Transportation Commission Regular Meeting - March 20, 2025
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Transportation Commission Regular Meeting - March 20, 2025
The Walnut Creek Transportation Commission held a regular meeting on March 20, 2025, from 6:01 PM to 8:29 PM in the Council Chamber at City Hall. Key actions included the election of a new Chair and Vice Chair, a detailed presentation on the Downtown Curbside Management Plan, and committee appointments. The meeting also featured public comments on neighborhood traffic safety and staff updates on grants and projects.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes (January 16, 2025): Approved unanimously by a vote of 5-0 (Commissioner Asch motion, Commissioner Kreling second).
Public Comments & Testimony
- Ken Castleman and Ellen Castleman (Conejo Way residents): Expressed concerns about significant increases in traffic volume, speeding (drivers frequently exceeding 35-50 mph in a 25 mph zone), and unsafe driving on their street. They requested traffic calming measures such as permanent radar signs, speed humps, or increased police enforcement. They submitted a letter and petition with neighbor signatures.
Discussion Items
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Election of Chair and Vice Chair:
- Commissioner Samantha Caygill was elected Chair unanimously (motion by Commissioner Asch, second by Commissioner Kreling).
- Commissioner Charles Kreling was elected Vice Chair unanimously (motion by Commissioner Asch, second by Commissioner Patch).
- Former Chair Rob Rees was thanked for his service.
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Downtown Curbside Management Plan – Introduction:
- Associate Engineer Briana Byrne presented an overview of curbside management strategies, existing city plans, and preliminary data collected via license plate readers (LPR) in fall 2024 (October) and additional holiday data in December 2024.
- Key findings: On-street parking in the core downtown (Area A) reached 88% peak occupancy on weekdays (exceeding the 85% target), while city garages averaged 57% occupancy. During the holiday season, some garages (e.g., South Locust) reached 100% capacity. Average on-street parking duration was about 1 hour 20 minutes, while garage visitors stayed 2.5–3 hours.
- Currently, there are approximately 1,500 on-street and 1,500 garage spaces in the study area. Monthly parking passes (600 total) are fully subscribed with a waitlist of 100–200 applicants.
- Commissioners discussed: pricing strategies, employee parking programs, technology (dynamic pricing, wayfinding), pedestrian safety, parklets, and stakeholder outreach. No formal action was taken; the presentation was for feedback.
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Commission Committee Appointments:
- CCTA Citizens Advisory Committee: Motion to keep Commissioner Asch on the committee through his term ending in August 2025, after which the commission will revisit representation. Passed unanimously (5-0).
- Shared Mobility Working Group: Dissolved and replaced with a new ad-hoc Committee on Traffic Safety, with Commissioners Patch and Rees as representatives. Passed unanimously.
- Mayor's Quarterly Breakfast: Chair Caygill and Vice Chair Kreling will continue as representatives. Passed unanimously.
Key Outcomes
- Elections: Samantha Caygill elected Chair, Charles Kreling elected Vice Chair.
- Committee Appointments: Commissioner Asch retained on CCTA until August 2025; new Safety Committee formed with Commissioners Patch and Rees.
- Staff Updates:
- Public traffic requests: 263 in 2023, 277 in 2024, 59 year-to-date in 2025.
- Signal upgrades: retro-reflective backings being added to all signal heads.
- Grant awards: $1.9 million HSIP grant for left-turn signals on Ignacio Valley Road; $3.4 million CCTA grant for a shared mobility hub near BART; $120,000 (full requested amount) for trail crossing improvements.
- Bike to Wherever Day scheduled for May 15, 2025, with a staff booth at the Iron Horse Trail crossing at Broadway and Newell.
- Next Meeting: May 15, 2025.
Meeting Transcript
Okay. Welcome to the March 20th, 2025 regular meeting of the Transportation Commission. Would the Secretary please call the role? Commissioner Ash here. Commissioner Krelling. Present. Commissioner Patch. Here. Student Commissioner Kirch. He may be late. Vice Chair Kegel. Present. Chair Reese. Present. This next portion of the meeting is reserved for comments on items not on the agenda under the Brown Act. The commission cannot act on issues raised during the public communications, but may respond briefly to statements made or questions posed, request clarification, or refer the item to staff. At this time, I will open this item up to the public comment. Do we have any members of the public wishing to comment on items not on the agenda? Yes. Come on up. Well, my name's Ken Castleman. I live on Conejo Way in Monac Creek and have for about 30 years. First of all, I appreciate the opportunity to present my problems to you here tonight. And I appreciate the communications that I've had with Matt Redman regarding this issue. And I got the feeling that he understood where I was coming from. And to make really clear where I'm coming from, I've given each of you a letter about the problem with the traffic on Caneho Way and attached a bit of a petition on the back of it. I know I don't have much time. I just want to pick out some of the highlights of the letter, if I may. I've observed significant, a significant increase in traffic volume, speeding, and unsafe driving behaviors on our street. And there's a lot of commuter traffic. It climbs uphill going west. So drivers come around the corner at the trail crossing and put on the gas to climb the hill. The other direction, they get rolling down the hill. And the 25 mile an hour speed limit is really a joke. I would say the average, if an assessment was done, is significantly higher than that. I've talked to the Walnut Creek police, and that's why I'm here because they said they can't really do much about it. They have given the temporary radar signs from time to time, and I've asked them to come write the reports and hang out and be on the street more. You know, I understand people aren't going to go 25, probably, uh, but they're going 35, 40, 45, 50. Um so what I am asking in this letter is some kind of solution. And I'm thinking, I don't know that much about traffic, but I'm thinking traffic calming strips, permanent radar signs like there is down on San Luis Road, or just more police enforcement or other things that Matt and I have talked about. Um I hope you will consider it. I hope you'll take a look at the letter. It has more details on it. Uh yeah, any questions? I no. Um, but did you fill out a speaker card? I did. You did, okay. And do you want to hand the letter to us? Yeah.
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