Westover Acres residents press City of West Columbia to revisit stop signs, short-term rentals and safety measures

Terry Mosley, a West Columbia resident, told the mayor and city council that stop signs installed last October in the Westover Acres neighborhood have caused driveway blockages and division among neighbors and that the process used to install them was based on inaccurate claims.

"You have one of the stop signs that's three or four feet from one of these individual's driveway, and in the morning and in the afternoon, there's four or five cars deep. She could not get out of her driveway if she had to," Mosley said during the meeting's public comment period. She also said a requester had claimed on email and in a community meeting that pets had been hit and people hospitalized — claims she said were not true.

The council discussed next steps and several council members asked staff to request that the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) re-evaluate specific intersections in Westover Acres rather than launch a citywide review. Among the locations singled out for targeted review were Cardinal and Robincrest, Terrace View and Riviera, and the area around Whippoorwill where a digital speed/stop device is currently installed.

Council members and other speakers suggested a mix of alternatives or mitigations to reduce speeds and improve safety, including narrowing lanes with pavement markings or adding bike lanes to give the visual effect of a narrower roadway, and relocating the digital device. Speakers also said SCDOT engineers had told the neighborhood that stop signs are not a traffic‑speed control and that the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) and SCDOT guidance include siting standards; Mosley said she understood driveways must be kept clear and cited a 12‑foot clearance guideline she referenced from that guidance.

Council members urged patience and neighborhood reconciliation while the technical and process issues are reviewed. One council member said the underlying problem appeared to be process and communication rather than the principle of traffic calming, noting other city neighborhoods had adopted stop signs and seen calming effects when the installations were handled differently.

Mosley also raised public‑safety concerns unrelated to signage: recent late‑night door‑ringing incidents, people recording driving runs with GoPro cameras after stop signs were installed, and frequent short‑term rentals she said have created noise and safety problems. She asked the council to consider regulating short‑term rentals in residential neighborhoods to require minimum stays of 30 days, a policy other jurisdictions have considered and some local homeowner associations already use. A council member responded that reviewing short‑term rental rules was one of the council's goals for the year.

Other attendees suggested exploring license‑plate camera systems used by nearby towns and national groups offering traffic‑calming advice; a council member noted potential legal ramifications of camera scanning and said any such approach would require further legal and privacy review.

The council did not take any final policy votes during public comment, but several members directed staff to contact SCDOT for targeted rechecks at the intersections named by Mosley and to return to council with findings before any broad, citywide review was requested.