The Town of Newmarket has agreed to hold off on installing bike lanes on Clearmeadow Boulevard after residents raised concerns that the lanes would eliminate the on-street parking on which they rely.
Mayor John Taylor confirmed that a report and public hearing on the project will be coming before council in the near future.
"The money for the bike lanes is still part of the budget, but the money can't be spent until we receive that report and all the residents have an opportunity to have their say," said Taylor.
Newmarket couple Dave Coelho and Carolina Begg have been spearheading efforts to stop the bike lanes after the town sent out a notice on Dec. 2 about the project.
"In the letter, in a section about the bike lanes, it said that it would remove all temporary street parking," said Coelho. "So we immediately contacted our town councillor and the mayor."
The couple began circulating a petition among their neighbours, as well as online. The digital petition has 245 signatures as of Monday, Dec. 14.
"Based on the feedback, the main opposition is not to the bike lanes themselves, but to the loss of on-street parking. People use street parking for family and friends to come visit them," said Coelho.
"With the way they are building homes now, there is already very little driveway space, so a lot of people are concerned that there will be no parking available when people come over."
Coelho said no one at the town took the views and concerns of the neighbourhood into account before authorizing the project.
"It seems like they were saying, 'we are going ahead with this, and we are telling you now, FYI,'" he said.
However, the bike lanes on Clearmeadow are included in Newmarket's Active Transportation Implementation Plan, which was adopted in July 2018 and underwent public consultation before being completed.
Nonetheless, after contacting town councillors and the mayor, it was agreed that residents would get another chance to voice their concerns about the project before any work can be done.
No date has been set for when the report on the bike lanes will come before council.
