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Council reviews speed-hump policy, directs staff to improve resident guidance
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Summary
City staff reviewed Haruba Valley—s speed-hump policy, reiterating that humps are limited to local residential streets and are a last-resort traffic-calming tool. Council asked for clearer outreach materials and a repeatable response process that prioritizes studies and low-cost fixes before petitions for humps.
City staff presented the city—s existing policy and procedures for speed-hump installations and the council asked staff to produce clearer guidance for residents.
Public Works Director Paul Tor summarized the policy history and engineering constraints, saying the city—s current policy (adopted in 2018 and updated in 2020) requires broad neighborhood participation before a hump will be considered. "Staff's recommendation... is receive and file," Paul Tor said, explaining that petitions must generally show strong neighborhood support and that speed humps are only permitted on two-lane residential streets with a posted or default 25 mph limit.
Deputy City Engineer Steve Loriso described the technical thresholds staff uses to evaluate complaints, including a speed survey and an "85th-percentile" threshold for defining speeding. He also noted lower-cost alternatives the city favors: striping, edge lines, visual narrowing, mobile speed-feedback signs and targeted enforcement, and demonstrated a recently purchased covert speed-count device ("Stealthstat") used to collect true speed and volume data.
A member of the public, George Ruiz, urged the council to study specific streets he called hazardous and offered to help gather petition signatures. "I would encourage you to actually look at that street," Ruiz said, citing high child density and frequent high-speed driving on Linares Avenue.
Councilmembers pressed staff on process details: how the 300-foot petition area is defined, who verifies signatures, and how quickly the staff study is completed. Staff said the engineering team conducts the initial fieldwork and that a complete petition triggers a neighborhood study that typically takes two to three weeks. Staff also confirmed petitions come from residents and that the city will notify affected addresses.
Rather than immediate policy changes, the council directed staff to produce an easily shared brochure or white paper explaining the complaint-to-resolution pathway and to consider a standardized "traffic safety response kit" that explains the sequencing of remedies (study and paint/striping first; humps only as a later option). Staff agreed to develop that communication package and to continue using the toolbox of treatments, coordinating as needed with police enforcement and the Public Works Advisory Committee.
The item was discussed during a study session and no formal council action was requested; staff restated the recommendation to receive and file the report and to return with the communications materials.
