City Council Recap: Council, Bike Advocates, Residents Clash Over Plan to Replace Parking With Bike Lane

The City Council last night tabled a proposal to stripe in a Class 2 bike lane on one side of Camino Colegio between Southwest Boulevard and East Cotati Avenue after the controversial plan drew 12 public speakers to City Hall and a 61-signature petition.

The crux of the debate centered around a proposal from city engineers to remove car parking from the west side of the street to accommodate the new bike lane, which is called for in Rohnert Park’s Bicycle Master Plan.

Engineers appealed to the council, citing that removal of parking to make room for bike lanes was not only something the city already OK’d, but that in fact, it would make the street safer.

“There is a gap in what is currently the longest north-south bike route through the center of the city; we’re following a plan that the city laid out over a decade ago,” said Deputy City Engineer Pat Barnes. “We have met with the Bicycle Advisory Committee and carefully considered whether or not to put a Class 2 bike lane on this road.”

“I am sure it will make this road safer, and that’s why I’m giving you the strong recommendation that you approve this bike lane tonight,” Barnes said.

Engineers said that slimming the road from two lanes to one on the west side of Camino Colegio would  improve visibility for oncoming motorists, encourage drivers to slow down on the 25 mph street and reduce potential vehicle accidents caused from drivers stepping out directly into traffic after exiting their cars.

But for the majority speakers who came forth, that was a hard sell. Many said they thought crossing the two-way street to get to their house would be less safe, because pedestrians wouldn’t necessarily walk to the corner to cross in the crosswalk, and at night it might be hard to see them. A few people also said they were concerned their property values would go down if parking in close proximity to their house was limited.

"Everyone wants to be able to park in front of their house," Barnes said. "We’d be taking that away from some people."

“Everyone’s talking about safety, safety, safety — well, it doesn’t seem very safe to me,” said Rohnert Park resident Chris Wyman, who lives on Camino Colegio. “People will be doing illegal U-turns because that’s the only way to park on the east side. You don’t know what the safety issues are going to be … it’s dark on that street. You’re going to have a problem with people who can’t park directly in front of their house.”

“I’m torn,” said Carlos Pena, a Sonoma State Athletics Department leader who lives on Camino Colegio and who said he signed the petition. “I’m a big component of safety, and after having a daughter who was killed in a car accident … I believe we need to look further into this study, not just push it through.”

Barnes acknowledged that the project was rushed.

“It would be nice to do more community outreach on this; it was a quick design and it’s currently out to bid,” Barnes said. “This is a tough sell — people will be inconvenienced.”

Creighton Bell, a member of the Bicycle Advisory Commission, a five-member board appointed by the City Council who approved the project unanimously, and Gary Helfrich, executive director of the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition, also spoke during public comments.

“The issue before you tonight is one of the hardest ones we come up against public parking versus parking safety,” Helfrich said. “In this case, the city really has a unique opportunity that would improve public safety with very little cost.”

Helfrich cited a repaving project that is currently underway on Camino Colegio.

The paving project is already going on, so to stripe in bike lanes would be of very little cost to the city, he said.  

“The bike lanes will narrow down the street and slow down traffic,” Helfrich added. “The safety is for more than bicyclists, it’s for all users.”

Bell said he and the commission made the decision to approve the project because it was called for in the bike master plan.

“One of the main things is that it’s a critical north-south route, and we have so few of those in the city,” Bell said.

City officials were unclear about how many people actually used local bike lanes, and how many traffic, pedestrian or cyclist accidents there had been on the stretch, but some speakers said they still would not bike on the street because drivers go way too fast.

"Today I was riding on that section of street, which not the most pleasant to do, and there were several bicyclists and they were riding on the sidewalk," Bell said. "I think if there were bike lanes bicyclists would use them and pedestrians wouldn’t have to compete with the cyclists." 

“I’ve lived [on Circle Drive] for 18 years, and I’ve seen my share of accidents with both bicycles and cars,” said Rohnert Park resident Scott Martino. “That street has turned into almost a freeway — cars flat out fly down that road. You want them to slow down? Put in stop signs.”

Councilmembers appeared to be split two and two on the issue, though a final vote for the project never came to fruition. Vice Mayor Jake Mackenzie was out of town on a family emergency. After some heated discussion, Mayor Gina Belforte made a motion to look further into the project, to get more community input and find out what it would take to get the bike lane on the east side of the street instead.

“I totally understand how people feel, I wouldn’t want to lose my parking either,” said councilmember Pam Stafford said.

Stafford said that she favored the bike lane, and agreed that she wanted city planners to look further into it.

“I’m torn at this point,” said councilmember Amy Ahanotu.

“This plan is something that was hashed out years ago with the Bicycle Master Plan,” he said. “These issues were things that should have been raised at that time. If it’s already in the plan, and we’re not going to do this at this time, then why do we have it in the plan.”

“Losing parking is a tough call,” Ahanotu added.

Councilmember Joe Callinan said he was completely against people losing parking for a bike lane.

“I’ll be voting against this,” he said, noting that although the city approved a similar bike lane on Country Club Drive, the side of the street where parking was removed was not bordered by houses that used streetside parking.

“In my opinion it’s two totally different streets,” Callinan said, because Country Club has mobile homes on one side separated by a fence.

“Plans are meant to be broken,” Callinan said.

Belforte said she’s in favor of striping in a bike lane, but she wanted to look further into the impact on local residents and safety.

The council last night also adopted for Rohnert Park property owners, OK'd creating a California Employer's Retiree Benefit Trust and authorized a plan to clean up the Copeland Creek path between Southwest Boulevard and East Cotati Avenue, and  Seed Farm Drive and Commerce Boulevard.

They also voted 3-1 (Callinan no) to adopt the California Building Standards Code (Cal Green) that sets forth so called green building requirements within the city for all new residential and non-residential construction.

Lastly, the council gave the final OK on a plan for Season's Pizzeria Sports Bar and Grill.

Editor's note: In an effort to make happenings at Rohnert Park City Council meetings more digestible and concise for the public, Rohnert Park Patch has launched a our new coverage plan. Each Monday, we will give you an exhausted run-down of the council agenda — what they plan to vote on and discuss every other Tuesday. Our goal is to engage Rohnert Park residents in the decisions made for the public at large, by our elected officials.

We're all busy; sometimes too busy to listen to an hours-long meeting. Check back with Rohnert Park Patch Wednesday for a guide to catch you up on what you may have missed — we'll fill you in!