City council will gather more information before making any decision on the future of bike lanes. Council chambers were packed at the march 12 meeting as a motion to discontinue design and construction of all bike lanes downtown was on the table.
Councillor Rajko Dodic brought forward the motion, which also included looking into the cost to remove all bike lane infrastructure downtown and gathering public input at a committee meeting.
After discussion, council decided to refer the motion to the assets and infrastructure standing policy committee on May 2. Bike lanes will also be a topic at the next community conversations event.
Since being installed, the 7th St bike lanes have been slightly altered to address accessibility and snow removal concerns. City staff told council some concrete blocks along the lanes have been removed to improve access, while still providing a separate bike path.
Staff said they were unprepared for snow removal on the bike lanes this year but have made plans to improve snow and ice control.
Dodic said one of the main motivators of bringing the motion to council was his perceived lack of public consultation before bike lanes were installed downtown. Though council chambers were packed during the meeting, residents are not permitted to speak on issues at council meeting. Any member of the public can speak at an SPC meeting.
“The council, you get the decision right now but there was information that was lacking,” Dodic said after the meeting. “During the questioning, it became apparent that there was some information that I hadn’t had, which I had prior to the council – I probably would have incorporated it into the council motion and it likely would have been referred to SPC in any event.”
Dodic cited a poll from the Lethbridge Herald, where 550 of 720 people were in favour of stopping planning bike lanes, as part of his desire for more consultation. “It tells me there needs to be a little bit more chat with the community. So you have got the bicycle riders who are very passionate; you have got the downtown businesses that are passionate and you have got the general public, the people who shop downtown and go downtown in vehicles may have opposing and diverse views,” he said.
“At an SPC, everyone that was in council chambers today can show up. Notification is going to be given to every business owner in the area.” Dodic added he would have supported the motion as he drafted it, without referring to an SPC.
He said information about a section of bike lane downtown that is set for construction next month was new to him at the meeting and he did not ask administration for the information before drafting the motion.
“What I did ask was what the granting requirements were if you sort of reverse engineer the project and that information I didn’t have. I actually thought that the downtown had already been completed but I was concerned once they told me something had been tendered out,” he said. “That information made it even clearer to me that it needed to be referred to the assets and infrastructure SPC.”