Council to seek more public input on bike lanes
Lethbridge city council voted on Tuesday to have the issue of downtown bike lanes addressed at the May 2 meeting of the Assets and Infrastructure Standing Policy Committee to get more public consultation.
The SPC is a committee of Lethbridge city council.
Administration is also being directed to have a booth set up at the April Community Conversation in the Enmax Centre on April 25.
The motion to defer came after a lengthy discussion on the bike lanes which was initiated by councillor Rajko Dodic in an official business motion.
His original motion called on City administration to quit planning and building any and all bicycle paths and lanes that have not yet been constructed and to provide an estimate of the costs to remove those bike paths and lanes in the downtown business area that have been finished.
One block of the downtown lanes has yet to be completed - on 7 St. S. between 5 and 6 Avenues - which Director of Infrastructure Joel Sanchez told council is scheduled to start in April with a finish time before the end of May.
That section is the last step to finalize, Sanchez said.
The referral motion also directs administration to work with the Downtown BRZ to invite downtown businesses to the SPC meeting and direct administration to provide additional information on the project.
Councillor Jeff Carlson had concerns about the timing because in his opinion there won’t be much new experience with the bike lanes, saying he would want to have a full community conversation after there was a full year to experience the lanes, suggesting November as a potential time to discuss it.
Dodic wasn’t interested in changing the referral motion because no decision has to be made at the May 2 SPC meeting.
“The purpose of the referral motion is we’ve had a lot people that have come here and it’s a council meeting so they cannot speak at it. But we’ve also heard, and I know it’s not a statistically valid poll or anything else like that but you can’t ignore the fact that recently the public in general was asked a question in the Lethbridge Herald ’should the City stop planning for any new bicycle lanes’ and the total vote for the Lethbridge Herald poll - which is a lot, 729 - had
554 in support, 175 against… that’s by a margin of 3-1 so I’m not saying that that poll is correct but by the same token we can’t assume that the folks that are advocating with respect to the bicycles are correct as well.
The purpose of the motion, said Dodic, is to allow those who were in council chambers Tuesday and those in the business community that feel they are directly impacted also have the opportunity to be heard.
The SPC will get additional information with respect to the contract for the work on 7 St. between 5 and 6 Avenues as well as grant consequences in event the City doesn’t proceed with the project and the timing as to when grant consequences might take effect.
The grant he referred to was money from federal Active Transportation
Fund run by Infrastructure Canada that the City received for the project. The fund invests in projects that builds and expands upon networks of bike lanes, pathways, pedestrian bridges and trails in communities across the country.
If council was to vote on the original motion, Dodic said, they would be doing so without sufficient information thus the purpose of the referral to the May 2 SPC.
Councillor Belinda Crowson said she would “very reluctantly support this. I would love to just kill it now but I also understand the need for information. I had all the information I needed when I put my hand up during the capital budget on this so I knew where we were heading on this.”
Councillor Ryan Parker said he would support the resolution.
“Democracy is having an opportunity to have your say and to question where we are, where we are going.”
He noted there are people on both sides of the issue and it’s incumbent upon council to ask questions.
“I think if we’re going to do it let’s do it right. I do believe we might have to give this process a year to go through the growing pains and all that. It did catch me off guard, the bike lanes, but I think a lot of people don’t like change” but people can learn from mistakes, Parker added.
Councillor Jenn Schmidt-Rempel also “very reluctantly” supported it. She said cycling and pedestrians make a better and busier space which equals less unwanted behaviour on the street and gives more eyes on the street.
But she said she supported Dodic’s initiative to do more community consultation and hear back from downtown businesses.
Councillor Nick Paladino noted council went from ripping up lanes downtown to hosting more public consultation so he would support it.
Mayor Blaine Hyggen supported the resolution and having additional engagement.
Dodic said in his closing argument for the motion that it wasn’t done cavalierly.
“I have come to the conclusion we have been banding around the phrase public consultation quite loosely in the past and I’m not convinced the public consultation that has been conducted in the past has always actually arrived at a conclusion that we can actually rely upon so that’s one of the reasons I brought this resolution to ensure that everyone is heard on this, including the downtown businesses who might be most affected,” said Dodic.
“I have not as yet been convinced that the public consultation that occurred before was effective consultation and actually truly reflected what the wishes of folks were.”
He added he wants to see safety issues addressed such as a driver opening a door on 4 Ave. and someone running into it because it’s been narrowed significantly or people entering vehicles and potentially hit by a bicycle.
“This was not a cavalier resolution.” Dodic’s original motion stated that the new bike paths and lanes that were constructed downtown have made it more difficult for people with accessibility issues to access sidewalks adjacent to businesses.
“The construction of the downtown business bicycle lanes has created problems during snow events as well as anecdotally has been almost universally seen as a barrier to the success of downtown businesses,” said the motion which also points out that some paths and lanes in the city are simply separated from roadways by a painted demarcation, citing 13 St. N. as an example.
Other lanes have a dedicated street shared with vehicles with roundabouts at reduced speeds, says the motion, citing 7 Ave. S.