Richard Layman beat me to it and juxtaposed the Post's article about how bike commuters are looking for bike friendly buildings to rent in with the Post's article about Manor Lake, which includes a reference to the Lake Frank controversy.
I do think the issue with the Lake Manor residents is more about their having an almost private park, even though it is publicly owned and supposed to benefit the entire county, and how by adding a connection to the Rock Creek Trail, more people will begin using the park, which somehow reduces their quality of life, when rather they have been over-benefiting because of their proximity to a publicly owned civic asset that has inadequate access currently.
This isn't perfectly analagous to the Lincoln Park Bike station issue, but the two smell the same.
From the articles:
The new trail would pass about 100 feet behind several houses in Manor Lake, and some residents worry that an influx of bicycle riders and walkers would diminish the peaceful atmosphere.
"The biking trail will bring more bike traffic where it has always been uncrowded and a perfect place for families to walk," Purcell said.
At the same time, other residents welcome an additional avenue for recreation.
"While it's controversial for some of the neighbors, a lot of bikers -- and, of course, kids -- want the trail," Kordell said.
Casey Anderson added in the comments on RPUS.
There is a sort of natural berm that screens the trail from the nearby homes -- and the closest property line is 130 feet from the trail (the actual house is a bit farther) and only three properties come within 200 feet of the trail. The Parks Department expressed a willingness to add some landscaping (bushes or trees) to help further divide the trail from the houses.
And from the other article, which I thought I would criticize for being like so many others on this same subject, but then I read it and it was really, really good, so I won't.
For apartment and condo dwellers, indoor bike storage is often unavailable unless residents are willing to make room for their two-wheelers in their own homes. Although D.C. zoning requires commercial buildings to devote 5 percent of their parking area to bikes, the law doesn't apply to residential buildings.
However, such storage may become more common in the District starting in late 2011, when the city's zoning laws are expected to be updated. According to a draft of the regulations issued last month, new residential buildings with 10 or more dwelling units will be required to provide three long-term bicycle parking spaces per four units and one short-term bike parking space per 20 units, with a minimum of two bike parking spaces in each case.
Montgomery County is also updating its zoning to be more bike-friendly. "We are looking for a more progressive approach to bicycle parking," said Lois Villemaire, a project manager with the county's planning department. She expects the regulations to be changed so that parking spaces for bikes would be a requirement of new multi-family housing and related to the number of dwelling units in the development. "There will also be some design requirements for bike parking in terms of specific types of bike racks," she said, noting that a complete draft of the new zoning is expected to ready for county approval in August 2011.
Councill said the popularity of biking for commuting and recreation cuts across generations and neighborhoods. "Half of the folks I work with are interested in biking and looking for homes close to trails and green space," he said.
Developers of new communities are also responding to increasing numbers of cyclists. "We aim to be bike-friendly by installing bike racks at many of our communities, including Ford's Landing and Old Town Village in Alexandria," said Aakash Thakkar, vice president of development at Bethesda-based developer EYA. The company is in discussions with the District Department of Transportation to add a bike-sharing kiosk at its 237-home Chancellor's Row project planned for the District's Brookland neighborhood. The developer is also installing bike racks at its Arts District development in Hyattsville and intends to create a quarter-mile hiker-biker path on the property to connect with new public trails in the area.
And this is in contradiction to yesterday's post
Now 3.3 percent of city residents bike to work, said Jim Sebastian, who manages the city's bicycle program. "The number of people who bike to work goes up every year," Sebastian said.
Compare Lake Frank to Lake Elkhorn in Columbia - it's part of the extensive local trail network, and an extremely popular place to walk, run, and cycle. Many houses are located quite close to the lake's loop trail, including one group of townhouses whose property line is probably within 10-20' of it. Nobody there seems to be upset about the trails...if the current residents of Lake Manor find the trail so disruptive, they should move out - I'm sure they'll have no trouble finding buyers who view the connection to the trail network as an asset.
Posted by: MarkT | October 06, 2010 at 08:55 AM