Walking & Biking News & Ideas

Happy Summer! It's been an eventful month with many ups and downs at our local government level, but in this newsletter we are looking forward - to enjoyable summer picnics, bike rides that you can "join" with others at Walk-Bike Cupertino, a new feature on local hikes, and more. Read on for news that you can use!

Enjoy Summer Fun by Biking and Picnicking (without cooking!) Even as Santa Clara County opens up by allowing residents to dine-in at restaurants using outdoor seating, not everyone will feel comfortable doing so—or even should, because of age or health condition. Here’s a great idea for a way to have your restaurant food, and safely eat it too: bike and picnic! It’s a fun and healthy way to get out of the house and enjoy someone else’s cooking while still maintaining safe distancing. To the right are suggestions for where to pick up great food, and where to find the best picnic tables in the nearby parks to enjoy it. Don't forget your tablecloth and tableware. Bon Appetit!

Bike & Picnic: East Side Bike and Picnic: City Center Bike & Picnic: Jollyman Bike & Picnic: Mary Avenue Bike & Picnic: West Side

Thank you to everyone who spoke at the City Council meeting or wrote a letter in support of the Regnart Trail on Tuesday. Your input made a real difference! See below for a meeting recap and what's planned for the future.

Join our Strava community

Strava is free Steps to sign up: Go to strava.com and create a free account Join Walk Bike Cupertino Club Download the app on your phone Start posting walks, hikes, runs, and rides! Over time, we will start giving fun kudos to our members such as youngest hiker, oldest biker, longest walker, daily runner, and more. They have pretty good privacy features so you can choose what you share.

Walk Bike Cupertino is excited to announce we are now on Strava! It's a great way for our community to: Share your walks, hikes, runs, and rides with other members Get ideas of cool activities from other members Meet like-minded residents Form groups for activities Track your activities and set goals We hope to see you on there!

Trail Review: Sanborn Park From Lake Ranch to John Nicholas Trail South

By Jian He, Walk-Bike Cupertino Board member Last Saturday morning, we enjoyed a wonderful family hike in the Sanborn County Park located near Saratoga. We hiked from Lake Ranch Trail to John Nicholas Trail South, about 4.8 mile out and

back. The trail is rated as moderate and offers a number of activity options, including mountain biking, fishing, and picnicking. Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on leash. The beginning climb was a little rocky and steep, but fortunately the trail was fully shaded by large trees. Along the path, beautiful wild flowers were blooming and happy birds were singing. As a pleasant surprise, a miniature fairy house under “quarantine” was residing peacefully to the left hillside. After about 20 minutes, we reached the top of the steep hill. The lake view is so beautiful and refreshing! Read more....

Enjoy glimpses of Sanborn Creek along the trail

The fairy house (top) & multi-use trail (bottom)

Send us a review of a walk, hike, run, or ride! This trail review is the first in a series of narratives of personal hikes, bike rides, runs, or walks taken in our local area . If you'd like to write a review, Walk-Bike Cupertino would love to spotlight it in our newsletter and on our website! Reviews should be 500 words or less, and must include some pictures. All submissions are subject to approval, editing, and can be used by Walk-Bike Cupertino in future publications. Contact us here if you'd like to submit one: info@walkbikecupertino.org .

City News Briefs The proposed Junipero Serra Trail, which runs along I-280 in Cupertino was awarded $6.1 million in a VTA grant using Measure B Funds. Also allocated was ~$1m for design of the Homestead Road enhancements from Foothill to Hollenbeck. Read more here on the Measure B grants. Phase 2 of the Class IV (separated) bike lanes on McClellan Road, which go from Stelling to Torre, are now out for bids for construction. City Staff expects the project to start on Aug 3, 2020 and take 3 months to complete. This work will not include the DeAnza intersection. For more news, click here .

City Council 6/17/20 Meeting Recap

At the City Council meeting on Tuesday, June 16th, the Council discussed the CIP (Capital Improvement Plan) Budget for 2020-21, which includes all walking and biking projects for the City of Cupertino.

Though the City of Cupertino's income has significantly reduced due to the pandemic, Cupertino is in a solid financial position and has enough budget and reserve to continue to fund all previously approved walking and biking projects.

After extensive review by the City's Finance Department and with the City Manager, City Staff recommended to Council that only projects that had not been already approved and funded be delayed in the CIP process. A couple of the Council members did not wish to accept this recommendation without additional information, and asked to do a line item review of all 30 CIP projects. City Staff provided the complete list, which was then reviewed during a several hour discussion lasting until 1 am. Not surprisingly, the Regnart Creek Trail was raised as a project to be considered for review. The same anti-trail residents spoke in opposition to the project, with a new request by some for specialty concrete walls instead of fencing. City staff estimated this would cost an additional $3-5 million, tripling the cost of the project. The Council, after much debate, decided to add an additional $400,000 to the project for special 'noise insulated' fencing, but confirmed they want the project to continue progressing. City Staff will also look into using precast concrete for walls to see if it is feasible within that $400K cost.

A welcome change in the discussion during this last Council meeting was that Councilmember Chao stated that she was now in favor of the project going forward . We hope this viewpoint continues.

Thank you again to all of you who spoke and sent letters to the Councilmembers. It made a real difference in keeping this and other walking and biking projects going forward. We anticipate the next - and hopefully last - go/no go vote on the Regnart Creek Trail will be in September/October time frame . We'll keep you updated as we find out more.

If you enjoyed this newsletter, please encourage your friends or family to sign up too! Sign up link: https://bit.ly/WBCJoinUs Walk-Bike Cupertino never shares or sells any personal information .

Happy Walking and Biking, Your friends at Walk-Bike Cupertino Find much more, including maps, safety data, and information on all the city projects at: walkbikecupertino.org