Good afternoon,
The Development Department has been working with developers to provide for bicycle storage spaces for their respective development projects. Recently a proposal for a short-term bicycle rack was reviewed that would not have been acceptable for the current ordinance. The issue involved the location of the bicycle rack in relationship to a wall. The ordinance language provides that racks may be placed near walls, but presents an obstacle for their inclusion on smaller sites. In particular the requirement utilizes the storage space as the demarcation point, as opposed to the physical rack. The result is a minimum 7 foot cleared physical area must be provided for racks near walls (3 feet for the storage space width, and an additional 4 feet for clearance). The Development Director and I are concerned that this may limit some sites from providing racks that are truly functional. In this particular case, the site is seeking a LEED standard that includes alternative transportation goals that seek a specific number of bicycle racks. Facilitating businesses to provide racks that work as the ordinance intends would be a positive. There were other issues, and we believe that this specific instance has been corrected, but there could be problems in the future.
After looking at the ordinance, I have traced some edits that would provide for bicycle storage on outdoor racks with a tweak to the impacts of the required spatial dimensions. I also updated the ordinance to allow for racks attached to walls, which may not have been possible with the old language, although I recall that being an item of discussion. The new text is underlined, the text to be removed has a strikethrough. If you could look this over (it is only three pages) and provide me with some insight it would be greatly appreciated. These edits would be rather easy to implement, as compared to last year's text edits. We are looking to have a solution enacted in the ordinance by the end of Spring. If this is something that shouldn't be changed, please let me know, so we can begin looking at other alternatives or provide better guidance to developers.
Thank you,
John Whitmore, AICP Planner III
[City of Morgantown, WV official website]
City of Morgantown, West Virginia 389 Spruce Street Morgantown, WV 26505 E: jwhitmore@morgantownwv.govmailto:jwhitmore@morgantownwv.gov P: 304-284-7431 www.morgantownwv.gov
