Judge orders Philly to stop taking parking spaces on Pine and Spruce Streets for bike-friendly loading zones
The “neighborhood loading zones” were intended to give residents, delivery trucks, and contractors a place to stop without parking in a bike lane, which is now prohibited.
A judge has preliminarily ordered Philadelphia to stop taking parking spaces to create bike-friendly loading zones along Pine and Spruce Streets in Center City, siding with residents who filed a lawsuit to reclaim access to the spaces.
The “neighborhood loading zones” were intended to give residents, delivery trucks, and contractors a place to stop without parking in a bike lane between Front and 22nd Streets.
Last year, the city passed an ordinance prohibiting vehicles from stopping in bike lanes, with fines set at $125 in Center City and $75 in other areas.
Common Pleas Court Judge Sierra Thomas-Street on Wednesday ordered the city to “immediately cease and desist all ongoing construction, signage installation, enforcement efforts, or public works associated with the proposed ‘neighborhood loading zones,’ or related restrictions on Pine and Spruce Streets, pending further order of court.”
The lawsuit was filed by Friends of Pine and Spruce in June, and the advocacy group’s lawyer, George Bochetto, called the order “strong and sweeping.”
In a phone interview, Bochetto said he would soon — within the “next several days” — amend the group’s lawsuit to also challenge the city’s ban against stopping in bike lanes.
A spokesperson for the city could not be reached for comment.
The judge disagreed with the city’s argument that it had the authority to create the loading zones without passing a new ordinance specifically to do that.
While the case continues in court, the judge said she was granting the injunction, in part, because “there are competing public interests between the residents who have lost parking and may have to walk longer distances from the loading zone to their home, and the people who bike in bike lanes.”
The judge added: “Although the claimed basis for creating these new loading zones is to prevent parking in bike lanes, there is no guarantee that these new loading zones wil prevent cars from stopping in bike lanes, so it appears that only the interests of the residents who have lost parking spaces have been adversely affected.”
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article provided an incorrect name of the judge who issued the order.