COSTA MESA : Bike Path Hits Snag as Parking Wins Out

The City Council agreed this week to allow parking on the south side of Baker Street, while the city considers other ways to build the bicycle path they had planned to put in alongside the road.

After hearing dozens of residents complain that the council’s decision to eliminate street parking there would flood the neighborhood with parked cars, the council rescinded its vote and asked city staff to come up with other ways to build the bike path.

Parking now will be allowed on the south side of Baker Street between College Avenue and McClintock Way.

For installation of a bicycle lane, engineers recommended that either the parking be eliminated, the street be widened or that the center left-turn lanes be dismantled. City staff had decided against getting rid of the left-turn lanes because the street carries 25,000 to 30,000 cars a day, making the turning cars an obstacle to traffic.

Staff members also had decided that widening the street would be too expensive and would not necessarily improve traffic flow.

Removing the street parking would have reduced the number of accidents there and allowed for the bike path to connect with other paths on Baker Street, according to a staff memo.

But when residents who live near Baker Street heard that the city would no longer allow parking there, they came out in force to oppose the decision. They feared an onslaught of cars from apartment complexes on Baker Street, and said the decision would force people to cross in the middle of the street to get to their cars.

“I do believe this is a terribly dangerous street to be parking on,” said Mayor Mary Hornbuckle, before she voted with other council members to rescind the earlier vote. “I have qualms every time I drive down there and bicycle traffic does need to be accommodated.”

City staff will now study how and where to build a bicycle path that will connect with existing paths without making bicyclists go out of their way. The original recommendation was part of the city’s Master Plan of Bikeways.