REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Accept Google LLC’s Voluntary Donation in the Amount of $1,000,000 for the East Channel Trail Study; Authorize the City Manager to Execute Funding Agreements with Google and Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority and any Other Necessary Documents Related to the Grant or Funding; Approve Budget Modification No. 3 to Appropriate $830,000 in Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) 2016 Measure B Bicycle & Pedestrian Planning Studies Funding, $1,000,000 in Google LLC’s Voluntary Donation, and $1,000,000 from the Transportation Impact Fee Funds for the East Channel Trail Study
Report
BACKGROUND
In August 2020, City Council adopted the Sunnyvale Active Transportation Plan (ATP), which guides the City to create a safe, connected, and efficient citywide walking and biking network. During the development of the ATP, the Sunnyvale community identified a desire for additional north-south low stress bicycling and pedestrian corridors that would connect the entire City. The East Channel in Sunnyvale spans from northern city limits at the Bay Trail to southern city limits at Homestead Road. The ATP proposes a 5.78-mile bicycle facility along the East Channel that consists of a Class I shared-use path between the Bay Trail and Inverness Way, and a Class IIIB Bicycle Boulevard between Inverness Way and Homestead Road. A Class I shared-use path is completely separated from motor vehicle traffic and used by people walking and biking, providing a low stress facility for people of all ages and abilities. The City has executed a Memorandum of Understanding with Valley Water to pave the maintenance road along the East Channel between the Bay Trail and Inverness Way to serve as a multi-use trail. Valley Water is currently in the process of receiving regulatory permits to allow for construction to start.
A planning study is required to evaluate existing conditions, identify design constraints, determine trail alignment(s), and evaluate alternatives at the crossings and at currently unplanned bike boulevard segments. The study will evaluate the types of crossings at the East Channel’s intersections with 21 east-west roadway corridors, pedestrian and bicycle amenities, and identify right-of-way constraints. The project will include the planning of safety improvements for bicyclists and pedestrians by reducing at-grade crossings and providing separated crossings at major intersections, freeways, expressways, and railroad tracks at both planned trail and bicycle boulevard segments. The project study will provide a guidance document upon which staff can build upon for application of grants and future design/construction projects. Upon completion, the East Channel Trail will enhance the walkability within the City and expand alternate transportation opportunities for residents, students, and employees commuting from neighboring cities. Intermodal commute opportunities will also be created, connecting users to major transit centers such as Caltrain stations and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) light rail stations and bus stops throughout the project area.
Google has voluntarily committed to provide partial funding in the amount of $1 million to conduct the East Channel Trail Study for the benefit of the community so that there can be additional active transportation mode options available for the public. See Attachment 3 to this report for the funding agreement between Google and the City.
GRANT SUMMARY
In 2016, Santa Clara County voters approved Measure B, a 30-year, half-cent countywide sales tax, to enhance transit, highways, expressways, and active transportation (e.g., bicycles, pedestrians, and complete streets). Over the 30-year period, VTA anticipates that the 2016 Measure B sales tax will generate $6.3 billion in 2017 dollars. The Measure B sales tax is categorized into nine different program categories. One of the categories is the Bicycle & Pedestrian Program which has three subprograms consisting of Education & Encouragement, Planning Studies, and Capital Projects.
The Bicycle & Pedestrian - Planning Studies Competitive Grant Program funds planning studies that support capital project development for bicycle and pedestrian projects of countywide significance identified by cities, the County, and VTA. Approximately $250 million over the 30-year life of Measure B will be allocated for the various subcategories of the Bicycle & Pedestrian Program to support projects that eliminate bike and pedestrian gaps, improve connections, increase mobility, and provide a safer and more convenient environment for bicyclists and pedestrians. For the first cycle of the Bicycle & Pedestrian Program - Planning Studies subcategory, approximately $1.66 million has been allocated.
In April 2021, staff submitted a grant application to VTA for the 2016 Measure B Bicycle & Pedestrian Program - Planning Studies Competitive grant funds for FY 2020/21. The grant application requests funding for the East Channel Trail (from the Bay Trail to Homestead Road) Study.
VTA received 11 grant applications for this category totaling approximately $2.87 million. Of those applications received, five (5) applications were selected for grant awards, totaling approximately $1.645 million.
In June 2021, VTA notified staff that the East Channel Trail project had been awarded the maximum allowable amount per sponsoring agency of $830,000 for the preliminary study and conceptual design of the project. The total planning study project is anticipated to cost $2,830,000, inclusive of a local match of $2 million: City contribution of $1 million and Google’s voluntary contribution of $1 million. See Attachment 1 to this report for the award letter from VTA.
EXISTING POLICY
General Plan, Chapter 3, Land Use and Transportation Element:
• Goal A: Coordinated Regional and Local Planning - Protect the quality of life, the natural environment, and property investment, preserve home rule, secure fair share funding, and provide leadership in the region.
• Goal B: Environmentally Sustainable Land Use and Transportation Planning and Development - Support the sustainable vision by incorporating sustainable features into land use and transportation decisions and practices.
• Goal C: An Effective Multimodal Transportation System - Offer the community a variety of transportation modes for local travel that are also integrated with the regional transportation system and land use pattern. Favor accommodation of alternative modes to the automobile as a means to enhance efficient transit use, bicycling, and walking and corresponding benefits to the environment, person-throughput, and qualitative improvements to the transportation system environment.
• Goal H: Options for Healthy Living - Create a city development pattern and improve the city’s infrastructure in order to maximize healthy choices for all ages, including physical activity, use of the outdoors, and access to fresh food.
Council Policy 7.1.5 Donations, Contributions and Sponsorships:
The City Manager may apply for grants of any dollar amount but shall notify the Council when grants are being pursued. Council approval of a budget modification to appropriate grant monies is required before funds can be expended by staff. Such a budget modification shall include the use to which the grant would be placed; the objectives or goals of the City which will be achieved through use of the grant; the local match required, if any, plus the source of the local match; any increased cost to be locally funded upon termination of the grant; and the ability of the City to administer the grant. For grants under the amount of $5,000 that do not have any external reporting requirements or any local match requirement, Council approval of a budget modification is not required. The City Manager is authorized to accept and administratively appropriate the grant funds.
This grant does not meet all the criteria to be administratively appropriated by the City Manager; therefore, a budget modification is required. Grant funds from VTA have external reporting requirements and fall under the federal single audit guidelines.
For donations, contributions or sponsorships with values of $100,000 or more, as estimated by the donor, a Report to Council will be written outlining its purpose and the advantages and disadvantages prior to acceptance. Authority to accept any such donation, contribution or sponsorship shall rest with the City Council. For monetary donations, it will be stated in the Report to Council if the gift is a one-time contribution for a specific purpose or a contribution where the principal could be invested and the interest used to support all or part of a special project or program for a number of years.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The actions being considered are exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15262 as the actions relate to the authorization of a feasibility and planning study for possible future actions that the City Council has not approved, adopted or funded. Specifically, the approval of the Budget Modification in support of the City’s grant application for Measure B as part of the City’s application for the 2016 Santa Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Measure B Bicycle & Pedestrian Competitive Grant Program is not a commitment to the project, and thus does not require environmental review at this time. Should Council direct staff to move the project forward and a Design Concept for the East Channel Trail is approved, the full scope of the project and any potential impacts will need to be determined and evaluated. Appropriate CEQA analysis will be performed during the project design process.
FISCAL IMPACT
Budget Modification No. 3 has been prepared to appropriate $2,830,000 to a new project - East Channel Trail Study. The project will be funded with FY 2020/21 2016 Measure B funds from the VTA Bicycle & Pedestrian Planning Studies Competitive Grant Program in the amount of $830,000, Google’s voluntary contribution of $1,000,000, and the City’s local match of $1,000,000 in the form of Transportation Impact Fee funds.
Budget Modification No. 3
FY 2022/23
|
|
Current |
Increase/ (Decrease) |
Revised |
|
VTA 2016 Measure B Grant |
|
|
|
|
Revenue |
|
|
|
|
VTA 2016 Measure B Planning Grant |
$0 |
$830,000 |
$830,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Capital Projects General Fund Assets |
|
|
|
|
Revenue |
|
|
|
|
Google Voluntary Contribution for East Channel Trail Study |
$0 |
$1,000,000 |
$1,000,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reserves |
|
|
|
|
Transportation Impact Fee |
$38,487,552 |
($1,000,000) |
$37,487,552 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Expenditures |
|
|
|
|
New Project - East Channel Trail Study |
$0 |
$2,830,000 |
$2,830,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
PUBLIC CONTACT
Public contact was made by posting the Council agenda on the City's official-notice bulletin board outside City Hall, at the Sunnyvale Public Library, Senior Center, Community Center, and Department of Public Safety Lobby. In addition, the agenda and report are available at the Sunnyvale Public Library, the Office of the City Clerk and on the City's website.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
Accept Google LLC’s Voluntary Donation in the Amount of $1,000,000 for the East Channel Trail Study; Authorize the City Manager to Execute Funding Agreements with Google and Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority and any other necessary documents related to the grant or funding; Approve Budget Modification No. 3 to Appropriate $830,000 in Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) 2016 Measure B Bicycle & Pedestrian Planning Studies Funding, $1,000,000 in Google LLC’s Voluntary Donation, and $1,000,000 from the Transportation Impact Fee Funds for the East Channel Trail Study.
Staff
Prepared by: Angela Wong, Transportation Engineer
Reviewed by: Dennis Ng, Transportation and Traffic Manager
Reviewed by: Chip Taylor, Director, Public Works
Reviewed by: Timothy J. Kirby, Director of Finance
Reviewed by: Jaqui Guzmán, Deputy City Manager
Approved by: Kent Steffens, City Manager
ATTACHMENTS
1. VTA 2016 Measure B Funding Award Letter FY20-FY21
2. Funding Agreement between City of Sunnyvale and Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority for East Channel Trail Study
3. Funding Agreement between Google and City of Sunnyvale for the East Channel Trail Study