‘Irrational’ bike lanes make way for cars in Stouffville

Yorkregion.com
Oct. 23, 2015
By Sandra Bolan

Score one for on-street parking. Zero for cyclists.

Residents on Forsyth Farm Drive convinced council to remove the recently installed on-street parking restrictions and bike lane designation put in by the developer.

Forsyth Farm Drive is in Stouffville’s northeast end, west of Tenth Line and south of Bethesda Road.

The bike lane, from Penndutch Circle to Greenwood Road, was part of the original 2009 subdivision agreement approved by council. However, the restrictions and lane were only recently installed.

Some residents have been living on Forsyth Farms Drive for years and never knew about the impending bike lane and parking restrictions, according to a town report. The street is often used for resident and guest parking, but also by visitors to Harry Bowes Public School.

“It does seem a little irrational,” Ward 5 Councillor Iain Lovatt said when the matter was discussed at council, adding the bike lane doesn’t connect to anything.

The bike lane on Forsyth Farm Drive would link the existing multi-use path on Greenwood Road to the bike route westlery on Forsyth Farm Drive, to Tenth Line and the proposed bike lanes on Tenth Line, according to the staff report.

One Forsyth Farm Drive resident told council cyclists could ride on the sidewalk.