CAMARILLO : Vote Delayed on Removing Bike Lane

The Camarillo City Council postponed a decision Wednesday on whether to remove new bike lanes from Temple Avenue and to allow cars to park there instead.

The lanes, installed three months ago at a cost of $6,000, became a problem after soccer and softball players at a nearby park complained of insufficient parking, city officials said. Parents dropping off or picking up students at a nearby school also used the street for parking, officials of the Pleasant Valley School District told the city.

Because parking is prohibited in designated bicycle lanes, city staff members and the council’s Transportation Committee have recommended that the lanes be replaced with signs designating Temple Avenue as a bicycle route instead of a bicycle lane.

Bike routes have no striped right of way, and parking is permitted. The only thing that distinguishes a bike route from a regular street is a sign designating the street as a preferred bikeway, a condition Mayor Charlotte Craven said is insufficient for well-traveled Temple Avenue.

Daniel Greeley, the city’s director of engineering, said bicycle lanes offer more protection to cyclists than bike routes, but bike routes still protect riders because the signs act as cautions to motorists.

“It increases the motorists’ awareness and cautiousness,” Greeley said.

Temple Avenue is the latest link in the city’s ambitious plan to establish a citywide system of bicycle lanes and routes over the next several years.

The council split 2 to 2 on the proposal to downgrade the bicycle lanes. In a compromise, Councilman Mike Morgan, an avid ball player, suggested that the council narrow the two northbound lanes of Temple Avenue to one to allow for both parking and bicycle lanes. Craven and Councilman David Smith refused to vote for any parking along Temple.

The council will reconsider a proposal to alter the bicycle lanes Sept. 12.