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If Ken Nichols had any say in the matter, the city’s standards for floor-area-ratio bonuses would be more stringent, based on higher standards, with perhaps fewer financial benefits to developers.

But he doesn’t, the standards remain, and developers still get 40 additional square feet of developable space for every square foot they add to bicycle parking, locker and changing room facilities.

That hasn’t stopped Nichols from opposing the under-development downtown high-rise Park Avenue West, however, and developer Tom Moyer’s plan to add 66,000 square feet using FAR bonuses he’s accrued by adding bike parking and locker facilities to its parking structures.

The bike parking facilities are elements of a building, like ecoroofs and bioswales, that allow developers to benefit from floor-area-ratio bonuses 鈥� providing more development space while meeting sustainable building design criteria.

Nichols estimates the additional space for the development, which at 476 feet would be the fourth-tallest building in Oregon, is worth $20 million, using typical central city Class A leasing rates. The development team, however, think this is preposterous.

Nevertheless, he has spent months pursuing the topic, attending Portland Design Commission meetings, approaching Park Avenue West’s developers and sending e-mails to city offices outlining his position.

鈥淚n my opinion, the current design does not meet the intent of the (city’s) regulation,鈥� Nichols wrote in a Sept. 19 letter to the Bureau of Development Services, in which he outlined his idea of creating an all-encompassing 鈥渇itness facility鈥� that would provide services like bike repair, based on a business model he created.

He calls many of the city’s current bike facilities dingy, inadequate and dark 鈥� not the proper bike-storage and clothes-changing vestibules of young, mobile professionals. In some cases, there are fewer lockers than bike parking spaces, and the lockers available are only half-size.

鈥淲hat I would like to see is a little more detail, or perhaps more scrutiny, about how the facilities are constructed,鈥� Nichols said.

But what these standards might be, and how they might be codified, are specifics best left to future discussions, Robert Thompson, design principal and founder of Park Avenue West’s architectural firm TVA, says. Park Avenue West has already been approved by the city’s Design Commission, so nothing Nichols says will change the development, according to Thompson.

And Thompson doesn’t give the topic a second thought. The city’s standards, in his view, are perfectly adequate. Nichols’ ulterior motive is to shoehorn himself into the process, he says.

鈥淚 think he has some personal self-interest in all this, and that’s how he makes his living,鈥� Thompson said. 鈥淪o I think there’s probably a biased view on his part.鈥� Thompson hopes bike parking and facilities encourage sustainable living.

Critic has vested interest in tougher FAR standards

If he were involved in other developments, Nichols says, he could help create a more efficient and equitable system for both developers and bikers. He and the company he runs, Bike Republic, have a vested interest in strengthening the FAR bonus standards, after all 鈥� something to which Nichols freely admits.

鈥淚f a developer is going to build this,鈥� he said of any development, 鈥淚’d love to come in and try to activate (the bike element).鈥�

Nichols and business partner Mike Johnson created Bike Republic to build and operate a membership-based biking infrastructure and encourage an active lifestyle. Started in 2004, the nascent organization has yet to fully coalesce. The private corporation is not expected to start providing its services until 2008, according to its Web site.

Creating sufficient bike parking is not an issue tied only to commercial properties, and the debate is sometimes more politically charged when it spills over into residential buildings.

Pearl District residents, for example, have complained about a lack of bike facilities at some of their condominiums, Karl Rohde of the Bike Transportation Alliance says.

鈥淚t’s a problem because some condos don’t want to adopt bylaws that allow people to lock their bikes in,鈥� Rohde said. 鈥淚f a bike is wet or dirty, residents don’t want to be walking them into their homes.鈥�

It’s the same for commercial buildings.

Downtown, all developers are required to supply some form of short-term bike parking. If the developer can prove that it cannot supply the parking, then it can pay into the city’s bike parking fund.

Overseen by the city’s bicycle coordinator, Roger Geller, the fund has amassed about $400,000, according to Rohde. The money will be used to create short-term bike parking elsewhere around the city.

But short-term parking doesn’t provide a large enough benefit to tenants, Rohde says.

Overall, Nichols says, the FAR requirements are vague, and it is up to the Bureau of Development Services to interpret the 鈥渋ntent鈥� of the law.

But developers, including those for Park Avenue West, aren’t changing anytime soon.

鈥�(Bike parking) was one option we took to enhance the size of the building,鈥� Thompson said, adding that excavation on the Park Avenue West will begin this spring. 鈥淎ll we’re doing is following the allowable avenue open to developers for expansion in exchange for parking.鈥�