Time for Bike Committee to Shift Gears, Operate in Sunshine

Attachments

Bike Paths - no caption.pdf

With the Island’s Ad Hoc Bike Committee being questioned about whether they should be operating outside of the Sunshine Laws, I think it's appropriate for me to weigh in given my experience with the committee. I served on the committee from its inception in 2006 until it was reconfigured last year (See Reconvened Bike Committee has Busy Agenda, Coastal Breeze News 03/21/2024 edition).

The reconfigured committee reconvened with all new members except for chairman Al Musico. The problem was many of the sitting bike path committee members didn’t know they were not part of the new committee. Phil Kostelnik, who also served on the committee since its inception, learned of the new committee in the Coastal Breeze News. He voiced his objection to the sitting committee members being excluded from the new committee during their March 15, 2024, meeting. “I was very upset,” Kostelnik said, “when I looked at the list and saw that no one from the original committee (except Musico) was on the list. We never received any information or knowledge from the committee.” Musico acknowledged Kostelnik by saying,  “Thank you. Okay. Let’s move on.”

Musico is surrendering the chairman position after being honored by City Council at their March 3, 2025, meeting for the impressive work he's done in helping to raise millions of dollars for the island’s bike infrastructure over the years. He plans to remain on the committee, though the current rules say committee members must reside on Marco Island. Also, City Ordinance Sec 2-204 (c) states, “No members appointed to any boards, committees or commissions may serve more than a total of eight continuous years on any single board, committee or commission. Members who have served eight years on one board, committee, or commission are eligible immediately for appointment to a different board, committee, or commission.”

When the bike path committee started in 2006, Marco Island had no shared-use paths or in-road lanes. I remember convincing my fellow committee members that we could create the island’s first in-road lanes by simply striping them into the wide shoulders on San Marco Road. To prove it could work, I loaded a yardstick on my bicycle and took photos up and down both sides of San Marco from Goodland Drive to Resident’s Beach, using the yardstick to show there was ample room on the shoulders for legal bike lanes. Overnight, Marco Island had 10.8 miles of in-road bike lanes.

The big boon to the island’s bike infrastructure came with the island's Septic Tank Replacement Program, the biggest issue of its day on the island. Virtually all of the island’s in-road lanes were built in conjunction with that program. And it was the Safe Routes to School program, Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) grants, along with the cooperation between the bike path committee (led by Musico), city staff, and city council that is to be thanked for the impressive network of shared-use paths the island enjoys today. 

At least once during those 18 years the City endeavored to make the bike committee operate under Sunshine Laws as a permanent committee. I remember filling out the paperwork and turning it into Nancy Richie, who worked for the City at that time. For whatever reason, the committee never had its ad hoc designation changed.

For many years, the committee met almost every month. As a well-rounded committee, we discussed all things bicycling, including things like bike path maintenance. Our meetings were held in the Greg Niles conference room, and they were taped. Eventually, the meetings were no longer taped. No one seemed to object.

The focus of the committee was always to complete the bicycle master plan, a document the entire committee helped to craft. We often discussed how the bike committee would need to change its focus once the master plan was completed. In my opinion, that time has come with only a handful of projects remaining on the master plan.

The City of Marco Island’s webpage describes the Ad Hoc Bike Lanes and Shared Paths Committee thusly:

"Ad Hoc Bike Lanes and Shared Paths Committee is a volunteer committee that was established in 2006 to promote safe and convenient bicycle access to all parts of Marco Island. This Committee also reviews pathway uses in order to minimize overall City costs, reduce traffic congestion, ensure public safety, improve the environment, boost the economy, and to enhance recreational opportunities and the quality of life on Marco Island."

The most current minutes I was able to find on the City’s website are from their September 20, 2024 meeting. They met again in December, but there are no minutes posted for that meeting. The September 20 minutes show only the five remaining projects in the master plan, and they are covered in detail. There’s also an update on the Marco Loop Project. But the pathways' budget is covered in just one sentence: J. Martin and A. Musico—Review Marco Island CIP Budget. Public outreach consists of the production of the Bike Path Map. A Public Forum was supposed to be scheduled in January-February-March 2025, according to the minutes. The minutes also indicated that the master plan was updated and distributed. An entry under Other Items states that Multi-Use Path Signs are needed for new paths were put on hold, or deferred, until clarification of E-Bike regulations. Crash Reports were said to have been reviewed and were on file. The minutes also mention that notice of the annual chair and vice-chair election is subject to Sunshine Law.

What jumps out at me is that bike path maintenance is not part of the agenda. I feel monitoring the condition of the bike paths and in-road lanes is a key function of the bike committee. I frequently use the City’s My Marco App to report bike pathway obstructions. I would be curious to know how many people are using the free My Marco App to help the city stay on top of the various maintenance issues that pop up along its shared-use paths. Even if bike path maintenance is returned as an item on the regular agenda, quarterly meetings are just not frequent enough for the committee to keep up with maintenance issues on our bike paths. The committee should be keeping an eye on bike paths where houses are under construction, especially during the rainy season when bike paths can be treacherous after sand is washed onto them. Dangerous conditions like these on bike paths shouldn’t wait three months to be addressed by the bike committee. Our bike committee needs to stay on top of such issues on a regular basis. Fortunately, the  Island’s in-road lanes get regular attention by the City’s state-of-the-art sweeper. But problems on the shared-use path are often left to linger.

The March 3 City Council meeting was more concerned about discussing the committee’s reorganization and being brought in compliance with Sunshine Laws (see “Bike Committee Being Brought Into “Sunshine” Coastal Breeze News, 2/6/2025 edition). The biggest hot-button topic in the bicycling community is e-bike safety. Our bike path committee should be front and center in trying to craft a plan for how to deal with e-bikes that can travel as fast as 60 miles per hour on our bike paths and in-road lanes.

What do I propose we do? The first thing I would do is move the bike committee meetings into council chambers and broadcast them like other committees in the city. As it stands right now, one has to be alert to avoid missing their meetings, held only every three months, on the last Thursday of the month, in the second-floor training room at Fire Station 50. With the intense interest in bicycling on the island, it only makes sense to make the meetings easy for citizens to watch or attend like they do on other committees.

I would also like to see the bike path committee meet more frequently - preferably monthly - and provide more detail in their minutes.

Now, we have the opportunity for city council, city staff, and the bike committee to work together to make sure the bike committee is able to function effectively under the Sunshine Law. Maybe then the bike committee can shift gears and get a handle on what’s happening on our bike lanes and shared-use paths. They may decide we need to add a city bike manager position to advocate for the island’s bicyclists like many other cities do. We have the infrastructure to become one of the best cycling towns in the country. Maybe by being in the Sunshine, the bike committee will lead Marco Island down the path to achieving the prestigious Bicycle Friendly Community designation. Who knows, someday maybe Marco Island may become the No. 1 bicycle town in the USA. And we can all look back with pride about how we worked as a team to make it happen.