are elderly
and use mobility devices.
>> So it'd be the,
like the frontage of where
Windsor Waterworks would have
been.
>> The mobile home all the way
past Conde Vet North.
Exactly.
>> That's all I ever know.
Thank you.
>> Thank you for coming. I
really appreciate you being
here. Good to see you all. You
might notice I have cleverly
moved my bike closer. Closer.
Because I've only been asking
for two years and three months
for bike parking outside this
spot right here. And I know
it's coming. I know we have the
technology. I know we're going
to find the $200 and the six
bolts and we're going to figure
it out.
>> I asked yesterday because I
wrote
over it.
>> I have confidence
in the town of Windsor that we
can do big things together.
But if that bike comes up here
in two more meetings,
I'm going to start
to make a big fuss
about it. I do like this. I did
review it and thank you very
much for printing the whole
thing out. I do have a fair
amount
of comments. I'll do some
Universal ones. And then we'll
go through it. I know we have
another great presentation
to come up and I don't want to
take too much time so you guys
can jump in and say, Tim, be
quiet and I'll do it. 1
universally I would like
to see a mention of active
transportation as the most cost
effective method
for transportation in a city's
budget because roads are very
expensive. If we can get more
people to walk and bike,
we will be saving money
on our bottom line. That's 50%
of the people is what we saw.
From a marketing standpoint,
guy who does a lot
of these reports, please stop
putting mammals middle aged men
in Lycra as cyclists. You'll
get a 10 year old girl
on a bike
on a bike lane separated by 3
inches of paint and see how
comfortable we feel having that
on the front here. Because
that's who rides their bikes
to Cali and
to the middle school. Stuff
like that.
>> You lost me on that one.
>> I want photos
of not the confident cyclists
in bike lanes. I want photos
of the 80 year old lady who
rides her bike
by the mobile home park
to the grocery store. That's
who I want because that's who
we're writing this for.
Right? It's not
for chuckleheads like me
on a bike. Some quick things
and then I'll meet
with you separately into some
minor stuff and how we set it
up. Could you delineate on all
the pedestrian safety
assessment and all the data you
grab it I believe from vision0
from SCTA and I believe that's
all reported in incidents
of bicycle incidents. We
currently don't have a way
to report if a kid is nudged
off a bike by a car. We hear
about on Next Door and we hear
about on Facebook. The town
does not have a portal for
reporting that that I can find.
County doesn't have that and I
asked SCTA where they get their
data for Vision Zero. I'm
assuming most of it's
from police reports and
from insurance reports. So if
it doesn't happen we're not
actually capturing that data.
>> I think that's
through chp.
>> Yeah, it's through chp.
Okay. Oh boy. There's so many
guys I would like on. I know we
have some talk
about complete streets and
stuff like that. Somewhere on
here mentions we can design
streets to be slower. We don't
have to worry
about our 85% rule or whatever.
We can design streets
to be slow,
we can engineer them to be fast
and we can engineer them
to be slow. So I think that
could be a universal discussion
here as we go through,
as we talk about the other
underlying things that build
this document, we should
mention that. I know it's not
you guys.
>> Well, actually, what I'm
thinking is that might be a
good comment to keep in mind
since I know that complete
streets guidelines are being
updated.
>> Right.
>> So that'd be a good thing
to relate to that.
>> We might mention
on page nine, school trips.
They wrote school trips
present a significant
opportunity to increase ATP as
students typically live close
to the schools they attend.
Windsor doesn't have
neighborhood schools, so most
kids are eventually going
to cross town to go
to school. So we need
to recognize that. When we do
on page 10, and you showed it
in your slide, Major walking
and bicycling destinations. I
don't know who made this map.
We're missing the Estrella
Market Center. We're missing
the entire Oliver's Town Green
shopping center. We're missing
the Castanedas Paul Market
Shopping Center. So these are
all places people walk and bike
to. That we should put on here
because those are definitely
places that go on here. Yeah,
go ahead.
>> Adding on to that, I realize
we highlighted all the parks. I
don't know that the golf course
needs to be included just
because locally.
>> Actually there's two people,
many that ride their bikes to
the golf course. I see them.
>> Alejandro would catch the
golf course.
>> Another quick note, though,
on that page 11, we have the
safe routes to school,
but we don't have Windsor
High School listed
on that page. And there's 1600
kids. And this town just built
an underpass so the kids could
walk and ride their bikes
there. So I think we should
include that in there because
that's very important and
that's a huge reason of impact
on the thing there. Let me keep
going. I saw we mentioned the
highway design manual. My eyes
rolled in the back
of the head. You redeemed
yourself by calling
out nacto. So thank you very
much for putting that
in there. I was starting
to get worried.
On page 18,
existing bicycle
facilities. You have a class
one bike lane. There is a gap
that's currently been filled
by smart, so you might want
to update that photo. It's page
19, figure 3. Existing bicycle
facilities.
>> Thank you.
>> I can confirm, although it's
not officially open yet,
that the path is finished. It
will be open soon.
By the time this comes out.
Bike parking, page 19. We wrote
racks that can accommodate
over 50 bicycles at locations
around the town green,
at the library and
along streets
of the commercial area. The
majority
of our bicycle racks are
in a park. We are trying
to get people to take
over trips to the store and
to work, and they're
in the park. So I would
like us to recognize we don't
really have good bike parking
in front of stores. Cafe Noto
has none. Right. On the entire.
There's one per block,
sometimes two
on the town green when there's
20 bike car parking spaces
on the same block. So let's
just rewrite this so we're not
talking about going
to the playground. This is
transportation. I mean,
the photo. Go ahead.
>> Before we move
on the phone photo.
>> Also, if we can encourage
better designed bike racks
because there's a lot more
efficient bike racks
out there. And frankly,
this u is the easiest way to
steal your bike if it's locked
up because it's just a few
bolts on the ground and you
unbolt.
>> It and pick it up.
>> Right? Well, it depends
on the kind of bolting there.
There are different
designs, but. Yeah, I
understand.
>> I'm almost done, guys.
Thank you. Page 22, we do have
the collision history one. And
it said for pedestrians,
the top two crash factors
for pedestrian right of way
violations and pedestrian
violations, accounting for 15
of 18 collisions, respectively.
I wonder where that data came
from. Is that from a responding
police officer? Is that
from an insurance report?
>> That's CHP.
>> That's CHP. So
we're relying
on a police officer
to say this is what happened.
We don't do like an
after analysis report or study
like that. And I know you don't
w chains, but I don't think
in town does.
>> Right.
>> No.
>> So we rely on the CHP
to police report.
>> Do we currently have a way
to report when there's
incidents that don't involve a
police report?
>> I made an earlier note kind
of to that effect. Not that I'm
aware of. But we will check
that. I'd already noted that.
>> Okay.
>> Yeah. I mean,
there are certainly a lot of
collisions that happen that are
just not reported. And so I
think that's probably a good
thing that we could qualify,
you know, by. Just because we
don't have the actual
information
about what's not reported,
but we can at least acknowledge
that there are.
>> A lot of things and I know
three offhand witnessed that
are underreported and they
involve juveniles and elderly
people and some who are afraid
of making an official report.
Page 25. We talked about the
actual goals and policies,
which I love,
which is fantastic.
>> Which Policy.
>> I'm sorry. The heading is
goals and policy.
>> Okay.
>> I would like
to add three main points. We
should make walking and biking
as easy as driving. We should
make walking and biking as
pleasant as driving. And we
should make walking and biking
as natural as driving. It is
very easy for us to drive in
Windsor. And as we know,
it's very hard for us to walk
and bike certain places. And
that include things
like benches and seats
along paths. It would include
things like bike parking signs
so people know where
to park. I'm not actually mad.
This is my happy face. I'm
really happy
with this. I'm very passionate
about this. Thank you. The
weight, the way we do the
engagement. I know I brought
this up last time we did a
survey and we asked people and
we did a charrette. We went
to a quesadilla making class.
You know, I brought this up
before, but I printed it
out because I love it so much.
And it's how to look at. We
should do public investment.
I'm going to bring this up.
Okay. It's humbly observe where
people
in the community struggle. Ask
the question, what is the next
smallest thing we can do
to address that struggle? The
next smallest thing,
do that thing right now. Do it
right. Don't do a report,
don't do a PDF,
don't hire contractors. Do it
right and then repeat. And I
love this because
in the instance
of the bike rack, it's a $200
bike rack on my street,
there's no bus bench,
so I put one in my front yard
across the street. Right. It's
just really small stuff that I
really want us to do and
to think about it,
because it makes the talent
look like we're doing stuff,
because we are. And it gets us
in that mentality of
incremental small improvement.
When we do this communication
strategy, this outreach,
you got a bunch
of comments that are mine
on that thing. And I can
guarantee you there are so many
of my comments on there,
you don't want to hear
from me anymore. You guys are
already bored. We need to be
out there at those sidewalks
where people are scared
to cross the street. We need
to be out there where there's
old people who might not speak
English and ask them,
what's it like waiting
for a bus
without a bus stop bench? And
that's what we should also be
out there getting stuff because
it's very easy to be here doing
this. I'm sure whoever's
watching on Zoom is already
logged off by now,
but I'm almost done here. And
thank you, chair,
for this. I would like to. You
mentioned it a few times.
Level of traffic stress, which
I know you know about. I know
you know about. Bring that to
the front so people can
understand that that's how
people feel
on bicycle and walking. They
feel freaked out. Los is what
you guys use for roads. How
quickly can a car move
through town? But we've changed
that one because now we need
levels of stress for the walker
and the bicyclist and the
grandma getting
down the street.
>> Right.
>> How does she feel? So we
should, I think,
call that out.
>> So were you just suggesting
to highlight that,
like more put it
in the front.
>> It's actually hiding
in the back as a footnote.
>> Okay.
>> As a mention put
in the front. This is how a
walker relates. This is how a
kid on their way to sixth grade
rides their bike. And this is
what they feel. Final couple
things and we're almost there.
Let me go here.
This is just
on page. Page numbers are kind
of hard here. So that would be
38 is where this graph is.
Break that
into two different pages. Why
don't you do existing bike
lanes and then two proposed
bike lanes? Because to Cherry
Kibota's point is kind of hard
to read. This whole thing right
there. So just have two
different pages and we can
overlay it.
>> I thought we did have one
of just existing, and I don't
think we did propose
separately.
>> I think they're
all together in one page.
They're kind of hard
to read.
>> Okay. I thought
we included both,
but I'll make sure we.
>> This one right here and the
same thing on page 39, it says
Crosswalk improvements and
sidewalk gaps. I'm unclear if
the sidewalk gaps are where
we're going to fix it or where
we see problems. So it's not
quite clear on that.
>> Okay, there.
>> Just kind of clarify that.
Almost done, guys. Thank you.
PLIS. Pedestrian leading
interval. Pedestrian lpi. LPI
leading interval.
>> Pedestrian interval.
>> So I went and crossed all
the crosswalks from here
over towards Raley's and back.
We've gotten public comment
in the past about that at
certain places. I think it's
Glenn Miller Way and
right across from Safeway.
>> Okay.
>> We've gotten it from all
these intersections right here.
I watched a middle schooler
almost get clobbered
on the way back. We need to
stop all the traffic and give
the small people and the slow
people a chance to get
out so they don't get hit
by a ram. 2500 turning right.
Because that's going
to happen. And I know we've
asked
for this before. I know some of
this might be a caltrans issue,
and in some of those.
But if we can push for that, we
do have a county supervisor
running for state office. That
guy loves to show up. So we can
ask him to show up and help us
increase the interval
for walkers to walk across,
because that really is a big
problem and that freaks
out a lot of people. So it's
Brook Road south at Glen Noah
Drive, Lakewood at Brooks
Road, South Windsor Road at
Windsor River Road, and then
that one, Conde Windsor. Weird
intersection with that,
I turn it back over
to the chair for a breath
of fresh air. Thank you.
>> Yes.
>> So I'm curious as to what we
define per se as a bicycle,
because I nearly got run over
by a motorized bike on the
smart trail this morning. So
trying to figure
out what's allowed
in all these areas. Is that
defined when you select a
Class 1 or Class 2 or Class 3?
Are they recommended users?
Because I feel
like there's a lot
of misunderstanding on where
certain things are allowed
to go, including myself. I do
have an E scooter. I haven't
tried it on the trail yet, but
I don't know if it's permitted.
But the motorized bike was
flying and I'm not sure if that
made sense. So I'm hoping we
consider the different modes of
transportation that we're
starting to see in our
community as we're building
out some of these connected
pathways.
>> That's a really good point.
I mean, I know I've certainly
heard that a lot in other
communities as well. E bikes.
And I believe that there's the
fastest E bikes I believe are
prohibited from trails. And
it's the. But even the slower
ones are not that slow.
>> So. But that's probably.
That probably is something we
should elaborate on a bit more.
I think that's an important
point.
>> Commissioner Richards.
Nothing. All right.
>> See?
>> No additional questions and
we'll thank you for your. It's
a presentation. So we do not
generally.
>> I think the way we typically
do it is we have both
presentations and then comments
on those presentations would be
during the public comment
period that follows.
>> Okay.
>> Just here's my question. Do
if, if people don't want to see
if the second presentation.
Can we do public comment and
then presentation.
Or does that ruin the town of
Windsor?
>> The chair has that power.
>> I. I will wield it and I
think we'll open public comment
for any comments specific
to the Windsor Active
transportation plan
at this time. Members
of public wishing
to address us
on this public comment,
please limit your comments to
3 minutes. Speaking
to the microphone
from the podium.
>> Great.
>> Thank you. I appreciate
that. I'm Emily Chartin. I'm
with the Sonoma County
Bicycle Coalition. So we're
really happy to see this draft.
I know it's been W
Trans has been working on it
for a long time and especially
happy to see the emphasis on
creating a low stress connected
network. You know, quite
simply, people on bikes need
to be able
to get where they need to go,
whether it's school, downtown,
work, shopping. And that's both
for the health of the climate
and the community. Community
really happy to see the number
of Class 1 trails on the
proposed facilities list.
Those are the dotted green
lines. And also the number of
Class 4 projects
on the priority list. The bike
coalition believes the Class 4
protected facilities really
should be the default, you
know, as opposed to Class 2,
which are the unprotected
facilities that you tend
to see in cities and towns. I
will say that the Class 3
facilities are generally not
something we support because
you're asking bikes and cars
to share a travel lane. And for
many riders that's just not a
low stress situation. So we
would ask the town
to consider the possibility
of upgrading these facilities
to Class 2.
But if that's not possible,
you know,
traffic calming measures need
to be considered
to bring vehicle speeds down,
which is something that Barry
alluded to. So that traffic is
as slow as possible if they're
going to be sharing the road
with bikes. We're pleased that
the board is recognizing.
We're pleased that the plan is
recognizing the importance
of the Safe Routes to School
plan. Schools and access to
schools really should just
always be a priority
in building
out the bike and PED network.
As Tim mentioned, this is
really who we're building the
network for ultimately. And
lastly, I just want
to also make a pitch
for the return
of the bicycle and Pedestrian
Advisory committee, which I
know has undergone a little bit
of reorganization
in the past few months. But
having a robust advisory
committee I think is especially
important now that the town has
a draft and, you know,
you're going
to be shepherding it
through this process
of public review. So that's it.
Thanks.
>> Anyone else wish to make a
public comment at this time?
We will close public comment.
>> If I could ask if you have
any written comments you could
provide to us because we would
like to move forward, forward
with this. One commissioner in
particular had a long list. I
don't know if it was a printed
list or just a marked up copy
B. But if you could provide us
with COP as soon as possible,
we would like to move forward
with it.
>> Fantastic.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you both.
At this time, we will move on
to item 6.2, crime prevention
through environmental design.
Director Streeter.
>> Thank you, Chair.
At this time, I'd like to
introduce former commissioner
Lois Fisher, who will be giving
us a presentation on,
as you just mentioned,
the concept
of crime prevention
through environmental design,
also known as cpted.
>> Thank you, Patrick. I could
do it. Start slideshow. There
it goes. Okay, good. All right.
Well, it's very good
to be back. I was here for 13
years and so I definitely can
relate to all your activities
and concerns about our
community. I appreciate it. So
anyway, thank you. So Windsor
has been made safer each year
through zoning
since its incorporation. And
tonight's presentation is just
about how we've been doing it
and how it'll continue
in the future. So I'm an urban
designer and I create walkable
towns as an alternative
to suburban sprawl. So if you
don't like suburban sprawl,
I can help you. And so my work,
you can see it
on the bottom is the Petaluma
theater district. The
before pictures
on the left and then the
after pictures on the right.
You can see that the trees are
on both of them. So it's
completely different. Right.
You can actually there are
rules you can put in as
planners that create walkable
environments. So the topics to
be covered are crime prevention
through environmental design
and are these policies making
Windsor safer or not? And then
new policies
for crime prevention in
Windsor's new code. And then
two weeks from tonight,
I'll be back to talk
about the history of planning
for walkability in Windsor. So
crime prevention through
environmental design. CPTED is
also pronounced septed. Eyes
on, front on,
defensible space. Those are all
the same things. So it's
confusing. I will use all those
words interchangeably. One
that's different is back on.
Back on is the opposite
of it. So in this case,
on the left hand side, you can
see that this is the back
of the apartments, right?
These are the bedrooms. And
then this is supposed to be the
patio where they barbecue.
Right. And it's two feet
from the sidewalk. This is in
Wilson street in Santa Rosa.
And so that's the back of the
unit facing the public realm.
And on the right you've got the
front of the unit facing the
public realm. So this person is
acting as a police. He would
never say he's A police
officer.
But if he saw a problem, he
would call somebody and it
would be taken care of. Here I
talk with a lady who lived
there and her daughter had one
bedroom and she had the other
bedroom. And at 3:30
at night, there was someone
throwing up outside
of their bedrooms. So this is
what happens when you have the
most private part
of the building right next
to the most public part
of the street. So in Windsor,
we have made a concerted effort
since incorporation
to actually front on. And I
know you guys have seen those,
all those code messages. And
just because I'm a planner,
I'm going
to give you the background.
The constitution of Windsor is
the general plan. So this is
all in the general plan. It
says active uses built up
to the sidewalks. Public realm
encouraging socializing,
building facades
behind sidewalks,
providing eyes on. This is all
taken care of
in the general plan. And now
thanks to Patrick Streeter and
Kim Jordan, I'm not sure if
she's here. We have it
in our code.
For the first time in like
25, 30 years,
we actually have it
in the code. So thank you,
Patrick. So this is what we
have right now. And I'm going
to be making some suggestions
for additional things.
But crime prevention is
to improve safety by designing
the physical environment
to influence human behavior.
So it's natural surveillance,
looking out, eyes on natural
access control gates,
and territorial reinforcement,
which means this is public,
this is private,
and you have stages between
that poor person whose bedroom
is right next
to the sidewalk. You actually
don't do that. So it's not
comfortable, but it's actually
not safe either. So I have a
poll for you guys. Say you have
a child that you want
to be safe walking to school.
You have one option. They could
walk along this street. This is
the sidewalk right here. Or
they could walk
along this street
on the right. So how many would
prefer the one on the left?
Raise your hand. Okay. How many
prefer their child walking?
The one on the right,
you would. Okay. All right. So
this is a different question.
This is a creek. And so
on both sides, the creek is
on the right hand side. And
then we've got a pathway and
then we've got public areas.
In this case it's a street with
residential buildings facing
onto the street and
to the creek.
In this case it's a fence
with the houses behind it. So
raise your hand if you want
your child walking
on the top one. And raise your
hand if you want your child
working on the bottom one.
Okay, so you guys actually
already know your body knows
how to create or what is a safe
environment? So the question I
have is, if we all know this,
why have we been creating this
stuff for absolute years?
Right? And you go up
to this one,
why has this been happening?
Why have this? Why does this
continue? So anyway,
I'm just going
to give you a little bit
of information
on this pressing question. So
why defensible space? So this
is a pretty rough place. It's
called Pruitt Igoe Towers. And
you may not have heard it,
but it's
in the planning profession.
It's kind
of well known and what they did
with it. Let's experiment. Why
do towns
like we've always done towns,
we have car now,
let's change everything. And so
they made it so the bottom of
these towers were open and
there was no stoops, no fence
jars, nothing, just nothing.
So this entire area was nobody
looking out for it. Right? No
ownership, no fenced yards,
no eyes on the ground floor,
exterior areas. So all this
which had been traditionally
done, right, you have the
public, you have the semi
public, semi private at the
porch and then the private,
that's all a procession as you
go in. None of that was done.
So what do you think happened?
They blew it up. They blew it
up. This is how bad it was.
People would not live there,
they were dying there. So what
happened,
that was actually the birth of
crime prevention was that
destruction of that building.
And so, so the defensible
space, I said it before,
I'm going to repeat it again.
The physical expression of a
social fabric that defends
itself. So this is an example
from Hercules. They also do the
same thing we do here. And this
is porches and this is
on street parking. This is
absolutely critical.
To get these porches used,
you have to have a car and then
people coming up into these.
So natural surveillance. And
then these are the options for
building design regarding the
street. And this was the most
popular for the child walking
on the street. So
in this case, the front of the
building faces the street.
In this case, the side of the
building faces the street. You
can see maybe there could be
some eyes on as people walk
to the side. But for the most
part the street doesn't have
any eyes on it. And then this
is the red means it's not
good. Just in case need
to get that. But this is where
it's the back,
the absolute back
of the building. It faces the
most public area. That's the
least safe. Crime prevention
through environmental design.
This is a great little diagram
and it shows how
to make it safe. You put
Windows, you put porches and
sidewalks where people can talk
to each other and gain
community. Then you define the
public and the private areas
by hedges or fences. But you
don't let this all be a free
for all like it is on Wilson
Street. And then good
pedestrian lighting. So the
procession, I'm going
to repeat again, it's public,
the semi public, semi private,
private. So this is that, that
procession which is missing.
And right now our current code
is missing this defining the
front yard. So that's going
to be my suggestion
to add that
in the next code update. So
these images are now
in your zoning code. So there's
one for the,
for commercial as well. And so
single family, eyes
on solution. When Windsor
started, it basically had three
car garages and then you had
to go around to the side
to get to the front door. And
so that is very bad for Izon
because the cars in the car
garage don't perform that
function. So Windsor, we
changed our code and made it so
that you actually have
to have the porch in the front
and the garage and back. And
in the latest update, that
garage setback was reduced. So
anyway,
I just letting you guys know
to watch out for that, just
to see how it comes out. And if
you want to go back, this big
wear has been reduced and the
defined front yards, we did it
for years in Windsor and all
the affordable housing. And it
just needs to be put
into the code. And if it's set
back 10ft or more
from the sidewalk,
it should work. So this is that
picture that. No, I think one
person thought it was a good
idea. But this is Apple
Valley Lane. And has anybody
heard of Apple Valley Lane?
About 20 years ago,
people were getting killed
like once a month or
down there. And so this is
before picture. And then so our
firm was called in
to try and figure out how
to fix this. And so we just did
these things we're talking
about here. We put
in windows,
we defined the edge of the
street and the yard and we put
in porches. Has anybody heard
of a crime killing in Apple
Valley Lane in the last 15
years? It hasn't been
happening. So all these things
have been brought into
Windsor's code and Santa Rosa
has not. Just letting you know,
Santa Rosa has not incorporated
these things into their code.
They just got rid of. They got
rid of that problem. They just
stopped. So anyway,
this is a kind
of an ironic question. This is
our first new stoop in windsor
in like 20 years. What do you
think about the one
on the left? Is it providing
eyes on so.
>> Let me ask you a question
about that because I know where
this,
I think I know where this is.
But we also had another project
come to our commission recently
and the first thing that came
to mind is why would anybody
want their front door
on such a busy road? So this
idea of having this duper eyes
on these extremely busy roads,
I am trying to understand how
that's more safe.
>> Okay.
>> Because I feel concerned
about having a front door and
then people driving 40, 50
miles an hour.
>> That's a very good point.
And so what you need to do is
do traffic calming and that's
park cars. And then when we did
the Esposti park apartments
right across from Esposti park,
we actually put in one
of those things that WW Trans
was talking about. A traffic
calming thing was like a hump
and it really narrowed it down
the streets. I'm not sure if
you know what I'm talking
about by a spy park.
>> Anyway, by there I haven't
noticed a speed hump. Well,
it's
like a calming hump in.
>> The middle anyway, so I
don't think it slows anybody
down.
>> It does. It actually really
does, honestly. Anyway, I'm
offering tours and I just want
to say these are two
dimensional pictures of three
dimensional places and that's
why I'm offering the tours
because I would love
to really get into detail with
you and I could do that if we
were standing in front of a
Swastik park apartments. And
it's very difficult for me
to do it from here. So I would
really love it if you guys,
I know it's asking a lot,
you'll have businesses and all
that stuff,
but that would be just great.
And I could really talk about
it and you can actually feel
what it's like. So anyway,
my suggestion here is that
Windsor adds, we're treating
stoops, our brand new stoops,
as if they're balconies. And so
we actually allow storage and
stuff on the stoop. And so I'm
just saying maybe we should
clarify that in our revision
to the code
to make it very clear
about conditions of approval,
wherever it is,
that you can't put storage on
the ground floor stoop because
that's eyes on. And
unfortunately this is not going
to get better because there's
no parking required. So there's
no reason for people to park
their car and then go up the
steps. It's kind of
like this. Oh man, we got this
close and then just a couple
things didn't work out. So eyes
on. Problem. The designer did
not put a street next
to the park. And so the back
of the buildings face the park.
Windsor did a good job here
at Oakfield subdivision. I'm
not sure if anybody's been
there, but road
along the park and then eyes
on the park. This is a very
interesting problem. This is
the dead space
behind the pool porch. There
was a developer who asked me
to come
down and see his project. He
was proposing projects here
in Windsor. And so I looked
at this and I'm like, oh my
gosh, this is perfect, right?
It's got all the procession,
it's got all that.
But there was nobody
on the street. Absolutely
nobody. It was no kids,
nothing. And I'm like, it's
like a neutron bomb had gone
off. What the heck is going
on here? And I found
out you go in the door,
the garage is
to the right here, right? This
is a car. And then these are
steps up. All the living is up
there. So they didn't put the
police officer in, they just
put the police officers
upstairs. So Windsor now has
requirements for active uses.
Behind the porch,
you can't just put stairs,
storage or bedroom. So that's
just something that's
protecting Windsor. Go ahead.
>> If I can. So just
to clarify,
dead space means non used.
Part of your house is
behind the front of it, right?
Like your living room's not
there,
your kitchen's not there. It's
a junk room in the back.
>> And some people say, well,
bedrooms are fine,
but you're only in the bedroom
when it's dark.
>> Right.
>> So you can't really see it.
So I don't think bedrooms are
qualified as that.
But so you guys know this one?
This is Joe Wodota trail.
Camping and garbage is an
issue, of course. No eyes on.
And then this is Vintage Oaks
in Windsor. Just beautiful.
And this is now considered a
trail in the Windsor parks
plan. So road next
to the creek. And this is the
trail that is the smart path.
And when I took this picture,
let me tell you, my heart was
in my throat because I felt
very vulnerable. And it was
like there was no way out
for me. Right? And I made a
fine. But I'm just telling,
even now I can reel it in me.
So smart requires this six foot
fence next to the rut tracks.
If we do not put a road next
to the tracks,
this is what ends up. So it
ends up being an entrapment
situation, which is not good.
And compare this to Windsor
Oaks or Windsor park
apartments. It's right next to
the train station that the
tracks are right over here.
You can see we put the street
in and then the smart train has
been putting the six foot
fence. They've been
putting fencing if there's an
embankment or something people
could fall off of.
But if it's a situation
like this where it's all flat,
they don't put a fence. So in
Windsor we have a much better.
If we put the roads next
to the tracks,
we have a nice situation.
There's a
project called the Windsor
Mill project and I think it's
gone
through two iterations so far.
And I heard it's coming back.
And so I just wanted to remind
you guys that there is a creek
on that. That is Windsor Creek
needs to have eyes on. And then
the railroad tracks also need
to have eyes on. So just a
place to be thinking about.
And so this is that picture,
one of the pictures
of the question,
the poll question. So this is
one of the places we're going
to be looking at
on the creek tour. And so this
is where you have the front of
the building's eyes onto the
creek. And this is what is much
more typical,
which is the back next
to the creek. And you see how
different it looks and more
crime, garbage,
fires and encampments. And this
is a right across
from that picture you saw
of the good Portola. This is
right across the street. So
it's a two different. It's
actually three different
treatments right there. So
we're going
to go there as well.
But this is a tagged area.
There's only one back
on and that's where it is. And
it got tagged within
like a week of construction.
So a lot of people say, well,
we don't need to put the road
against the creek. There's not
much room. Let's just put open
fencing. So this is a situation
where the open fencing, it's
like these are probably
bedrooms, right? And maybe
they'll have a barbecue once or
twice in the summer. But this
is not as good as the front
of the house facing the creek
in terms of safety. And
Windsor faces a danger
from fires coming
down the hills
along the trees and the creeks.
We saw that in the Tubbs fire.
So this is where that road
along the creek at Portello
stops. And do you think the
firefighter is going to want
to try and go
in here and fight the fire?
The trees are right next
to the building. Right.
Because the road is gone. So I
just think where would they
stage it anyway? This is just a
cul de sac picture from the
Internet, but you need hoses
and places that puts up fire,
fire trucks. And the street
provides that. An ideal has
anybody been to Thiessen
Park? This little, the Garden
Windsor Garden Club is here.
And then there's a little
bridge. It's right there.
Yeah, it's just right
over there.
They took the
existing creek and they
actually fronted it
on both sides. So
on this side you have a street,
it's actually little alley or
little driveways.
On this side you have it. So
both sides you have eyes on.
And this is where the smart
station is going to be and this
is where we're going to meet
for the creek walks. So this is
what it looks like
on the ground. So you have a
ready made park instead
of having it be in the back
of your house,
which is a crime issue, it's
in the front of your house. So
it creates a much more valuable
real estate. So summary, front
of the buildings face the
public realm. You got eyes on
the street and ownership is
defined all
behind the sidewalk. So this is
in the last update. This is my
opinion,
the wording got much weaker
for public access
along the creeks. We have one
sentence that says to do it and
then we've got a paragraph that
says how to not do it. So
anyway, just hoping,
let's just watch
to see how that works. And then
so the cost of Windsor. So say
a developer says it's too
difficult, I can't face the
creek, I have
to back onto it. So these are
the costs. Police expenses
would go up, safety would go
down and roads are permanently
in place once it's approved.
We tried that after the Tubbs
fired redesign parts of
Coffee Park. It was impossible.
It's just not going
to happen. So are these
policies for eyes on making
Windsor safer? And this is it
from 2023 and Windsor is right
here. You see that number 10.
And we're in the company with
Danville, Saratoga and
Orinda. And I'm not sure if you
guys know those places, but we
are much more inclusive than
they are,
I'll put it that way. Okay, so
it's widely recognized,
I said as one
of the safest places in
California. I did not know it
was widely recognized.
But anyway, in this report they
said it was due to local events
and initiatives. And I just
want to let everybody know that
next time somebody asks you why
are we so high on the list? If
you could say something
about crime prevention through
environmental design it would
be just great because I don't
think it's parades and safety
impacts. So if you do all these
things what happens? Well, they
study them and if you just do a
few, you get 17%. If you do a
lot, you get 76% reduction
in crime. That just explains
Apple Valley Lane and the cost
savings for Windsor. Windsor
pays the lowest amount per
capita for police services,
yet crime rates are 39%
below average. So the average
county,
the county resident pays 346
and we pay 227. We save $3
million a year
in police costs alone. And this
was interesting. I'm not sure
you guys saw this. This was
in the paper in October
of this year and it says
WalletHub ranks four North Bay
cities among the best in the
U.S. well, Windsor was
on there. And guess why
Windsor was on there. Spurred
by its favorable safety rating.
This is economic development,
guys, right? And then the
letter from Police Chief
Pacini last October to the
planning commission. I have
noticed on creeks
with a road allowing visibility
for part of it, the place where
the road ends is where we
experience policing problems.
He's all. And Tanya Potter and
him are both lockstep. This is,
this is the way to go. So
anyway, all these things, I've
gotten a little handout which
we're going to give
to you and then also
on the handout if you want
to enter term as commissioner
to increase Windsor safety
to continue this road that
we're
on single loaded streets front
on walkable fringes and
on street parking, don't forget
that piece because they won't
use the front of the house if
they don't have that. So I just
want to let you know there are
creek tour signups and if you
could have. I'm not sure if you
guys are interested or too
busy, whatever, but I gave you
quite a large selection.
Patrick sent out an email and
see if you just sign up
for a time that works
for you and then there's going
to be another walk
after the walking tour,
which is. That's the one where
we'll do the actual more
of the frontages. So I think
that's the last slide. Yeah,
that's the last slide. So
that's it.
>> Great.
>> Thank you very much at this
time we will bring it back
to the commission for questions
or comments.
>> I think the only comment
I'll make is
about the creeks because a few
of us went on a creek tour tour
a couple weeks ago and we
looked at some maps and I think
the one thing that surprised me
the most was it was very
sporadic in
between which was town owned,
privately owned, water agency,
county parks and how some
of these developments manage.
Working around some
of that kind of stuff. So I
think that was the most
intriguing part or
under knowledge that I gathered
from the creek tour that we did
just recently was just how much
of it is actually privately
owned.
>> Thank you, sir. I invited
Shannon from the public works
department because I thought
he'd be interested in this.
When I saw his report, I
thought, boy, if we had roads
along the creeks,
it'd be very clear who owns
what, right? I mean,
this is a picture
of it. I mean, it wouldn't be
confusing anymore if you had it
on both sides. So anyway, I
think that would solve that
problem. I don't know if it
would, but I think it might
help.
>> I have a quick question.
Thank you for this. Very
informative. Thank you. And I
know in the past when I've
heard things like front on,
back on, it was kind
of confusing. So I'm glad that
we laid this out. And I'd
encourage town staff to make
sure we have examples when we
talk about it for newer
commissioners who aren't as
smart as me, which will be
actually smarter than me. You
mentioned the garage setbacks
were reduced in the zoning. Do
you remember what they were
reduced from?
>> And, well, it's like they
were measuring originally
from the building, like a 10
foot setback. Correct me if I'm
wrong, Patrick, but 10ft from
the building and then moved it
to 10ft from the front
of the porch.
>> Okay, so there might be a
difference.
>> In where we're five feet.
Drawing the chart five feet
closer to the. So there's used
to be five feet between the
house and the garage,
and now it's more like 5, 10ft
to 5ft. So I'm just saying,
just make a note to. That we
know not to put it in front
of the house, but, you know,
where is that actual. You've
reduced it. Just letting you
know you've made. You've made a
concession.
>> Okay, thank you. I
just want to know. Thank you.
>> I can send
around an email with specifics
on what change in the zoning
order. I don't think we
actually reduced the standard
by. But I think we changed what
the options are.
>> Okay, my stand corrected
there. And I just want
to make a note that Tim sat
down with me for two hours and
helped me get rid of all
of the jargon
in this lecture. So I hope it
was gone anyway, so please sign
up for the tours. I'll try
and make it as fun as possible.
Just three stops for both
of them. And then you just look
around, ask all the questions.
Okay, thank you.
>> Well, thank you very much.
At this time we'll move
into the public comment item.
Members of the public wishing
to address the commission on
any consent calendar item or
any item not listed
on the agenda may do so
at this time. Pursuant to the
Brown act, the Commission is
not allowed to consider issues
or take action
on any item not listed
on the agenda
during this period. Each public
comment is normally restricted,
restricted to three minutes
in length and must be spoken
into the microphone
from the podium. If you wish
to speak
on a consent calendar item,
please notify the chair
during the public comment.
Looks like we have one.
>> Thank you.
>> All right. Good evening
Commission. My name is Kevin
Scanlon, currently a 27 year
resident of the town of
Windsor, Windsor Creek
residential elementary school
neighborhood. I've been
in the government Realm for
over 40 years and educated
for 26 years. I was a volunteer
for 16 years at Windsor High
School. Tonight's quote is just
incredible. I was in front
of you in January
to provide you fair warning
of the horrific saga
about the Windsor Creek
elementary site involving the
ever popular Gallagher
Gallagher Homes, their famous
CEO who have been who have
duped the Windsor Unified
School District into believing
they could be long term
business partners. Here's a
glimpse. Windsor Unified
School District has entered an
exclusive negotiating agreement
with Gallaher Homes, all
of which were negotiated
with closed sessions. Gallaher
is to tear down Windsor Creek
elementary at a minimum cost
to WSD and
with the WS USD whining
about the $2.5 million
demolition and some asbestos
mitigation to be performed.
But the WUSD will get royalties
from some
of the apartments and monies
from the sale of the property
to Gallaher. But don't worry,
Gallaher to the rescue because
of the insane wealth
of the company. They will pay
for the property and mitigate
all to the to get the rights
to build a four story 368 high
density apartments that the
Sonoma County Fire Department
can't effectively fight fire or
conduct rescue operations to
the fourth floor because their
ladder trucks operations can
only reach the third floor.
Side note,
most school districts with
similar surplus properties are
selling their properties
to the city, town or county at
fair market prices so the
property can be turned into
sports and media complexes
because of the existing sport
amenities etc. The California
Teachers association advocates
advocates for sales
of properties to the town, city
and counties because they know
this will be a great. This will
be great for communities and
the children and adolescents
within. So the Cora Creek
apartments are
of the same design
but situated
along the west side of
Armando Renzulo Way which is
the entrance road to Windsor
Creek elevation elementary
property where one house stood
on 3.68 acres. Gallaher wants
106 apartments
in a four story configuration.
Of course the application is
already filed in the town of
Windsor planning department
that is being prepared
for this commission to deal
with
in a future commission meeting.
However, the project gets
flawed from the height
to cequa to forced on street,
park, parking, etc all of which
will drain will be a drain
to the town resources at every
level including police and fire
functions. Yep, as forewarned,
Gallagher is ready
to start his trifecta
of building first the Cora
Creek Apartments, then
Windsor Creek elementary demise
and the highly suspected huge
property on the east side
of old Redwood highway north
of the Bell Village commercial
commercial property that also
houses Gallagher's Windsor base
operations. I thank you for
your time and your
consideration tonight.
>> Thank you. See no others
lined up for public comment.
We will close public comment
at this time. Moving on
to item number eight,
the consent calendar. Consent
calendar items are viewed as
routine in nature and require
little or no further discussion
by the commission, public or
applicants and will be acted
upon through a single motion.
We only have one item
on the consent calendar. That
is the approval
for the regular meeting minutes
of March 11, 2025. Do we have a
motion for approval?
>> Move to approve.
>> We have a motion. Do we have
a second?
>> Second.
>> Secretary May. And we have a
roll call vote.
>>[CALLING ROLL]
>> Thank you.
>> Moving on to item nine,
public hearing. We have none
scheduled at this time. Item
10 for a regular calendar.
Also none scheduled
at this time. Moving to item
11, written communications. Do
any commissioners have any
written communication they'd
like
to acknowledge receiving? None
at this time. Moving to item
12, commissioner comments.
Commissioners have comments.
>> It says, including reports,
meetings and conferences and
activities
in miscellaneous agencies. And
I did go have coffee and
chitchat with Tim Massey. He
wanted to give a presentation
on the Quail Acres project and
it was just his overview
of trying to get me up to speed
as the newest commissioner
of what they've done so far
at this commission. It's pretty
brief and pretty informational.
>> All right, Moving on. Item
12.2, Commission request
for future agenda items
at this time. Seeing none. We
will close item 12. Item 13,
the Community Development
Director's report. Director
Streeter.
>> Thank you, Chair. A couple
things. One, all the members of
the commission should have
received an invitation
to next week's workshop Voices
of Windsor. It'll be held here.
We'll have various town
officials. I believe Shannon
and I will be there as well as
many members of the council. I
would strongly encourage,
if you're available, to have
commission members present too.
It would really enhance the
evening for everyone. Also, the
CNU 33, the Congress for the
New Urbanists Urbanism is
coming up. So I have previously
asked if there's any interest
on the commission,
please let me or Amanda know if
you're interested
in attending this year.
>> Yes, that's a good idea.
>> Yeah.
>> It begins on June 11th and
it's usually a three day
conference. Providence East
Coast. Also, we are polling
for a potential special meeting
at the end of April, April
29th. So if you haven't
responded to the request from
Amanda, please do so. And then
just some upcoming items. We
have our next meeting April
8th. We'll have Ms. Fisher back
for for her second presentation
which will be history of
Planning in Windsor since
Incorporation. We'll also have
some public hearings
on that agenda,
including the old Redwood
Highway Villages project which
is gearing up
for construction, but they have
a minor modification
to the resolution of approval
to request that has to do with
second story windows as well as
a comprehensive sign program
amendment for the Lakewood
Shopping Center. This is
on behest of the upcoming
Dollar Tree tenant which is
moving in and
on council agendas. April 16th
we have heritage park fee
deferral agreement. So
Heritage park,
the project has been approved
by the commission. They've
returned
to the council several times
for some financing strategies.
One of those was a deferral
of fees. They've asked
for some amendments
to that deferral. The council
was open
to that and so have asked staff
to come back with a prepared
resolution that would approve
that. So hopefully with that
in place, we'll see that
project finally penciled
out and start construction.
And then lastly on May 21,
which seems like a ways away,
but it'll be here soon,
we'll have our annual report on
the housing element and the
general plan. And that
concludes my report. Thank you.
>> Thank you very much. At this
time we will adjourn the
meeting. The next regular
meeting of the Planning
commission is scheduled for
Tuesday, April 8, 2025
at 5:30pm and will be held
in the council chambers located
at 9291 Old Redwood highway,
building 400 Windsor.