To give as many people a chance to comment as possible, the City of Courtenay will hold an open house on proposed bike lanes for Fitzgerald Avenue.

City staff is proposing the creation of offset bike lanes on Fitzgerald Avenue between Second Street and 26th Street. No date has been set for the open house, but councillors decided last week that specific notification will be given to residents who live along Fitzgerald Avenue.

A staff report recommending offset bike lanes on both sides of Fitzgerald Avenue between Second Street and 26th Street was presented to council in February. At that time, council passed a resolution to refer the proposal to the Comox Valley Cycling Task Force (CVCTF) for comment.

The CVCTF recommended that city staff hold an inclusionary public meeting or open house to discuss the proposal and that the meeting be open to all members of the public, according to the report by environmental planner Nancy Hofer and Peter Crawford, the city's director of planning services.

"I can tell you ... the sentiment there was that they wanted to see an all-encompassing consultation," noted Coun. Ronna-Rae Leonard, who chairs the task force. "There was not an interest in seeing a separate cycling meeting that would start to create division between the community; they want to build a common understanding and work toward common solutions."

Councillors were happy to go to the public with the proposal.

"Cycling paths, bike lanes, etc. are one of these issues that appears straightforward, appears clear, but when you start looking at it, at the second-order issues, it's a complex issue .... and the right answer, the best answer is not always readily apparent," said Coun. Jon Ambler. "So the notion of going to the public to get a greater, broader view of this is exactly what we need to be doing."

Coun. Larry Jangula asked if there has been a meeting with the people living on Fitzgerald Avenue, who have raised a number of concerns with council, and he urged council to ensure their voices were heard.

"These people have been very involved from the beginning and very concerned, and they had requested that they have a meeting with our staff, and I don't think that's happened," he said. "I think they need to be included in this."

Coun. Murray Presley, who has an office on Fitzgerald Avenue, had some concerns, particularly after the city has taken other steps over the years to narrow the street, such as putting in a two-way left-turn lane in the centre of the road and change the angle parking to parallel parking.

"I think getting the public input that you're asking for is a really good idea, but the residents on Fitzgerald Avenue I think could be contacted as a separate interest group," he said, noting their day-to-day lives are affected.

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