HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-17-2018 ATC - Anholm - McBrideMay 15, 2018
Dear ATC members,
MEETING:4aby,
ITEM NO.:`
MAY I' (,�i?I
SLD CITY CLERK
Bike SLO County is supportive of any effort that effectively increases safety and encourages
more people to bike or walk instead of driving. As most of you are aware, the most effective
way to increase bicycle ridership is to have separated and dedicated bike facilities. In regards to
the Anholm neighborhood, discussions and meetings over the past two and a half years have
resulted in three alternatives that meet the City Council's adopted resolution to increase
ridership. As presented in the ATC staff report those options that Bike SLO County can support
are:
* Option 1: bike boulevard similar to Morro Street
* Option 3: Protected cycle track referred to as the "preferred alternative"
* or Option 4: One-way couplets with protected bike lanes.
Each option has trade-offs and the neighborhood's opinion should be considered when making
the choice. But the choice should be a balance of both the whole community's needs and the
neighborhood's concerns. Most importantly, whichever option is selected, it should not
abandon the City's major city goals nor divert from the City's guiding and planning documents.
Bike SLO County does not support options of JUST traffic calming. Traffic calming measures fail
to meet the goals that we set collectively as a community. Designating traffic calming as a
"complete street" or "bikeway" fails to consider bicycles as roadway users and are, therefore,
incomplete.
When listening to comments during the latest workshop, it was apparent that at every table the
neighborhood and community participants could not find consensus. As a result, little progress
was made in developing ideas that truly meet the goals for the Anholm Bikeway Plan and the
community. Most neighborhood residents at the meeting were simply not willing to consider
any option that would increase or change traffic flows or remove parking from the street they
lived on. The residents and community members that did want to work collectively to find a
solution had their ideas immediately shot down without consideration or critically thinking
through the ideas. The tone was civil at the meeting, but the posts and tone on social media
and opinions written in the newspaper as well as many of the resulting comments have been
disturbingly uncivil. Civility goes beyond how you act in person -- it extends to what one says on
all platforms.
860 Pacific St, Suite 105, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 1 bikeslocounty.org/
The main take away from the workshop was that many neighborhood residents were
concerned that the bike boulevard approach with diverters would increase traffic on Chorro
and side streets. Diverters and traffic calming along Chorro seems to have the potential to shift
traffic to Santa Rosa and mitigate the increases in traffic within the neighborhood, but again
many residents are resistant to this approach. The solution that reemerged during the meeting
was the one-way couplet. The one-way couplet concept has the potential to balance traffic flow
through the neighborhood and limit the amount of parking removed compared to the
"preferred alternative." Again, Bike SLO County is supportive of any of the three options with
respect to the overall city-wide objectives, but advocate priority consideration of the one-way
couplet concept with protected bike lanes as it may provide the easiest adjustment for the
neighborhood to accept.
There seems to be a heightened sense of fear surrounding these sorts of changes because for
the past century many cities have, by our actions, indicated that streets are meant for cars only.
Many of us have become reliant on vehicles and, in the process, forgotten the bike. Luckily, we
have examples in other cities that have implemented similar projects with great results for
people who walk, bike and drive cars. Bike SLO County is receptive to the concerns about loss of
parking or increased vehicle traffic on neighborhood streets and to maintaining a certain
neighborhood quality. Although met with similar resistance initially, these sorts of projects tend
to add to the quality of the neighborhood and ultimately be supported by a majority of the
residents after they are in place.
Thank you for your hard work on this issue,
Chris McBride
Board President, Bike SLO County
860 Pacific St, Suite 105, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 1 bikeslocounty.org/