VALPARAISO — Rented bikes could return to Valparaiso streets as soon as this spring.
First launched in 2017 with 25 bikes and an accessible tricycle, the Valparaiso Bike Share Program has been on pause for two years. The city originally partnered with the bike rental company Zagster. Users could rent bikes using the Zagster app for an hourly fee, locking the bikes at one of the ten stations scattered throughout the city. Just 16 months after launching, the program was expanded due to popularity, growing to a fleet of 36 bikes.
The pandemic put the program on pause in 2020 and in 2021 Zagster went out of business. Now the city is working with Movatic, a different bike rental company. The city is using the same bikes and stations, replacing the logos with the Valparaiso Bike Share Program branding.
The Valparaiso Parks Department is hoping to launch the program in April, Kevin Nuppnau of Valparaiso Parks said. The rental stations are at Central Park Plaza, the Valparaiso Public Library, the corner of Indiana and Michigan avenues, Housing Opportunities, Ogden Gardens, the Valparaiso YMCA on Cumberland Avenue and Foundation Meadows Park on Campbell Road. The city will be relocating the three stations that were on the Valparaiso University campus as the school has opted out of the program.
During a Friday meeting, the Valparaiso Board of Works approved $68,400 of funding for the program. Nuppnau said Leo's Bike Shop will redistribute the bikes throughout the ten stations on a weekly basis.
The Board of Works also approved the creation of a Comprehensive Façade and Sign Improvement Program. For years the Façade Improvement Program has given matching grants to downtown businesses looking to enhance their building's exterior. Under the previous program, applicants would go before the plan commission and the city council.
The comprehensive program will be an "adaptation" of what the city already offers, Valparaiso Director of Planning and Transit Beth Shrader said. Applications will now be approved by the Board of Works and the program will extend to businesses along the Calumet Avenue and Lincolnway corridors. The program will also fund sign improvements. Applicants must match the funding received, the maximum amount provided by the city is $25,000.
The program has a budget of $125,000, but has experienced a "lull" in recent years with less applicants Shrader said.
“I’m not sure if that’s COVID or if we’ve reached a bit of saturation in the downtown because there are a lot of properties that have availed themselves of the grants," Shrader said. "With the geographic expansion, I think that we’ll have some more interest."
The board approved a façade grant for Shirley's Merle Norman & Boutique, a Valparaiso cosmetics staple located at 8 Lafayette St.
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