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Council reviews proposal to broaden traffic-calming tools beyond speed bumps
Summary
Council considered an ordinance to expand permitted traffic-calming measures citywide and assign initial siting decisions to a three-official team (police chief, fire chief, public-works director) unless they are unable to agree; staff outlined benefits, device types and concerns including emergency response impacts.
A council member introduced proposed changes to the city code to authorize a range of traffic-calming measures beyond the existing speed-bump–only language and to streamline decision-making for installations.
The proposal would allow nonintrusive measures (gateway signage, pavement narrowing, pole-mounted speed-display signs), vertical devices (speed tables, raised crosswalks) and horizontal measures (curb extensions, chokers and medians). The ordinance would authorize the chief of police, the fire chief and the director of public works to decide appropriate measures and locations; if those three officials cannot agree, the matter would come to council for final action. As the introducer put it, the change "would be to A allow all those different forms of traffic calming measures, B allow them wherever in the city they might be necessary, and C set up the chief of police, the fire chief and the director of public works as the three officials who would get together and decide where those measures are needed." (paraphrase of council discussion.)
Public-works staff (Josh Santelli) outlined the usual implementation steps: engineering study, conceptual plan, community outreach, and construction. He warned of trade-offs that councils commonly face, including possible increased emergency response time, snow-plow impacts, noise and maintenance costs for vertical devices.
Council opened the public hearing; one previously signed speaker (Mark Burroughs) had left the chambers and no additional public comments were recorded. The item remains under consideration; staff did not request immediate council action beyond the hearing and the presentation.
