Editor’s Note: This post has been updated to correct the location of the first meeting.
Oak Park’s village government announced plans to hold two public hearings to get community feedback on its proposed bike plan.
The listening sessions will give members of the public the opportunity to weigh-in on the village’s plan for becoming more bike friendly through a series of infrastructure projects including new bike lanes, increased e-bike access and new neighborhood greenway signage. The public hearings will take place on Monday, July 14 at the Carroll Center and Wednesday, July 16 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Park District of Oak Park’s Community Recreation Center at 229 Madison St.
The hearings will serve as another opportunity for the village to gather feedback before village trustees must vote on the plan. Meeting attendees will be able to speak for three minutes at a time, with the comments recorded for village trustees to review after the fact.
These sessions follow a spirited debate over the plan by community members at the June 3 village board meeting, which stretched to four and-a-half hours following dozens of public comments.
Many residents opposing this bike plan live on or near Harvard Street, which would have on-street parking on both sides of the street removed in favor of striped bike lanes.
These opponents have questioned why Harvard Street would receive bike lane updates that remove all of its parking, rather than other traffic calming measures. Many of them have also complained about village leaders being unresponsive to them voicing concerns.
Proponents of the current plan have said that Harvard Street is a great choice for new bike lanes because of the access it offers to local parks and schools.