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Lakewood staff to study targeted photo speed enforcement, council seeks clearer safety case and spending plan
Summary
City attorney and police described a tentative approach to expanding photo speed enforcement; council members pressed for evidence on safety impact, clarification about a 25% state share and how the Cooper Jones fund and census-tract spending rules would affect allocations. Staff will return with site-specific data and funding scenarios.
City attorney Heidi Wachter and police briefed the council on plans to study possible expansion of photo speed enforcement cameras, including candidate locations adjacent to parks and schools.
Wachter said staffs early work will focus on whether the city can design a program that improves safety once the statutory requirements and the states share of revenues are accounted for.
"We are not coming back next week with a proposal for automated traffic cameras," Wachter said, asking councilors for direction to pursue a deeper cost-and-benefit analysis. She noted the statute would require a portion of revenues to flow into a state fund (the Cooper Jones Transportation Act fund) and that the law specifies proportional spending in low-income census tracts.
Council members repeatedly asked whether cameras would improve traffic safety around schools and parks or primarily serve as a revenue source. Capt. Peter Johnson said the city has two traffic officers and one sergeant and emphasized the cameras are meant to support enforcement where officer presence is limited. He also noted the department will receive telematics speed and volume data through a state grant starting in January, which staff said will allow them to identify corridors with elevated speeds without collecting identifying vehicle data.
Why it matters: the statutes census-tract provisions affect how cities can allocate funds; staff told council the law aims to direct spending to under-served areas. Wachter and Troy Proksoinski, planning and public works division manager, said Lakewood likely has qualifying census tracts and that staff will map eligible areas, candidate camera locations and projected revenue and expense scenarios.
Next steps: staff will produce a deeper report with specific camera locations, telematics-derived speed and volume analyses, estimates of program costs and the statutory spending implications; they expect further work to take a few months before a formal proposal returns to council.
