Parents and advocates urge Sunnyvale to pick 'option 1' for Hollenbeck bike lanes

Multiple Sunnyvale residents and neighborhood activists urged the City Council during oral communications to support a design approach for Hollenbeck Road that removes street parking and installs buffered bike lanes (referred to by residents as "option 1"). The comments were part of the public comment period rather than a council vote; no formal council action on Hollenbeck was taken at Wednesday's meeting.

"For bike safety, we support option 1, which is buffered bike lanes and the removal of all street parking on Hollenbeck," said Susan Grama, speaking for Sunnyvale Safe Streets. Grama summarized the group's canvassing and crash analysis, saying the group's parking analysis showed low street-parking need and their crash review found Hollenbeck and nearby streets had multiple reported crashes over the past decade.

Brenna Hall, a parent of two children who bike in the neighborhood, described choices families make about letting children ride to school. "I will not let my children ride on Hollenbeck until there's a buffered bike lane with no parked cars as provided in option 1," Hall said. She said her 9-year-old rides to Ellis and that parents are discouraged by narrow, unbuffered lanes.

Charlene Liu, also representing Sunnyvale Safe Streets, presented precedents in Sunnyvale where the council previously removed parking in favor of buffered bike lanes on streets with higher parking usage, arguing that Hollenbeck had even stronger justification. Speakers cited city and police crash data — for example, 14 reported crashes on Hollenbeck and higher counts on comparable nearby corridors — and said national studies indicate reported crashes undercount actual incidents.

Other public commenters included canvassers and residents who said driveways and side-street parking could absorb displaced parked cars and that creating continuous, safer connections for children and commuters would encourage mode shift away from single-occupant driving.

Council members did not act on Hollenbeck at this meeting. Staff and council members noted the matter is an ongoing neighborhood study issue and that formal design and outreach steps are still underway.