North Sunnyvale cyclists have another protected path in their future.
The Sunnyvale City Council on Tuesday voted 6-1 to approve the installation of raised multi-use pedestrian and bicycle paths on both sides of Tasman Drive, from Fair Oaks Avenue to Vienna Drive. The roughly half-mile stretch runs between two of the state’s largest mobile home parks — Casa de Amigos and Plaza Del Rey — and residents have been divided over the proposal. Councilmember Murali Srinivasan voted against installing a raised pathway due to public safety access and response time concerns.
Councilmembers also decided not to extend the path from Vienna Drive to Lawrence Expressway, as the city measured high traffic and greater public safety access needs on that portion.
The reconfigured Tasman Drive will change from two lanes of traffic to one lane in either direction. Angela Obeso, the city’s interim transportation and traffic manager, said bringing the road down to one lane and installing a raised pathway may increase response times for emergency vehicles, as drivers won’t be able to get out of their way.
City estimates show the project costing between $14 million and $17 million. City Manager Tim Kirby said Sunnyvale hasn’t identified a funding source yet, either in the city budget or through grants, so there’s no concrete timeline on when the project might begin.
“We need to improve the safety for pedestrians and cyclists on this roadway, but we also need to maintain our response times and make sure we can adequately serve the community,” Kirby said at the meeting.
North Sunnyvale is a historically underserved region, and residents have been divided over whether the multi-use path will help or hinder the neighborhood.
Ari Feinsmith, a member of Safe Streets Sunnyvale and Bike Sunnyvale who grew up in Casa de Amigos, said the path will give the mobile home park’s residents more freedom to travel. The raised pathways will have physical barriers to protect cyclists from cars, something lacking in other bike paths in the city.
“I felt trapped as a kid growing up, because I couldn’t walk or bike outside of my mobile home park,” Feinsmith told San José Spotlight. “We saw so many people in the community who’ve never spoken at a council meeting, who’ve maybe never been to a council meeting before, come to this meeting and speak about the multi-use pathway.”
Not all residents are happy with the decision. Judy Pavlick, founder of the Sunnyvale Mobile Home Park Alliance, said she’s concerned about emergency vehicles traveling between Fair Oaks Avenue and Vienna Drive. She said more vehicles will use Tasman Drive as Sunnyvale and neighboring cities add homes to the area.
“I think city council made a mistake in approving (the raised path), because I think they just looked at the safety of the people and the bicycles, but they didn’t look at the big picture of what it would do to the whole district,” Pavlick told San José Spotlight.
Councilmembers honed in on the public safety concerns, pressing for answers on how emergency vehicles get to the mobile home parks and what effect the lane reduction could have on response times. However, Deputy Public Safety Chief Hank Syu said the department doesn’t track its emergency response routes.
District 6 Councilmember Eileen Le, who represents the neighborhood, said the paths are an opportunity to improve the walkability and daily safety of residents in the area.
“This is the best good that I believe we can bring to this community,” Le said at the meeting. “You say you can find a way, and I want to say that I trust that staff will be able to find a way to balance the public safety needs of pedestrians and cyclists, and also the cases where we need public safety access.”
Contact B. Sakura Cannestra at [email protected] or @SakuCannestra on X.
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