Public comment period extended to July 20 for master plan
The public comment period on the draft San Benito County Bikeway
and Pedestrian Master Plan has been extended to July 20, as
officials seek input to make local roads safer and more
accessible.
Public comment period extended to July 20 for master plan
The public comment period on the draft San Benito County Bikeway and Pedestrian Master Plan has been extended to July 20, as officials seek input to make local roads safer and more accessible.
Veronica Lezama, transportation planner for the county’s Council of Governments (COG), said she has received “great feedback from the community” in two public workshops as well as from Hollister, San Juan Bautista and San Benito County elected officials.
The master plan, which Lezama said was developed in the early 1990s and last updated in 2002, makes it easier for local cities and the county to receive grant funding for bicycle and pedestrian projects. It also sets guidelines for planners and developers to use when considering accessibility issues for new projects.
What’s more, “Caltrans requires us to have an updated plan every five years in order to be eligible for bicycle transportation account funding,” Lezama said.
An example of that funding is the $705,000 that the county received a yea and a half ago for the three-mile San Juan Highway Bike Lanes Project, which will create a Class 2 bike lane from the San Juan Bautista city limits to Anzar High School. That project is expected to begin this fall.
Lezama has presented the draft bikeway and pedestrian master plan to several boards, including the city and county parks and recreation committees, the county chamber ofcommerce, city and county planning commissions, supervisors and city councils.
“I talk to them about how this plan is very specific to San Benito County,” she said. “It was intended to be an update but we saw that it needed to be a little more focused on the dynamics of our county considering almost half of our residents commute outside of the county and almost one-third of our residents are 18 or under.”
The plan includes maps showing safe routes for children who walk or ride their bicycles to school.
“We’re going to prepare a brochure with those maps and distribute them to schools so students and parents can use them,” Lezama said.
An economic development component of the plan helps strategize the best spots to put bicycle lanes to encourage people to have access to business areas by bike.
“The plan will be used as a guideline so that when a development is proposed the city and county can require developers to contribute to bicycle and pedestrian facilities along with their development,” Lezama said.
The plan notes that San Benito County’s moderate climate and flat terrain give it many of the “attributes to become a bicycle-friendly community.” However, “many streets have discontinuous or no sidewalks and have difficult street crossings,” which may discourage people from walking or bicycling around town.
Planners hope that a master plan will address these concerns while, as the plan says, “preserving the region as a place where people want to live, work and visit.”
A bicycle and pedestrian advisory committee was formed before the revision of the plan was started to provide input as the process moves along. Those interested in reviewing the draft San Benito County Bikeway and Pedestrian Master Plan can download a copy from COG’s Web site, www.sanbenitocog.org; review the plan at the San Benito County Library on Fifth Street; e-mail or write to Lezama; or visit her at the COG offices, 330 Tres Pinos Rd, Suite C7.
Lezama will send the public’s comments to its consultant on July 22, and the final plan is expected to be ready by Aug. 5. An environmental review of the plan’s components and recommendations will follow, including another public comment period.
The master plan requires adoption from the Hollister and San Juan Bautista city councils, the county Board of Supervisors and COG. Lezama said she hopes the plan will be finished by the end of the year.
