KALAMAZOO, MI - Larry Bell likes bikes and has done some cycling himself, but he says he hates the idea of turning the curb lane in front of his downtown Kalamazoo tavern and nightspot into a bike lane.

"They are going to close our parking on Porter Street, which we have had forever," he said. "It's Porter Street. That's stupid."

Saying it has taken him years to build his tavern business and retail store on Porter Street, just north of Kalamazoo Avenue - and help that portion of downtown Kalamazoo to thrive -- he said taking the parking space away is damaging.

Converting the sole parking lane there into a bicycle lane will prohibit patrons of Bell's Eccentric Cafe from using it, as well as the many musical bands that park tour buses in front of the business for easy access to the cafe's beer garden concert area.

"It appears that the city does not care about our business or listen to us," said Bell, whose Bell's Brewery Inc. is the producer of Oberon, Two Hearted Ale and a growing slate of craft beers. "They decide they are going to do things without talking to you. It is just incomprehensible."

Bell said he learned late Thursday of the city's decision to convert the lane. He is abroad on a vacation that includes some business stops.

Jason Reicherts, director of hospitality and retail for Bell's Brewery, said a city work crew painted white stripes at about 10 a.m. Friday, Sept. 15, to mark the area as a bike lane. He said they told him they planned to install "no parking" signs on Friday and plastic bollards (the fixed, cylindrical yellow cones) to prohibit motor vehicles by next week.

Without the signs and barriers, Reichert said, Cafe patrons will be unlikely to recognize the change however. That was the case on Friday as motorists continued to use the lane.

"This is the best route that we could make work," said Kalamazoo's Deputy City Manager Jeff Chamberlain.

He said Porter Street is being used to complete a one-mile stretch of the Kalamazoo River Valley Trail through downtown Kalamazoo. The city began the $1.6 million project to connect the mixed-use (biking-running-walking) trail last fall. It will connect a western segment of the trail that comes into the downtown and now ends at Westnedge Avenue, with one that comes in from the east and now ends at Harrison Street.

If things go well, the work will be done sometime in October.

He said the city has met with Bell's representatives on various occasions.

"We've been working on this project since at least 2015," Chamberlain said. "We have had multiple meetings with representatives of Bell's and other business in the area."

The path flows along the north side of Kalamazoo Avenue and turns north onto Porter Street because the city has been unable to secure the permits and agreements it would need to safeguard traffic across railroad tracks that cut across Kalamazoo Avenue there. In another area, there is private property that the city has not been able to access.

Rebekah Kik, director of community planning and development for the city of Kalamazoo, said that it would take at least another year of effort to get the necessary permits to allow the trail to cross railroad tracks, assuming they agreed to an alternative route with Bell and other stakeholders.

Chamberlain said, "It was very complicated and we needed numerous permits from MDOT (the Michigan Department of Transportation) and the railroad."

Working with the railroad, entails negotiating with Grand Elk Railroad as well as the state of Michigan, which must be involved for matters involving railroad crossings, he said.

"We had to work within the constraints of MDOT, the railroad, private property owners and foremost people's safety," Chamberlain said.

Bell said, "They could go down Walbridge Street (which runs parallel to Porter, one block to the east). There's nothing on Walbridge Street."

He said he and his people have been trying to negotiate with the city about the bicycle path for two years. But he said they have no one who really understands business.

Bell said he is willing to donate part of some property he owns at the northwest corner of Walbridge Street and Kalamazoo Avenue to the bike path endeavor. But he said the city will not negotiate with him.

Kik said Friday that's news to her. She said talks with Bell's were stifled by disclosure conditions Larry Bell wanted but that the city was unable to meet.

Chamberlain said, "What's important to know is that section on Porter Street can be easily removed (from the trail path) if we get other options in the future. It's literally paint on the street and plastic bollards (the barrier sticks)."

Kik agreed saying the path could continue along Kalamazoo Avenue to Walbridge Street and turn north there. But the city has not been able to come to terms with Bell on his property there.

Bell said his business will suffer from the loss of parking. The curb lane of Porter Street can accommodate a minimum of 11 cars or small trucks. He estimates that number of customer vehicles turns over at least five times a day, bringing the conservatively estimated total of visiting cars to about 55 per day there. With two people per car, he said, that's 110 people each day who will have a tougher time patronizing his business.

He said his business supports tourism, biking events and attracts people to the downtown. But the people who bike downtown, do not replace the people who drive there.

"You can't take away my parking," he said. "You take away my parking, you take away my business."

Chamberlain praised Bell's for establishing a 70-vehicle parking lot off the northeast corner of Kalamazoo Avenue and Pitcher Street several months ago, as well as 70- and 60-space lots on property the business owns just north of the Eccentric Cafe.

He said having a mixed-use trail through the downtown is something many cities are trying to do. Thousands of people currently use the Kalamazoo River Valley Trail, he said, "And one of the most requested items we've heard over the years is to make that connection downtown."

"Using the public right of ways is a balancing act," Chamberlain said. "We think in the long run, this trailway will work for the downtown as a whole."

In July of 2014, Larry Bell was at loggerheads with the state after workers with the Michigan Department of Transportation installed a new traffic signal in front of his retail business, Bell's General Store, at 355 E. Kalamazoo Ave. (the corner of Kalamazoo Avenue and Portage Street).

The traffic signal was attached to a large steel post with a cantilever that blocked the sign.