Nobody was talking about how Baltimore County got to the point where biking or walking to work or school seems more like a quaint concept than a genuine alternative at the Planning Department?s forum Thursday night.
But afterward, Barry Childress, a Baltimore Bicycling Club member, stated the fundamental problem.
“We?ve been designing communities for cars, not for people,” Childress said. “Now we?ve got a great plan, but it?s been sitting here ? we need to get it adopted.”
Childress was referring to the Eastern Baltimore County Pedestrian and Bicycle Access Plan, the first draft of which was completed March 1 after three years of community meetings, proposals and study.
The Planning Department hopes to formally present its 68-page proposal to the Baltimore County Council in the fall for a vote, making the document officially part of the county?s master plan for development. The plan addresses hundreds of specific problems, large and small, that community activists and the Planning Department have identified as hindrances to increasing pedestrian and bicycle activity. It?s also a step toward a comprehensive county plan.
Citing traffic congestion, obesity, environmental concerns, recreation and quality of life issues, the 30 or so community activists, architects, planners and government officials ? as well as studies in the draft ? stressed the urgent need for change.
“We can?t keep generating more traffic, it?s not working,” said Dan Burden, formerly the Florida state bicycling and pedestrian coordinator and now executive director of Walkable Communities, a nonprofit corporation helping to develop walkable communities across North America.
“This is beyond the knowledge of a single discipline,” said Burden, the third speaker this spring in a county series discussing livable communities and transportation. “Each has been trying to arrive at its own solution for their particular problem and that has to change.”
Kathy Schlabach of the county planning office said the long-termproposal could take 20 years to phase in. The next implementation goal, she said, is a pilot project that will connect White Marsh to the Essex/Middle River area.
“Much of the work is just striping new lanes when repaving is done,” Schlabach said.
“This plan isn?t geared toward the Spandex cyclist,” said Mark Counselman, who pedals from his home in Charles Village to work in Towson several times a week. “It?s for the Whole Foods person, who is concerned about their health and their community.”
