City staff proposes merging bicycle, traffic and parking advisory bodies into a Complete Streets committee

City staff presented a proposal to create a Complete Streets Committee that would merge the Traffic Safety & Parking Committee (TSPC) and the Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) to provide multimodal advisement to the council.

The Community Development director said the TSPC’s duties are defined in the municipal code and that the BPAC historically functioned as a subcommittee; staff argued that a combined advisory body would follow current best practice by reviewing transportation through a multimodal lens. Staff said it had notified both committees and, if council agreed in principle, would seek joint feedback at a meeting in April and return with municipal-code amendments and a proposed scope in late May.

Council members asked several operational questions: how staff reports to the merged committee should present impacts for drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians; whether the city risks falling below membership minimums if vacancies are left open; which department would lead (Public Works was identified as the anticipated lead); and how to preserve both committees’ cultures and hands-on activities. Several council members emphasized the need for training and clear bylaws, suggested starting with a larger committee (seven members) to preserve capacity, and recommended recruiting members with cross-mode knowledge.

Public commenters largely supported the merger’s goal of coordinating transportation planning but urged careful attention to process. Matt Jones of the Bike Coalition said the merger could reduce inter-departmental silos but cautioned that parking conversations should still have an accessible forum. Ray Moser and Rebecca Milano urged clearer community outreach, more efficient committee processes, and hard training for committee members. A current or former TSPC member (self-identified as Lambrose) said the committees have collaborated in the past and suggested frequent joint meetings could be an alternative if staff capacity is insufficient.

Council directed staff to solicit input from both committees at a joint April meeting and to return with proposed code changes and a scope informed by that meeting. No formal ordinance or code change was approved at this meeting; staff will return with recommendations.