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HomeMy WebLinkAboutResponse To Constituent Letter - Mail Packet - 1/29/2019 - Response Letter From Mayor Wade Troxell To Natural Resources Advisory Board Re: Pilot Program For E-Bikes On TrailsMayor City Hall 300 LaPorte Ave. PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 970.416.2154 970.224.6107 - fax fcgov.com January 24, 2019 Natural Resources Advisory Board c/o Nancy DuTeau, Chair PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 Dear Ms. DuTeau and Board Members: On behalf of City Council, thank you for providing us the January 17, 2019 memorandum regarding “Pilot Program for E-Bikes on Trails.” We appreciate you sharing your thoughts on this important topic, as detailed in your memo. Thank you for outlining why the Board “strongly supports” this pilot. City Council currently has this item listed on the February 12 City Council Work Session agenda. We encourage you to remain involved in the conversations and review the proceedings of that day, if you wish. We sincerely appreciate your comments. Thank you again for writing. Best Regards, Wade Troxell Mayor /sek Cc: City Council Members Darin Atteberry, City Manager Katy McLaren, Interim Senior Manager, Environmental Sustainability Attachment Environmental Services 222 Laporte Avenue Fort Collins, CO 80521 970.221-6600 fcgov.com MEMORANDUM NATURAL RESOURCES ADVISORY BOARD DATE: January 17, 2019 TO: Mayor and City Council Members FROM: Nancy DuTeau, Chair, Natural Resources Advisory Board SUBJECT: Pilot Program for E-bikes on Trails Dear Mayor and Council Members, The Natural Resources Advisory Board (hereafter NRAB) is strongly supportive of the pilot project to allow the use of both Class 1 and Class 2 electric-assist bicycles on the Fort Collins paved trail system. We believe that this will have myriad benefits to a broad range of people in our community. Allowing electric-assist bicycles on trails for all users (current law allows only people with disabilities to use these bikes on our paved trails) will increase accessibility for transportation and recreation activities for a wider range of ages and physical ability. Our paved trail system is a vital component of our multi-modal transportation infrastructure that provides safe, efficient means to travel around the city for recreational, commuting, or other purposes. Allowing electric-assist bicycles on our paved trails is a piece of the puzzle to help meet City goals such as the Climate Action Plan by reducing motor vehicle use, continuing to encourage a healthy community through more physical outdoor activity, and increasing accessibility to our trail amenities for seniors and less physically-capable citizens. The NRAB is embracing electric-assist bicycles and hopes they will further incentivize bicycle commuting, thereby reducing emissions and traffic congestion. This objective will become more important as the city grows and more people that work here are forced into neighboring communities due to increases in cost of living. Allowing electric-assist bicycles on our paved trails will help reduce barriers to cycling such as distance, age, ability, and the increase in housing prices that pushes people further away from their jobs, city amenities, services, and the larger community. Electric-assist bikes are emissions-free, low impact, and silent. We believe allowing them on our paved trails will encourage more people to cycle and enjoy our city’s amenities while reducing the environmental impacts associated with travel. Electric-assist bicycles could play an important role in the City’s development of sustainable transport systems. As our city and the surrounding region grow in density there are increased demands on our public amenities such as the paved trail network. We are starting to experience capacity-related issues especially on our older and narrower paved trails. The narrower trails create safety concerns given the diversity of users and the high popularity. We see value in updating our existing trail system and would like to see a sustained funding mechanism in place for future improvements to this public amenity. The safety concerns regarding the use of electric-assist bicycles on our paved trails are valid and it is thus essential that robust educational outreach be 2 designed and implemented that stresses common courtesy to other trail users during this pilot program. Given our region’s growth, Fort Collins is increasingly connecting our paved trails with other municipalities’ trails making it more important to manage the trails consistently across jurisdictions to minimize user confusion while maximizing consistent behavior and expectations. Both Loveland and Larimer County allow Class 1 and Class 2 electric-assist bicycles on their paved trails, as do many other municipalities across Colorado, and the NRAB agrees Fort Collins should move forward with a trial period to assess suitability for our community. Respectfully submitted, Nancy DuTeau, Chair cc: Darin Atteberry, Katy McLaren