City of Powell River Council has directed staff to remove the northbound cycling lane in front of Mitchell Brothers store in Cranberry.
Council has also given direction for reducing the speed limit in Cranberry from DA Evans Park, through the commercial area past Mitchell Brothers, and to install a crosswalk adjacent to the store.
At the city’s committee of the whole meeting on Tuesday, April 16, director of infrastructure Tor Birtig proposed three options for changing the bike lanes. These included the installation of sharrows, which are shared traffic and bike laneways; removal of the northbound cycling lane in front of Mitchell Brothers; removing the existing cycling lanes and installing narrower drive lanes, cycling lanes and parking lanes on both sides of Manson Avenue. The fourth option was to leave the cycling lane as it now exists, which was the staff recommendation.
At the council meeting on Thursday, May 2, council reviewed a motion brought forward from the committee of the whole meeting, recommending that council direct staff to remove the northbound cycling lane altogether and install “bike lane ends” signage.
At the May 2 meeting, councillor CaroleAnn Leishman said she reached out to the engineer who created the municipal cycling plan regarding his recommendations for safety for the three options presented to council by staff to resolve the parking and cycling issue in front of Mitchell Brothers. She said the engineer did not like any of the options, and that his recommendation was to leave the cycling lane as is and to have people not park in the bike lane.
Leishman said she absolutely understand the concerns of the store owner and of people who are used to parking on that side of the road. She said she did not feel qualified to make a decision when the staff report from the engineering department was advising council against removing the bike lane.
“I feel really uncomfortable making that decision without further investigation, considering we’ve had so many letters and a professional engineer also saying the removal of the bike lane is not the way to go,” said Leishman. “I would like to see us try to find a solution for everyone.”
Councillor Jim Palm said he wanted to thank the owner and staff at Mitchell Brothers for their patience as council worked through the issue.
Palm said there is no easy recommendation, but out of the three options that were before the committee of the whole two weeks previously, removal of the northbound cycling lane makes the most sense.
“It’s the most cost effective and hopefully helps that business thrive,” said Palm. “For the safety of our bike riders and the cost-effective approach, and to enhance the business, I think we’ve arrived at the correct choice.”
Councillor George Doubt said bike lanes are a good idea and positive for the city. He looked at the three recommendations and thought the option for removing the northbound cycling lanes was the most effective and economical.
He said he drove the bike lanes in town to see how they end, and at the other end of Manson Avenue, for example, the bike lane just ends at Kemano Street, near Powell River Academy of Music.
“Option two is the right way to go,” said Doubt. “I don’t think it’s going to create a particular hazard that doesn’t exist anywhere else.”
Councillors Rob Southcott, Cindy Elliott and Maggie Hathaway all said they supported the recommendation to end the cycling lane early.
Hathaway suggested an amendment to the original recommendation, which stated that council direct staff to remove the northbound cycling lane and install “bike lane ends” signage, by adding the 30 kilometres per hour zone from DA Evans Park to past Mitchell Brothers, plus installing a crosswalk.
The amendment carried. Council has directed staff to remove the northbound cycling lane altogether and install “bike lane ends” signage; and that the speed limit be reduced to 30 kilometres per hour from DA Evans Park, through the commercial area past Mitchell Brothers store; and that a crosswalk be installed.
