VIDEO: New bike lane under fire over loss of on-street parking

A gain for Kelowna's bike-lane network means a loss of on-street parking.

And businesses along Leckie Rd. say it's too high a price to pay.

The bike lane on Leckie will complete a vital link between the Mission Greenway and the Okanagan Rail Trail.

But for Great Way Martial Arts, there's a real fear of losing vital customers.

"We want bike lanes. We encourage bike lanes," said Great Way owner James Heinrich. "We just would also like the city and our landlord as well to think about how we're going to continue operating as service-oriented businesses."

Along with Great Way, there are also three dance schools in the immediate area.

"We just want to make sure there's enough parking and drop-off, pick-up area."

"It's just having the room to have that flow," said Co-owner Esmerelda Heinrich.

The Heinrichs started a petition demanding that the limited parking on Leckie Rd. be maintained.

There have already been discussions between the businesses and the city on the topic and the project has been adjusted.

At this point, there's an anticipated loss of 9 parking spots.

And the manager of transportation engineering at the City of Kelowna remains enthusiastic about the plans.

"You're going to be able to ride from downtown, out to the Rail Trail, come through the Leckie Active Transportation Corridor, back down the Mission Greenway and make that loop along the waterfront all the way back downtown again," said Gordon Foy.

What's planned is a dedicated bike lane to avoid conflicts with vehicles and pedestrians.

"To link those two big, important regional facilities together with a connection that you're separated from traffic," said Foy, "That's comfortable for riders of all ages and abilities."

The Heinrichs remain very concerned, but they at least credit the city for listening to them.

"The last time we spoke to them, which was end of last week, they said they were going to go back and look and see how many more spots they can try to give us back."

Making bike lanes that are strictly for bikes is considered "best practices", these days.

"We're thinking about future-proofing these designs," explained Foy.

And the future is expected to include more people on bikes.

"A lot of us travel by car right now," he said.

"But there's lots of people in the city that already travel by bike and that trend is going to go shift even further into the future."

That all sounds great to the Heinrichs, but they're more concerned about the here and now, and parking is important.

"It's very important," said Esmerelda.

"We're already maxed out," said James. "People are parking in yellow spots, they're parking in front of fire hydrants."

So discussions continue, but the project is going ahead.

It's expected to be open to cyclists by the fall.