Cyclist group pushes for small fixes to IKEA development

A COMMUTER-CYCLIST lobby group wants to change two tiny sections of the massive IKEA pro­ject city council approved in March.

Bike to the Future has appealed a pair of zoning provisions contained in the Tuxedo Yards Redevelopment, a $400-million project that may even­tually see 1.5 square million feet of commercial space rise on what's now industrial land alongside Sterling Lyon Parkway west of Kenaston Boulevard.

On March 25, council voted 14-2 in favour of the complex proposal, which includes an amendment to the city's long-term planning blueprint, zoning variances, land subdivisions, a street closing and a $26.5-million develop­ment agreement with Winnipeg's Fair­weather Properties and IKEA Canada.

While Bike to the Future does not op­pose the project, the group wants to see more bicycle-parking spaces located at the 350,000-square-foot IKEA store that will anchor the project and also wants to amend the site design to reduce what it claims is a high potential for colli­sions between cars and bicycles where the existing bike-and-pedestrian trail alongside Sterling Lyon Parkway cross­es future motor-vehicle access points.

"With all the private access they're putting through the development, you'll be stopping three or four times on the bike path, whereas now you're stopping once," said Mark Cohoe, a Bike to the Future director. His group claims the existing site design creates the poten­tial for "right-hook accidents," which are caused when right-turning motor vehicles collide with bicycles heading straight down a parallel bike route.

That potential could be cut by con­struction of four raised crossings that may cost up to $10,000 each, Cohoe said.

Bike to the Future also claims the IKEA store, which may be completed by 2011, needs more than 30 bicycle­parking spots for visitors and would like them closer to the front of the store.

Winnipeg's MMM Group, the consult­ant representing the developer, said 50 stalls at the site are more than enough for bike traffic to the furniture store. But the firm is more than willing to dis­cuss the overall site plan with Bike to the Future, spokesman Paul McNeill said.

The appeal is slated for Tuesday mor­ning's meeting of city council's prop­erty and development committee.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca