Lake Forest Park’s City Council on Thursday approved two actions aimed at reducing speeding in neighborhood and school corridors: the purchase of four ATS Speed Alert 24 radar message sign trailers and formal acceptance of a speed analysis and equity impact study that recommends deploying new speed cameras on State Routes 522 and 104.

Chief Harting told the council the trailers provide a mobile visual deterrent and collect vehicle-count and speed data useful for enforcement and planning. He said the total purchase is $85,403.66 and will be paid from the city's restricted traffic safety fund; he also noted the units are “LPR-ready” if the city later chooses to add license-plate-reading capability. Council asked how data would be handled; Harting said the trailers collect only vehicle speed and volume, not plate information, and any future plate data collection would be governed by city policy.

Administrator Hill summarized the Transpo Group speed study and an EcoNorthwest equity analysis for SR 522 and SR 104. The studies identify speeding and collision risk in specified corridors, recommend three camera locations (three sites with six camera faces, i.e., one in each direction), and suggest a staged implementation for SR 522: a warning and higher enforcement threshold for the first six months (9 mph over the limit) followed by the city’s typical 6-mph enforcement threshold thereafter. Hill said implementation may require vendor coordination, Seattle City Light power hookups at some sites and an 8-to-10-month lead time for SR 104 locations.

Council members pressed administration on staffing and cost implications. Hill said prior data suggest roughly 90% of recorded violations lead to citations and that the additional workload could trigger staffing escalators already included in the adopted budget; he warned that implementing widespread 24/7 enforcement on SR 522 could require extra staff and even leased space. Councilmember Lebo successfully moved an amendment requiring administration to report back to council if implementation requires additional FTEs or budget authority beyond what was already authorized.

The council also voted to record formal findings required by state law — that SR 522 and SR 104 are traveled by vulnerable road users, show evidence of speeding and collisions, and that other mitigation measures are anticipated to be infeasible in the studied corridors — to support potential future camera installations.

The council suspended the three-touch rule to approve the trailer purchase and voted to adopt the two related resolutions. Chief Harting and Administrator Hill said the trailers and study acceptance are intended to give the city both short-term speed reduction tools and the data to prioritize longer-term solutions.

Next steps: administration will work with vendors (VeriMobility and others), Seattle City Light for power where needed, and the courts to refine implementation language; it will return to council if staffing or budget beyond the approved escalator thresholds is needed.