San Clemente's extensive community outreach for the Bicycle & Pedestrian Master Plan involved 86 general plan meetings. The city adopted the 230-page master plan in February 2014. The plan was under the direction of project manager Cliff Jones, associate city planner, and the general plan project manager, Jeff Hook, principal city planner. The prime consultant was KTU+A Planning + Landscape Architecture of San Diego, John Eric Holloway, ASLA, LEED Green Associate, LCI, project manager.

San Clemente, Calif. (pop. 63,522) is in southern Orange County, about a 20-minute ride south of Laguna Beach, and about an hour north or San Diego. This being the 40th anniversary of the resignation of President Richard Nixon, you'll recall his vacation retreat, the Western White House, was in San Clemente overlooking the area's premier surfing beach. Nixon retired to the San Clemente home, but sold it in 1980.

At a panel discussion sponsored by the APA Orange County chapter, Cliff Jones, project manager for the San Clemente bicycle and pedestrian master plan, related the extensive community involvement and support that went into its preparation.

The genesis of the plan began in spring 2010, when local advocacy group PEDal conducted a count of bicyclists and pedestrians on all major city roadways and the public beach trail. This is a surfside city with 300 sunny days a year, and people like to get out and be active.

The count documented hundreds of people traveling hourly by nonmotorized means, especially along the Pacific Coast Bike Route, which winds through the city.

City leaders understood multimodal transportation and a complete streets approach was the more sustainable and efficient way to move people. Moreover, leaders wanted to address traffic jams in school zones, and encourage more children and their parents to safely walk and bicycle to school.

In January, 2012, San Clemente's City Council unanimously approved Orange County's first Complete
Streets Resolution.

The plan includes 19 goals, 103 policies and 69 implementation measures. Its primary goal is comprehensive, multimodal transportation that provides mobility and access for all modes of travel. The secondary goal is reducing dependence on single-occupant motor vehicles. The plan would add approximately 40 miles of new bikeways and multiple pedestrian pathways.

A city survey in 2009 revealed 90 percent of residents support a pedestrian-friendly town that encourages walking and biking; 85 percent want to preserve the city's village character; 82 percent want environmental protection policies; 80 percent want improved traffic flow; and 78% desire improved access to alternative transportation.

The San Clemente planning division will receive an Award of Merit from the California chapter of the American Planning Association in the category of transportation planning for the master plan, the only city in Orange County to receive an APA award at the state level this year. The award will be present at the American Planning Association California Conference, Sept. 16, 2014, which will be attended by representatives of California's 482 municipalities and 58 counties.

Brenda Miller, San Clemente resident, Complete Streets advocate and founder of PEDal, will also receive a Merit Award in the planning advocate category from the California APA chapter for her continued transportation planning efforts and involvement in the preparation of the Centennial General Plan – Mobility and Complete Streets Element and the Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan.