The designation of Haines as a “Bike Friendly Community” by the League of American Bicyclists drew criticism from a handful of Haines residents Monday as the parks and recreation advisory committee deliberated on whether to recommend to the assembly the borough seek the rating.

Mike Binkie Sr. spoke out against the designation and said he’s lived and worked in Sitka, where cyclists don’t follow road laws and regulations. He said they run stop signs and lights and ride “as if the rules do not apply to them.”

Binkie said he wasn’t against biking but if Haines becomes a designated bike friendly community, then bikes and cyclists should be taxed.

Terry Pardee said although he’s friendly to cycling, he’s “strenuously against the bike-friendly designation” because it would cost the community money.

“I think this comes with some hidden costs that people aren’t aware of yet and some people are,” Pardee said. “If they say there will be no attached cost to this or consequences to the community, as we know it right now, they’re one of two things: They’re either misinformed or they’re liars.”

Others spoke in support of the bike friendly designation. Speaking as a medical professional, Julia Heinz said the designation would go a long way to improve physical health and awareness in the community.

Chip Lende said he didn’t understand why people would have a problem with the designation and that cycling brings tourists and other visitors to town.

“I think this designation doesn’t look to decrease the opportunities or inhibit the use of the highways by any user group whether they’re motorized or non-motorized. All it does is tell visitors coming to Haines that we’re friendly to bikes,” Lende said.

The parks and rec committee heard from Sitka’s SEARHC health educator Doug Osborne who volunteered to help Sitka become the first bike friendly community in Alaska.

Sitka received the designation in 2008. He said Sitka’s number of bicycle commuters was five times the national average in 2000, and it doubled by 2010. He said the municipality isn’t required to spend money and that the designation is more about education.

He said some animosity exits between cyclists and motorists because bike riders “often don’t follow the rules and that can cause a lot of frustration,” but that cyclists have the same rights and responsibilities associated with road use.

“The main benefit (is learning) what you have to do to reach the goal, the improvements you have to make in terms of educating people about the rules of the road, just making it a little better for motorists and cyclists in town,” Osborne said.

During a separate CVN interview, Sitka Borough Administrator Mark Gorman said most of the bike paths in Sitka lie on state-owned roads and the municipality hasn’t spent much money as a result of the bike friendly designation.

“The city outlay has been minimal over the years,” Gorman said. “Most of the costs have been covered through public-private partnerships.”

Parks and Recreation Committee member Lori Lapeyri Smith said the concerns she heard from citizens indicated the committee needed more information from other sources. She suggested the committee table the discussion until they could learn more.

Committee member Tom Ely said they’d already discussed the issue at three separate meetings and it was time to make a recommendation to the assembly.

“(The designation is) really nothing more than a badge and I think that this issue is getting over politicized, blown out of proportion,” Ely said. “It’s becoming a motorized versus non motorized issue and it is just paralleling many other problems we have in our community of coming to decisions and moving forward on things.”

The committee voted 4-1 to recommend the assembly sign off on the free application and find a volunteer to fill it out. Lapeyri Smith voted against the motion.

The contention over the bike-friendly designation carried over after the meeting ended. Residents David Long and Ryan Cook argued with Ely outside the assembly chamber and the shouting could be heard across the police station parking lot.

During the meeting, the committee also voted to contact the Division of State Parks to return a Mosquito Lake outhouse it recently removed or to cover the open pit left by its removal.

It also voted to contact the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to see if it could provide funding for a new outhouse.