Unlike the L Street bike lane, the M Street track will be buffered by parked cars. (Photo by Rich Renomeron)

A well-attended hearing over the proposed M Street bike lane held Wednesday got “heated,” according to David Cranor of WashCycle, when some objectors to the plan became “disrespectful with one another.”

Members of a church voiced objection to the plan over concerns that included the loss of Sunday angled parking. Cranor reports:

A pastor for the church, after talking about the church’s 175 year history, 87 of those years at this location, noted that this church is tied to the struggles of the African American people so to not be talked to about something like this until after it was a “done deal” was very disturbing and insulting. The church had been offered $1M to move out of the city, but they had made a commitment to stay. Many of their members had moved to the counties but still made an effort to come to church here. “Is DC becoming a church-unfriendly place?” she asked.

The Metropolitan AME Church, located at 1518 M Street NW, was well represented at the meeting, likely because of the following message posted to its Facebook page Monday: “The church membership should plan to attend the meeting in significant numbers to address this issue with the Mayor and others. … Metropolitan AME Church members are strongly requested to attend and register our concerns and displeasure with this consideration!”

Business owners also came out to object to the M Street bike lane. David McAuley of Boderstan has details on that:

A local businessman also spoke against the bike lanes. “If you’re talking about eliminating [traffic] lanes, you’re going to have gridlock,” he said. “Every merchant on the block is very concerned. I respectfully think this will be a disaster.”

Another attendee told the businessman he was mistaken. “Bike trails will increase your business,” he said.

The owner of the Camelot Show (see: Strip) Bar was one such business proprietor to object to the bike lane at the meeting, according to Post Mobile Editor Andrew Heining. Meeting attendee Walter J. Torres said on Twitter Nicolas Triantis said his “workers will be late to work” if the bike lane goes in. Triantis said he would provide comment to the DCist later today.

Update: Triantis told DCist by phone he objects to the bike lane, which would take away one lane, because of the gridlock that already exists in that area of town. Triantis, who has been on M Street since the 80s, said he likes the idea of a bike lane, but that he feels the gridlock issues have been “glossed over.” He is concerned that drivers won’t frequent businesses in the area if traffic gets worse. Triantis said he favors turning the 17th Street bike lane into a two-way one, similar to 15th Street’s.

Construction on the M Street bike lane is expected to begin this summer. As DCist previously reported:

The lane, which will run from just west of Thomas Circle at 14th Street NW to 28th Street NW in Georgetown, is roughly analogous to the L Street NW bike lane created last year. However, as a representative from the District Department of Transportation explained last night during a walking tour of the planned M Street track, the new lane will be different from its L Street counterpart in ways other than simply running in the opposite direction.

Most visibly, parking spots along the north side of M Street along the affected route will be moved into the street; the track will be buffered between parked cars and the curb. The L Street track is protected by a line of bollards. Mike Goodno, a bicycle program specialist at DDOT, explained to a group of avid cyclists that the M Street track will contain several features added in based on experiences with the L Street lane, such as additional signage to alert pedestrians that in addition to crossing vehicular traffic lanes, they are also crossing a high-speed bicycle path.