Coralville council to discuss Iowa Bicycle Coalition lease

CORALVILLE - The Iowa Bicycle Coalition could be moving into Coralville's transit hub as soon as next year.

The Coralville City Council will vote Tuesday on a lease agreement with the bike coalition for a 785-square-foot space in the city's Transit Intermodal Facility, which is planned for a July 2015 completion date.

Mark Wyatt, executive director of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition, said the space will be the perfect location to share the coalition's education and service offerings for bicyclists.

'Basically we're looking to add to the intermodal part of the intermodal center by adding some resources for bicyclists in that facility,” he said. 'I think there's a lot of opportunity for us to kind of expand.”

Wyatt said the coalition would coordinate with area bike shops to offer bike rental opportunities, bicycle maintenance services, education offerings and bike lockers.

In lease, the coalition would pay the city $1,250 per month in rent.

If the three-year lease is approved, the coalition would move all operations to the intermodal facility, which currently are being housed nearby at 925 E. Second Ave., Wyatt said.

With bike lockers, Wyatt said the hope is area residents take advantage of the attached parking ramp to park their vehicles while going to or from work, and bike the remainder of the trip.

'I think it's going to be a great resource in that area for bicyclists to use that,” he said.

Funded in part by the Federal Transit Administration, the roughly $13.9 million intermodal facility project is being built in the Iowa River Landing and includes about 450 spaces for park and ride and retail parking, a transit terminal for offices, electric car charging stations and showers.

'We're excited to have them there, it's another dimension to the project and the whole transportation theory behind the intermodal,” city transportation director Vicky Robrock said. 'We're connecting multiple modes to one location.”

Robrock said phase two of the project will likely add a day-care facility, a bike shop and additional parking.