A city commission tabled plans for more bicycle lanes in central Denton after they faced heavy opposition during a public hearing Monday night.

The Traffic Safety Commission voted 6-2 to table the plans for more study, a decision that seemed to please many of the residents who packed City Hall for the meeting. Most speakers during the two-hour hearing said they could support bicycle lanes, but that the city’s plans for bike paths on Oak and Hickory streets were too flawed.

Critics included neighborhood leaders who opposed the potential loss of on-street parking spaces and downtown business owners who feared the plans would increase the chances of accidents involving vehicles, bicyclists and pedestrians. Many suggested other streets for bicycle lanes, including Mulberry and Sycamore, to bypass the Square.

“The idea of having bike lanes that empty into the Square is saying, ‘Let’s kill all the bikers,’” said Donna Morris, a West Oak Street homeowner. “I’m all for bike lanes, but let’s put them where they’ll be best used and where the people will be the safest.”

Mike Cochran, a leader in the Oak-Hickory Historic District who helped organize opposition to the plans, said commissioners had little choice but to table the matter.

“It wasn’t ready to go ahead,” Cochran said. “The lesson here is you’ve got to get public input early on.”

City engineers said they based the plans on a charge from Mayor Mark Burroughs and other top city officials to study offering safe bicycle paths from Bonnie Brae Street, through the University of North Texas campus, to the planned Denton County Transportation Authority bus and commuter rail station east of the Square.

The delay disrupts a schedule that would have brought the plans before the City Council on Aug. 4. City engineers said they would reconsider the plans and host a town-hall meeting before bringing them back to the traffic commission. A hearing before the Historic Landmark Commission, set for next week, will be postponed.

The city’s initial plan — detailed in a notice to area property owners — would have created 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. To make room for striped bicycle lanes, city engineers said no-parking zones would be needed on both sides of Oak and Hickory at various points along the 2-mile route. Parking still would have been allowed at angled parking spaces and in and around the Square.

On Monday, though, city engineers endorsed an alternative plan that did not include bicycle-only lanes. Instead, the plan would create a wider outside traffic lane that cyclists and motorists could share, allowing on-street parking to continue in most places where it is now allowed.

Parts of West Oak and Hickory streets, from Jagoe Street/Avenue C to Bonnie Brae, are already set to become one-way with restricted parking thanks to a council vote earlier this year. Also, a bicycle lane and no-parking zone already exist on the south side of West Hickory Street from Welch Street, east of the UNT campus, to Carroll Boulevard.

Cycling advocates — many of whom arrived at City Hall on their bicycles — urged commissioners to support creating more dedicated bicycle lanes in Denton. Still, some stopped short of embracing the details of the city’s plans.

Erin O’Toole, who said she rides her bicycle to work three or four times a week to help combat the city’s poor air quality, said she did not want to see Oak and Hickory streets lose more parking spaces. City engineers say Oak and Hickory, both two-lane arterial streets, are too narrow in spots to safely allow both bicycle lanes and on-street parking.

Other opponents of the city’s plans included Bob Montgomery, president of the Denton Main Street Association, who questioned the wisdom of encouraging bicycle riding on the busy Square.

Greg Johnson, representing Elk River Real Estate, a major downtown landowner, said taking away more parking spaces could stifle the city’s efforts to create an arts and entertainment corridor on East Hickory Street. Many prospective restaurants already won’t come to the area because it lacks parking, he said.

Traffic commission chairman John Crew, one of two commissioners to vote against tabling the plans, said bicycle lanes should not be placed on arterial streets such as Oak and Hickory. Crew said he agreed with some speakers at Monday’s hearing who said it’s time for Denton to create a comprehensive plan for bicycle lanes.

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