Venice maintains Silver Bicycle Friendly status, wins Florida Trail Town designation; board names liaison

Darlene Culpepper, the city’s bicycle and pedestrian coordinator, told the Citizen Advisory Board that Venice maintained its Silver Bicycle Friendly Community designation from the League of American Bicyclists and received a Trail Town designation from the Florida Greenways and Trails Foundation.

Culpepper said the League’s report card included two pages of feedback and “recommendations to move to the next standard of gold,” and singled out a straightforward change she expects the city could implement: adopting a bike-rack standard by ordinance so racks installed by businesses or the city meet a consistent design and safety standard. “That’s something that’s a very easy fix that we can most likely get council to, if you make that recommendation to them,” she said.

The coordinator reported a ground-breaking under way for a rest stop on Edmondson Road at the corner of Edmondson and Pine Brook, which connects to the Northport connector and the Legacy Trail extension. Culpepper said the site will include a shade structure, a bench, a bicycle repair station and a water station; she said a concrete slab is already in place and the project will be included in the city’s next League application period. “We are installing a rest stop because that is actually the way to the Northport connector to the extension of the Legacy Trail,” Culpepper said.

Culpepper also said she had applied, with the city manager’s approval, to the Florida Greenways and Trails Foundation’s Trail Town program and that Venice was named one of 21 Trail Towns in Florida; the foundation produced a story map of local parks, trails, kayak launches and waterways that Culpepper said will be posted to the city website and accompanied by a downtown plaque installed near the bicycle-friendly community sign.

Board members discussed safety and network gaps identified in the League’s feedback. One board member asked whether the League’s survey data had been shared with the municipal multimodal transportation team; Culpepper said she had “forwarded it to him and his team” and that she worked with the transportation staff to document bike lanes in the city GIS. Board members raised typical constraints — some streets are too narrow to add lanes — and the coordinator said other measures (for example, markings or sharrows) were being considered.

The board agreed to provide assistance. The body asked for a volunteer to serve as the board’s point person and liaison to Culpepper; by consensus the board designated Mr. Roger Carr as the board liaison/project lead to coordinate comments, consolidate ideas and work with staff on any proposed projects or budget requests that would be presented to City Council.

Culpepper summarized outreach and on-the-ground activities that will continue regardless of immediate policy votes: monthly community rides (October–April), and the annual mayor’s ride — scheduled this year for March 20 at 9 a.m., starting and ending at Sharkey’s — which she said drew nearly 60 riders last year.

No formal board votes were required on the bicycle items; Culpepper asked board members to review the League report card and the full application and to identify projects that could reasonably be advanced for council consideration before the next application cycle.