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Bicycle Parking Ordinance — NEW DATE!

Submitted by BillC on Thu, 01/27/2005 - 08:16.

Please note: the Zoning Committee meeting previously posted as Feb. 23 is now scheduled for Wed., March 2, at 4:30 PM.

The City’s Zoning Committee deferred action on the proposed parking ordinance for one month in their Wednesday, Jan. 26 meeting. Many members expressed strong support for an ordinance (one said he’d received almost 50 e-mails in support), but four members seriously questioned issues that were raised by REBIC, the regional real estate and developers' coalition.

If we want to ensure that cycling becomes a workable and widely-available transportation alternative in Charlotte, we must do some homework before their next meeting on March 2. We need your help to do it! If you know of information responding to the questions below, please leave a pointer in a comment to this article! (You need not log in to do so.) If you can, send it directly to the Zoning Committee, too.

Before the next Zoning Committee meeting, we must ensure each member receives factual answers to the following questions:

Which other cities have ordinances with similar requirements for protected long-term parking or covered short-term parking?
Is there any evidence that these measures actually increase the use of bicycle transportation?
Show us pictures of economical and non-invasive long-term bicycle parking, especially in parking garages and building interiors.
What are the real costs (dollars, floor space, and administration) of protected long-term bicycle parking?
Why should bicycles get protected parking when motorcycles and cars don’t?
Won’t employers be sued if bicycles are stolen or damaged in the supposed “secure” long-term facilities? (At least two Committee members are attorneys, and they regard this as a significant problem.)

Finally, one friendly question: the proposed ordinance only impacts new projects, major restructuring, or substantial changes in use. What sort of incentives could an Ordinance offer existing properties to implement the kind of facilities the proposed Ordinance requires?

It looks like the Committee will approve some Bicycle Parking Ordinance next month. But … only very convincing answers to all these questions can preserve the currently-proposed requirements for protected long-term parking and some covered short-term parking. We also need the same facts for City Council, which will have the final say, probably at their meeting of March 21.

Links to more information:

Please leave any answers you may have by clicking “add new comment” below.

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which other cities?

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 02/21/2005 - 08:00.

Suggest you baseline Portland, Oregan. Link the bike parking to light rail. City council members went to Portland several years back to check out light rail, so if Portland has a bike parking ordinance there should also be some sweet pics of racks at light rail stations etc. Purpose of such a citation is to remind council members of the integrated transportation plan that they have seen in Portland.

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Which other cities have ordinances with similar requirements for

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 02/08/2005 - 10:11.

Madison, Wis has a six-page guide to rack selection.

Santa Cruz, CA has an ordinance for short-term bicycling parking.

Palo Alto, CA has a bicycle ordinance.

Please visit bicyclinginfo.org for more information regarding the above.

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Why Bikes Need Shelter

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 02/08/2005 - 10:08.

This is in direct quote from bicyclinginfo.org - "1.5 million bikes are stolen in the U.S. The fear of bicycle theft is recognized as a significant deterrant to bicycle use.

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why bikes need shelter

Submitted by jcock on Tue, 02/01/2005 - 09:36.

Modern bikes are designed with easily removeable parts, including seats and wheels, not to mention lights, bags, etc. Cars and motorcycles don't have such features.

Motorcycles are also subject to the same weather issues that bicycles would be, namely rain and sun (sun can be extremely damaging to plastic seats, etc.).

However, what this discussion fails to acknowledge is that all modes of transport are not created equal nor should they be. To say that someone who arrives on foot or on transit or by bike or by car should have all of the same privileges does not acknowledge that certain modes have much, much higher costs and externalities to the individual, to businesses and to the public. Just from a business perspective, it costs $1000 per space to construct surface parking, not to mention land costs, maintenance costs, and lost revenue from potentially developable land, etc. Decked parking is somewhere on the order of $12-15K per space to construct. Not to mention that parked cars get more square footage (on the order of 2-3 times) the square footage that the actual employee gets. Then there there are the health costs to businesses and the public due to car induced obesity, etc. The public externalities list begins from there and goes on and on.

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why bikes deserve shelter

Submitted by Tab on Fri, 01/28/2005 - 12:47.

i've never looked carefully at a motorcycle, but at least on cars, all moving parts are protected by the shell of the car. bicycles, however, are exposed, and all the moving parts of the drive system can rust when exposed to the elements for prolonged times.
also, it would seem to me that bikes are a heck of a lot easier to steal than cars. while we don't typically mind parking our cars on the street, most of us would cringe at the idea of leaving our bikes on the street all day, and we'd probably spend a quite a lot of time peeking out through windows to check on them. my point is that car parking generally SEEMS more secure than bike parking, just because cars are more easily secured than bikes. so to provide the motorist and the bike commuter with the same degree of security (perceived and real), the bike parking needs to be in a visibly more secure location, like inside a protected structure.
not to mention how miserable it is to sit on a wet bike seat.
on a more personal note, i do not have access to covered bike parking during the day. as a result, i do not ride my bike when rain is predicted. not because i don't like riding in the rain, but because i don't like the idea of my bike sitting in the rain all day.

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