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Fair Oaks Ranch council orders lower speed, new stop and narrows review after Transportation Safety panel recommendations
Summary
The council directed staff to prepare an ordinance to lower a section of Nollehasse to 25 mph and to draft an ordinance for a fourth stop sign at Battle/High Echelon, declined TSAC's recommendation for new signs on Keeneland and asked staff to clarify which TSAC items require council action.
The Fair Oaks Ranch City Council on March 20 directed staff to bring back an ordinance lowering the speed limit on part of Nollehasse Drive, voted to pursue an ordinance to install a fourth stop sign at the Battle/Hansel/High Echelon intersection and declined a TSAC recommendation to add intersection-ahead signs on Keeneland Drive while asking staff to tighten the Transportation Safety Advisory Committee process.
Residents told the council they have seen “close calls with bicycles, cars going too fast down that hill, skateboards, golf carts,” and urged action. Gary Miller, a Fair Oaks Parkway resident, said, “It is an intersection, I think, that would be prudent to just put a stop sign there.” Doug Miller, a Rolling Acres Trail resident, asked how citizens can formally request speed reductions and said lowering speed limits would “greatly improve the safety in those areas.”
The council acted after a report from the Transportation Safety Advisory Committee (TSAC), which reviewed six citizen requests at its Feb. 26 meeting. TSAC recommended lowering Nollehasse from 30 to 25 miles per hour on safety grounds for the portion between Deets Elkhorn and Fair Oaks Parkway; councilors agreed and directed staff to prepare an ordinance for that stretch. TSAC also recommended installing an “all-way” sign and plaques and the council asked staff to draft the ordinance to add a fourth stop sign at Battle and High Echelon, and to include warning measures (temporary flags/“Stop Ahead”) when the new sign is installed.
On a separate request for a four-way stop or intersection-ahead signs at Keeneland Drive, Ventura Lane and Battle/Badlands Tents, TSAC had recommended installing intersection-ahead warning signs. Staff reviewed the site and concluded the intersection was unobstructed, that stop bars and pavement markings had been improved, and that additional signs were unnecessary and could cause driver confusion. Councilors declined to direct installation of new signs there and instead asked staff to codify which TSAC recommendations that do not require an ordinance may be implemented administratively and to return to the committee with clarified procedures.
Council members said they want TSAC to remain a recommending body and not to assume authority to direct installations that do not require ordinances. Assistant City Manager Carol Vanzant said the city will follow up with TSAC and clarify that items requiring an ordinance will continue to come before council, while non‑ordinance operational changes can be approved by the city manager when staff determines they are warranted.
The council did not set effective dates for the traffic changes; staff said ordinances and signs will be brought back for formal adoption and installation at future meetings or as administratively appropriate.
Outcome and next steps: staff will prepare an ordinance to lower Nollehasse to 25 mph between Deets Elkhorn and Fair Oaks Parkway and will prepare an ordinance to add the fourth stop sign at Battle/Hansel/High Echelon; staff will not add signs at the Keeneland intersection absent further direction but will return with clarified TSAC procedures.
