Snoqualmie council approves ordinance authorizing school‑zone automated speed cameras

Snoqualmie — The Snoqualmie City Council on March 9 unanimously approved ordinance 13-16, adding chapter 10.13 to the Snoqualmie Municipal Code to authorize automated traffic safety cameras for school‑zone enforcement.

Public safety concerns and a multi‑day speed study underpinned the move. "Our community has one of the highest populations of kids, so this is a high priority," Public Safety Chair Wotton said during deliberations. Council members said the cameras are one tool among several, including road design changes and police enforcement.

Council members and residents said the speed study showed widespread speeding near Mount Si/Meadowbrook school corridors. Council member Christiansen cited study results during debate: "Over a three‑day period there were 1,615 violations, about 1,200 at 27 mph and up, 277 in the 32–36 range and 49 over 37 mph," underscoring the scale of the problem raised by neighbors and school staff.

Several residents told council they had witnessed repeated dangerous driving near schools. "I typically leave for work at like 5 in the morning…a car came blasting through the four‑way stop…cruising about 40," Andrew Wissink said, urging the council to proceed. Bus driver Stephanie McNamara said cameras would reinforce that "children are involved when they are in a school district."

Council members debated an amendment by Council member Holloway to require any establishment or change of minimum enforcement parameters be presented to and approved by the council. Holloway said she worried a for‑profit vendor or cost pressures could influence enforcement levels. The amendment failed after council discussion about operational discretion and statutory limits.

City legal counsel and police leadership clarified implementation constraints under state law: automated systems provide evidence to local officers, but only sworn officers may issue infractions; school‑zone enforcement is limited to posted school‑hours under state statute. Interim Chief Haracey explained typical calibration practice, saying school‑hour thresholds are often more stringent and off‑hour thresholds are set higher so the system can support both modes without lowering enforcement below state minimums.

The ordinance passed unanimously. Wotton said the ordinance authorizes the city to solicit vendor proposals but does not itself contract with a provider or immediately change enforcement. Council members emphasized that each camera citation will continue to be reviewed by local officers and that the next step is staff procurement of proposals and a future council decision on program details.

The council also discussed privacy and operational safeguards: Wotton said the systems being considered do not provide real‑time tracking of drivers and that the vendor‑provided images would be used by police for review rather than be used to issue tickets automatically.

The next steps are for staff to prepare requests for proposals and return with vendor quotes and proposed implementation details for council review before any enforcement begins.