Don’t forget those bike parking awards nominations

By On January 6, 2012 · 6 Comments

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There are six categories for Ding Ding Let’s Ride-Grid Chicago bike parking awards: four “bests” and two “most in need of”. Nominate a location now!

  • Best Civic
    Government building, library, community center, etc.
  • Best Grocery Store
    National chain, local chain or store or corner bodega/deli
  • Best Non-Grocery Store business
    Retail store, restaurant, tavern, gym, medical office, etc
  • Best Multi-Unit Housing
    Either public or private housing
  • Most in need of Bike Parking
    A location from one of the above categories that has NO bike parking at all, and desparately needs it
  • Most in need of Improvement
    A location from one of the categories above that desparately needs it’s existing bike parking repaired or improved

I’ll be nominating the bike parking in the photo above at the AMLI 900 South Loop apartments (900 S Clark Street) for the category “Most in need of improvement”. It’s placed over 200 feet from the nearest resident entrance, and obviously doesn’t have enough bike parking spaces. There may be indoor parking available, though. I am concerned about the installation because this is a four-story split-level parking garage with over 200 automobile parking spaces. The zoning code of Chicago, section 17-10-0207-C, specifies that there must be 1 bike parking space per 2 auto parking spaces, meaning there should be 50 bike parking spaces in this residential complex (17-10-0301-B  says a developer doesn’t need to provide more than 50).

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The double deck bike rack in the parking garage holds only 10, and clearly doesn’t hold them well (see photo above in which bikes on this rack are falling over). This is the first example to showcase the problems with the bike parking zoning code and how the experts at the Chicago Bicycle Program are not involved in plan approvals. A reader submitted the photos.

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I’ll be nominating the sheltered bike parking installation at the Edgewater Dominicks’s (5201 N Sheridan) for the category “Best Grocery Store”.

Updated January 9, 2012, to correct my interpretation of the zoning code on the max. number of bike parking spaces required. 

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  • http://twitter.com/ChicagoArchitec ChicagoArchitec

    We posted this a while back as the worst bicycle parking situation in Chicagoland: http://blog.chicagoarchitecture.info/2009/12/11/slice-of-life-worst-parking-evar/

    • http://www.stevevance.net/ Steven Vance

      Oh. My. That looks like the fence along Lake Shore Drive near North Avenue Beach when the air and water show happens. But this is a university, they should deal with this properly. Do you know if that’s still the case?

  • Pingback: Looking at multi-unit residential bike parking | Steven Can Plan

  • Jenna Barnes

    On behalf of AMLI 900 I wanted to post some current information regarding the bike room.  Last month we sent out a notice to our residents letting them know that we were doing a bike room clean-out starting the 2nd week in January.  This cleanout is now complete and residents will be returning their bikes to both the garage area and bike room on the property.  During the cleanout current residents collected their bikes so we could remove bikes left and abandoned from previous residents.  The area’s have also been cleaned out so that bikes can be returned to an organized, clean atmosphere.  With a planned clean-out every year, the bike room will be more organized and user-friendly for our residents with bikes.  Thank you, Jenna Barnes, Community Manager

    • http://www.stevevance.net/ Steven Vance

      Hi Jenna, how many bike parking spaces does the interior bike room have?

      • Jenna Barnes

        Hi Steve,
        We have 114 interior bike spaces. 

        Thank you,
        AMLI 900