Denver bicycle parking program

The Denver Department of Transportation and Infrastructure has a program to help property owners get bicycle parking in the public right-of-way adjacent to their property.

Program webpage

Slides detailing program from when it launched

Application form

A property owner (or someone on behalf of a property owner) can submit an application to get bike parking.

This bike parking is not necessarily funded by the city.

The property owner does not have to be the one to pay for it, but they do have to be the permit holder.

The city installs these parking facilities on Memorial Day and Labor Day.

There are three parking options that property owners can choose from:

1. Standard inverted-U type parking on a concrete slab
2. Standard on-street corral (five bike racks)
3. Any alternate to the standard

The city has some limited funding to pay for bike parking submitted through these forms. The city will prioritize which parking gets funded based on these factors:

1. Will this parking be adjacent to existing or planned bicycle infrastructure?
2. Is this parking being requested by a partner organization? (districts, associations, other non-profits)
3. Will this parking location help improve geographic equity to balance meeting demand and encourage bicycle use?

If funded, the city will pay for everything except for the permit fees.

If the city decides not to fund parking, the application is not binding, and the property owner can choose not to pay to install the bike parking.

On top of the costs listed above, property owners will also be responsible for maintaining the bike racks installed through this program.

This maintenance includes snow and debris clearance, and other things listed in the application form.

The application is fairly easy to complete. The only real part that takes some work is the site plan. Maybe do the site plan for the property owner and hand them a mostly completed form for them to submit?

If asking for a corral, maybe offer to raise funds to pay for the first $1000 permit?

The application asks how many bikes are typically parked in the area where the bike rack is being requested. Maybe in the week leading up to submitting the form/handing the property owner the form, you could coordinate with others to make sure that many bikes are parked there (locked to fences, signs, etc.)?

Check to see if there is existing or planned bike infrastructure next to the proposed parking. If there is, let the property owner know that it increases their chances of the city funding the parking.

If the property owner is also a retail business owner, maybe share this research:

Taken together, the studies indicate that creating or improving active travel facilities generally has positive or non-significant economic impacts on retail and food service businesses abutting or within a short distance of the facilities, though bicycle facilities might have negative economic effects on auto-centric businesses. Jamey M. B. Volker & Susan Handy (2021) Economic impacts on local businesses of investments in bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure: a review of the evidence, Transport Reviews, 41:4, 401-431, DOI: 10.1080/01441647.2021.1912849

If the property owner is renting their property to a retail business, maybe try to partner with the business to convince the property owner to take on the permit if the business pays for the permit fees and other costs?