The main topic for the second quarterly meeting of the Beaverdale Neighborhood Association on Tuesday, May 5, was a request from parents at Moore Elementary School to protect the bike lanes along Urbandale Avenue by banning parking from 34th Street to Merle Hay Road.

Jeff Wiggins from the city’s Traffic and Transportation Department provided information to the attendees. Wiggins said Urbandale Avenue averages about 100 bicycles a day, which is twice as much as other city streets with high bicycle traffic, such as Ingersoll Avenue. He said there have been crashes with serious injuries in the past decade along Urbandale Avenue. Two of them involved bicycles, one a pedestrian and the fourth a crash between two motor vehicles.

Wiggins said Urbandale Avenue was striped for bike lanes in 2010. He called the stretch a BLIP, a Bike Lane with Intermittent Parking. He called it “an idea whose time has come and gone” because it forces cyclists out into moving traffic when they encounter a parked vehicle in the bike lane. He said Urbandale Avenue is the final remaining BLIP street in the city.

Wiggins said spot checks show one or two parked vehicles every quarter mile to third of a mile along the stretch. If parking is banned, there are alternate places to park. Of the 115 houses along Urbandale, only six do not have garages. All have driveways. Parking is available on the north-south side streets. Wiggins said more than half live within 125 feet of a side street and 85% live within 200 feet of side-street parking.

Parent Kimberly Stone is part of a group of parents who have created a “bike bus” for parents and kids to ride to and from Moore Elementary School on Douglas Avenue. She and other parents said biking promotes health, reduces traffic congestion (particularly at drop-off and pickup times at school), is good for business and good for the environment. But she said cyclists of all ages, not just children, need the safety of dedicated bike lanes along Urbandale Avenue.

The Beaverdale Neighborhood Association is collecting input from neighbors about the bike lane parking ban. Click here to provide your input.

After collecting neighbors’ input, the BNA could make a recommendation to the city. At that point, it would be up to traffic engineers to make a recommendation to the city council.

In other meeting news:

• BNA Treasurer Jesse Coleman reported the association is in strong financial position and that fundraising for the July Beaverdale Bluegrass Festival is going well.
• Beautification Committee chair Nancy Dunbar said plants will be picked up on Friday, May 16th, for planting in beds near neighborhood parks. She said a Memorial Tree Walk along the Urbandale Avenue median will be held at 2:00 pm, Sunday, May 24th
• BNA president Craig VandeVenter encouraged residents to sign up to volunteer at the MEGAScrub event on Saturday, May 17th. Volunteers help direct traffic through the River Place parking lot to dump items into city dumpsters. Volunteers can sign up here.
• BNA Engagement Committee chair Kevin Moser gave details on the Beaverdale Big Event, held May 11-30. There are several donation drives and two clean-up efforts, one at Moore School and the other at Franklin Avenue Library. Details at the Big Event website.
• Josh Nelson from the BNA Events Committee reported strong turnout for the Easter Egg Hunt. He called it, “Hours of setup for five minutes of action!” Organizers gave out more prizes than ever before.
• Two volunteers from the Beaverdale Farmers Market reported the market begins June 2 and runs every Tuesday through September 15th in the parking lot of the Franklin Events Center. Volunteers are needed for set up and tear down each Tuesday. Details here.