A plan to add bicycle lanes and further limit on-street parking on Oak and Hickory streets through central Denton is headed to a city commission for review Monday.

The plan is designed to offer safe bike paths from the University of North Texas to the planned bus and commuter rail station east of the downtown Square, city officials say.

But the potential loss of on-street parking in front of some homes and businesses — along with an alternative proposal to widen parts of Oak and Hickory to make room for bicycles and cars — has some residents worried.

“It seems like a poorly conceived plan without any neighborhood input or citizen input at all in the process,” said Mike Cochran, a former City Council member and a leader in the Oak-Hickory Historic District. “We just feel like that this will erode the quality of our neighborhood.”

City leaders will gather public input and weigh several options at a series of meetings in July and August, city engineer Frank Payne said. Some options — including mixed-use lanes for cars and bicycles rather than bike-only lanes — would have very minimal impact on parking, he said.

“We can make everybody happy here with a minimal amount of interruption,” Payne said.

One plan would establish an eastbound bicycle lane on the south side of Hickory Street from Bonnie Brae Street to Bell Avenue and a westbound bicycle lane on the north side of Oak Street from Bell to Bonnie Brae, according to a public notice mailed to area property owners.

To make room for the striped bicycle lanes, the city would enforce no-parking zones on both sides of Oak and Hickory at various points along the 2-mile route. Parking still would be allowed at angled parking spaces and in and around the Square, according to that plan.

A bicycle lane and no-parking zone already exist on the south side of West Hickory Street from east of the UNT campus, at Welch Street, to Carroll Boulevard. Also, parts of West Oak and Hickory streets are already set to become one-way with restricted parking thanks to a February council vote.

The Denton Traffic Safety Commission will hold a public hearing on the new plans at 5:30 p.m. Monday at City Hall. The commission’s recommendations will go to the City Council’s mobility committee for review this month before heading to the full council in August, Payne said. The city’s Historic Landmark Commission also will consider the matter July 13, since it would affect the Oak-Hickory Historic District.

Mayor Mark Burroughs said he asked city staff members to look into adding bicycle lanes to offer college students a safe path to the planned downtown transit station. The station is expected to host the Denton County Transportation Authority’s bus and rail service next year, and officials expect college students to be major users.

“Bicycles are permitted now; they can flow with the traffic, but it’s dangerous,” Burroughs said. “That’s why you don’t see too many bicycles in the downtown area.”

Burroughs said he supports adding bicycle lanes but wants to ensure any negative effects — like loss of parking spaces — are kept to a minimum.

“It’s a delicate balance,” he said.

UNT President Gretchen Bataille endorsed the city’s effort in a letter to Burroughs in March, while urging city leaders to keep students, business owners and other residents informed of the possible loss of on-street parking. One plan would require the removal of parking spaces and meters on both sides of Oak Street from east of Avenue B to west of Welch Street, among other areas.

“Our university staff concurs with city staff in the belief that the proposed bicycle lanes are an important aspect of the project to create improved traffic flow on Oak and Hickory streets, reduce potential congestion, improve safety through reduction of potential vehicle-pedestrian interactions due to on-street parking, and increase viability of alternative transportation options, i.e. bicycles and buses in the area,” Bataille wrote.

Cochran stressed that he supports adding more bicycle lanes, saying he’d been instrumental as a council member in establishing the existing bicycle path on West Hickory.

But he said the city failed to involve area residents or bicycle advocates in drawing up the plans, despite Bataille’s request. Cochran also said city engineers “cherry-picked” national road standards to conclude that Oak and Hickory, both two-lane arterial streets, are too narrow in spots to allow both bicycle lanes and on-street parking.

Cochran, who hosted a neighborhood meeting on the city’s plans Wednesday night, said he believes the roads are wide enough to handle separate traffic and bicycle lanes as well as parking. That would require city engineers to consider allowing narrower traffic lanes, though, which they so far have been unwilling to do out of safety concerns.

City traffic engineer Bud Vokoun, in a written report to the Traffic Safety Commission, endorsed an alternative plan that would widen parts of Hickory Street by 2 feet to allow for mixed-use traffic lanes while avoiding the loss of parking. Vokoun was not available for comment.

The report also mentions the possibility of widening parts of Oak Street, but Payne said further analysis showed that wouldn’t be necessary.

Cochran said area neighbors fought a plan to widen Oak Street in 1989 and would vigorously oppose any new effort to do so, as well. Neighbors fear that wider streets would cause motorists to drive faster, endangering fellow drivers and pedestrians and harming the quality of life in and around the historic district, he said.

Kati Trice, a Denton bicycle-lane advocate, praised the city’s effort as “incredibly progressive” but stopped short of endorsing the plan mailed to area property owners.

“I think we definitely need safe infrastructure for cyclists to move throughout the city,” Trice said. “I don’t think parking should be taken away, though, from the streets, and I think it’s completely possible that we can keep the parking, we can keep the proposed bike lanes and we can keep the traffic lanes as well. It’s possible for all of these things to exist together.”

The Denton County Transportation Authority is not involved in the bicycle lane proposal but supports efforts to boost alternative transportation choices, spokeswoman Dee Leggett said.

“The bicycle community are typically strong supporters of public transportation,” Leggett said. “We’re confident that we can safely share [the roads] with bike lanes, our buses and cars as well.”

The plan comes five months after the council voted to make parts of West Oak and Hickory streets one-way with restricted parking near UNT — a change supporters said would make the streets safer by reducing confusion and removing some parked vehicles that block drivers’ views. As part of that vote, Oak and Hickory each will be one-way from Jagoe Street/Avenue C to Bonnie Brae.

Hickory and Oak, parallel east-west roads, were already one-way east of the UNT campus and through the Square.

LOWELL BROWN can be reached at 940-566-6882. His e-mail address is lmbrown@dentonrc.com.

IF YOU GO

What: Denton Traffic Safety Commission meeting

When: 5:30 p.m. Monday

Where: City Hall, 215 E. McKinney St.

Why: The commission will consider plans to establish bicycle lanes on Oak and Hickory streets between Bonnie Brae Street and Bell Avenue. The plans also could further restrict on-street parking on parts of Oak and Hickory streets.