Chester council holds first reading of traffic-calming ordinance to formalize speed-hump process

Deputy Mayor West and members of the Chester City Council on Oct. 6 heard the first reading of Bill No. 4, a proposed ordinance to add new Article 5-13, “Traffic Calming Measures,” to the city code. The bill would establish criteria and a formal process for installing traffic-calming devices on city-owned roadways intended to reduce speeds in residential areas.

City public-works staff said the ordinance mostly codifies an existing process reviewed last week by the public-works committee and modeled in part on Concord Township guidelines. “Residents ... would get signatures of 50% plus 1 of their resident neighbors from that given block,” Mr. Heumann, a city public-works staff member, told the council, describing the petition threshold that would start the review process. Heumann said staff would inspect requested locations, confirm whether installations meet PennDOT guidance and then forward a recommendation from the city engineer to council.

The ordinance text discussed at the meeting includes several technical constraints: public-works staff cited distance-from-intersection and street grade limits and said state-owned roads would be excluded from the city’s program. Heumann also noted that the city would rely on traffic studies to confirm speeds and the number of violators before recommending installation. “There are certain distances from, intersections or the grade of the street, for example, that can be a hindrance,” he said.

Council members asked for documentation of the draft ordinance and supporting materials. Heumann confirmed he had circulated the traffic-calming materials by email and agreed to re-share them with Councilman Shaiquan Davis. He also told the council that Collier’s remains the city engineer available to provide engineering recommendations.

This meeting covered the ordinance’s first reading only; no final vote or adoption was recorded on Oct. 6. The ordinance, as discussed, would establish a multistep process (resident petition, staff inspection per PennDOT guidelines, traffic study, city-engineer recommendation, then council action) before any traffic-calming device is installed.