The effort to create a bicycling and walking planning document for the urban and rural areas of Portage County is nearly complete. The final step is to get approval of the Portage County bike/ped plan from the Portage County Board of Supervisors.

The board is scheduled to vote on the plan on April 22. In advance of this vote, the board will hear a presentation on the bike/ped plan at their meeting this Tuesday April 15. Jeff Schuler and Sarah Wallace of the Portage County Planning and Zoning Dept will present an overview of the plan to the board.

The Portage County Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday April 15 at 5 PM in the County Board Chambers of the County-City Building (1516 Church St). This meeting is open to the public. A copy of the meeting agenda can be found here.

I am uncertain if the public will have an opportunity to speak about the plan at the April 15 meeting. Regardless, it will be interesting to hear the questions and comments that board members might direct at Schuler and Wallace. Such discussion is likely to frame any concerns board members might have in adopting this countywide bike/ped plan.

At the April 22 meeting, there should be opportunity for the public to voice their opinions about the plan to the board in advance of their vote. Awareness of board comments from the April 15 meeting may help inform Poky Pedalers of issues to focus on at the April 22 meeting. The April 22 agenda is not yet available, but I understand that it will be published on the county website soon after the April 15 meeting.

The unanimous vote in support of the plan by the Portage County Planning and Zoning Committee last month is an encouraging sign that the full board will favor the plan. Yet as they say, it ain’t over ‘til it’s over. A good turnout of citizens in support of the plan will be helpful in influencing the board to adopt the plan. I look forward to seeing Poky Pedalers participate in the meetings this Tuesday and on April 22.

Disclosure: Bob Fisch, Chief Bike Fun Officer of Poky Pedaling Stevens Point, is a member of the Urban Steering Committee for the Portage County Bicycle and Pedestrian Planning Project. Posts about this project appearing on the PPSP website are part of a broader PPSP effort to keep readers informed of bikey news in our area. Nothing posted on the PPSP website should be considered to be official communication from the Portage County Bicycle and Pedestrian Planning Project. The official website for this project can be accessed at http://portagecobikepedplan.wordpress.com.

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