Planning commission recommends council adopt Active Transportation Plan, adds evacuation-risk review for high-fire zones

The City of Cupertino Planning Commission on July 14 voted to recommend City Council adopt the draft Active Transportation Plan (ATP) and unanimously added a modification directing staff to factor evacuation-risk impacts for projects in very high fire hazard zones.

Senior transportation planner Matthew Schroeder told the commission the draft ATP consolidates the work done in phases 1–3, rescored projects per commission feedback to emphasize Vision Zero/high-injury network priorities, and was released for a 30-day public review. "The document is comprised of all the materials that were developed in phases 1 and 2," Schroeder said, and staff estimated the total construction cost of building every project on the list at about $43,000,000 (a high-level construction estimate that does not assume grant funding).

Commissioners asked how many projects could be delivered in a 2–4 year window and whether the $43 million figure included grants; staff replied that delivery depends on pavement maintenance cycles, grants, and council authorization, and confirmed the estimate does not include grant funding. Commissioners pressed staff on how project scoring accounted for parking or arterial impacts; Schroeder said projects likely to remove on-street parking were penalized during scoring and that specific impacts would be studied at the 30% design phase and presented to council.

Public comment included a virtual statement from Jennifer Griffin expressing concern about ebike safety and urging robust school-focused ebike education: "I have been extremely concerned about children on ebikes... I hope in Cupertino that there can be a robust education of schools," she said.

Deliberations focused on potential consequences for evacuation capacity in high-fire-risk areas, particularly where road shoulders might be repurposed for separated bike lanes. Chair Kasol Sharon proposed and the commission accepted adding language to the plan's project impact assessment guidelines requiring an evacuation-route analysis for projects affecting sensitive corridors. That addendum passed unanimously.

Several substitute motions to exclude particular streets or project types (projects that would remove street parking, cause lane reductions or introduce separated bike lanes) failed. The final motion to adopt the draft resolution recommending council adopt the ATP as presented passed; the meeting record indicates the motion carried with one commissioner voting no.

Next steps: staff will transmit the commission recommendation (including the evacuation-risk addendum) to City Council for consideration; projects that could affect parking or lane configuration will be studied further at the design phase and returned to council with impact assessments.