[media-credit name=’DEREK MONTGOMERY/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]The Campus Natural Areas Committee held a public forum to discuss safety and environmental issues surrounding a potential bicycle ban on Picnic Point Wednesday night in Science Hall.

Retired professor Jack Westman said Picnic Point is used by many people who are “willing and able to deal” with bicyclists, but young children and the elderly are not always included in this category.

“We have a beautiful resource here that is not used by the general public. At the present time, it is closed to many people,” Westman said.

Ald. Robbie Webber, District 5, an employee of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin, said although safety is an issue, especially the speed of bicyclists, better signage would be a more effective solution.

The signage could ask bicyclists not to ride faster than the speed of a jogger and inform cyclists to not pass a pedestrian until it is completely safe, Webber added. Webber said with or without a bicycle ban, there needs to be more visible bike racks installed at the entrance of Picnic Point.

“It would be a shame for families who arrive on bikes to not get to the end of Picnic Point,” Webber said.

Law school professor Louise Trubek said the preservation of Picnic Point is an important goal and nobody wants to pave Picnic Point or make it wide enough to include a separate bike lane and pedestrian lane.

“Bicyclists have a tremendous opportunity all over Madison to bike,” Trubek said.

Retired professor John Kutzbach, whose family has been visiting Picnic Point for the past 35 to 40 years, said the “speed differential” between walkers, bird watchers and bicyclists can be dangerous.

“I’ve seen a lot of near accidents over the years,” Kutzbach said.

Westman said when the Madison Metropolitan School District brought students to Picnic Point for a field trip, two students were hit by a bicyclist.

A concerned citizen, Robert Noel, attended the meeting without a bias, but said after listening to both sides of the argument, he does not believe a bicycle ban is necessary. Noel said police officers would not be able to enforce a bicycle ban.

“University police can’t even enforce a ban on unleashed dogs [on Picnic Point],” Noel said.

The Bicycle/Pedestrian Subcommittee of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Transportation Committee voted in March to propose the ban on bicycles to the CNA committee. It is the CNA’s job to balance these different values and decide whether to adopt the ban, CNA Chair Phil Cronon said.

The committee did not come to a conclusion on whether the ban should be enacted but will discuss further details at a meeting Monday, according to the Cronon.

“We hold those different views because we love these lands. That’s something we all have in common,” Cronon said.

According to Cronon, there will be a long process before any final decisions are made or before a potential bicycle ban could even begin.