08 Attachment 1 - Community Engagement Plan1 | P a g e
ATTACHMENT 1
Connect Los Gatos Community Engagement Plan
Draft
Updated February 24, 2020
Background
Since the adoption of the Town’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan in March 2017, the Town
of Los Gatos has made great progress in implementing the priorities identified by the Council
and the community. After completing a few
important bicycle and pedestrian improvements, the
Town is embarking on a program of projects that will
make a bigger impact on active transportation
choices for all travelers.
Connect Los Gatos is a community engagement
initiative that promotes a program of bicycle and
pedestrian projects that will connect and improve the
multimodal network throughout the Town. The
current program of projects includes:
Los Gatos Creek Trail Connector to Highway 9
Bicycle and Pedestrian Overcrossing over Highway 17
Winchester Complete Streets
Shannon Road Multi-Use Path
Kennedy Road Sidewalk
Highway 9/Massol Avenue Rectangular Rapidly Flashing Beacon
The bicycle and pedestrian projects included in this program are identified in the Bicycle and
Pedestrian Master Plan. They are aimed to improve the Town’s multimodal network by closing
connectivity gaps and providing safe crossings. The network will expand and provide safe
access to key community destinations. Connect Los Gatos is aimed at making it easier and safer
for all to bike and walk in Los Gatos. As significant projects from the Town’s Bicycle and
Pedestrian Master Plan (or other Council identified multi-modal projects) are advanced, these
will be added to the Connect Los Gatos community engagement program .
Purpose and Goals
The purpose of the Community Engagement Plan is to establish a framework for the active
engagement by the community. It describes and outlines the major tools and activities that will
be used to keep the community informed and solicit input in the project development process,
from planning, funding, environmental clearance, design to construction . This plan identifies
key community engagement goals, outreach methods and events, and is intended to be
updated regularly to reflect any appropriate process cha nges. The plan provides a “toolbox” of
options for outreach to the community. Outreach “tools” will be tailored to the specific project
and projects may not use all of the tools outlined in the plan.
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The Town of Los Gatos is committed to creating bike and pedestrian connectivity projects
(“Connect Los Gatos”) that aligns with local needs and mobility priorities. Broad community
input will be integral to each phase of the process. Key community engagement goals include:
1. Increasing community awareness of the mobility, safety and design challenges and
opportunities for each project;
2. Providing access to project information and opportunities for meaningful participation;
3. Offering a range of communication and engagement tools to match interest and
preferences;
4. Ensuring the projects reflect community priorities; and
5. Obtaining community support for project design and funding
Outreach Approach and Tools
Connect Los Gatos includes a comprehensive approach to engaging a broad segment of the
public with proposed project awareness, input, feedback, and opportunities for engaged
participation. No single tool works for all situations and outreach for each project listed may be
different.
The Town is committed to deploying tools that will be most effective in encouraging
participation and feedback from community members that represent diverse background s. By
offering a range of communication and engagement tools, the Town aims to match interest and
preferences of community members.
Special attention will be paid to reaching out to special populations that are traditionally more
difficult to reach. The inclusive efforts include distributing flyers included in outreach materials
of community partners and conducting targeted outreach to seniors and the youth.
TOOLS DESCRIPTION EVENTS
Stakeholders
Engagement
Identifying the key stakeholders,
including Town Council, community
partners, and commissioners, that have
a greater understanding of local active
transportation issues in the community.
Engagement with key stakeholders for
project awareness, initial feedback, input
from community workshops, alternatives
and concept design.
Infrastructure Bike Ride
Public meetings:
Complete Streets & Transportation
Commission
Town Council
Parks Commission
Monte Sereno Better Streets
Commission
Safe Routes to Schools
Community
Meetings and
Workshops
Meetings and workshops to engage a
broad segment of the public with
proposed project awareness, input,
feedback, and opportunities for engaged
participation.
Project specific public meetings and
workshops
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Pop-Up Events
Pop-ups are an informal approach used
to increase community
participation and awareness by setting
up booths or posters at community wide
events. Informal outreach provides an
opportunity to engage a diverse set of
community members otherwise missed
by traditional meetings.
Back-to-School events
Los Gatos Holiday Parade
Farmer’s market
Spring Into Green event
Online
Engagement and
Social Media
Online and social media engagement will
deliver project information to the
community at large. The project
webpage will be an overview of the
bicycle and pedestrian program and will
include individual project webpages.
Webpages will include community
meetings, photos, graphics, maps, and
reports in PDF format.
Project Webpage:
www.losgatosca.gov/connectLG
Links to individual project webpages
FaceBook
Town website front page
NextDoor
Town Instagram
Email blasts
Targeted Outreach
Focused outreach in areas where under-
represented residents will be reached.
Provide contact information in multiple
languages, special outreach efforts to
seniors, disabled people, low-income
households, and the youth.
Youth Commission
Community & Senior Services Commission
Emails and e-newsletter to schools
and Safe Routes to School (SR2S)
Contact information in Russian, Mandarin
Chinese, Spanish, and Vietnamese
Information included in LGS Recreation
and other community partner information
materials
Data Collection
and Interaction
Data collection provides baseline data
and an assessment of existing conditions
of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure
for each project. Digital tools such as
crowdsourcing through interactive maps
allows users to provide specific place-
based information. They are also
effective in soliciting feedback on
specific locations for each project.
Bicycle and Pedestrian Counts
User interviews and surveys
Crowdsourcing: interactive web map
Implementation and Updates
Branded Presentation Design
Connect Los Gatos deploys a branded design to provide a consistent presentation for the
outreach messages for the program and all projects. This strategy leverages the branding to
grow familiarity and support for the entire program. The Connect Los Gatos logo reinforces the
overall program initiative that each project will connect and build upon the existing network to
fill connectivity gaps – each project on its own is part of a grander vision.
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Community Engagement Events
The Plan’s community engagement activities can be implemented at both the program level
and the project level and will vary based on the project needs. Some of the program and
project level outreach points that may be used include:
1. Existing Conditions/Needs Assessment: Informs the community for project awareness.
This phase focuses on the existing conditions both on opportunities, constraints and
needs assessment while soliciting initial input and feedback for community vision.
2. Design Alternatives: Focuses on the development of the conceptual design alternatives
based on initial input and feedback from phase 1. Conducts extensive engagement to
solicit feedback on the design alternatives.
3. Preferred Alternative and/or Final Design: Presents the designs to a wide range of
stakeholders, solicits feedback to support decision making. This is also the phase to
further identify funding opportunities and/or support future funding decisions.
4. Construction Phase: Informs the community of the construction impacts. The messages
will specially target the residents who may be mostly impacted.
5. Evaluation: Evaluates the project effectiveness and community acceptance through
surveys and other engagement tools.
Updates
The Plan will need to be updated periodically to ensure the proper tools are being utilized to
maximize public awareness and participation at the program and project specific level and to
add projects as needed. Town staff will periodically update the Plan and adjust engagement
activities as needed to continue to maximize authentic participation by residents and workers
representing a diverse background.