Staff outlines traffic‑calming ordinance revisions; council review targeted for July 15

City planning staff provided an update on the draft traffic‑calming ordinance, answering commissioner questions about slope limits, stop signs and speeding on Business Highway 20 and outlining the next steps for council review.

Staff noted the ordinance has no major changes from the prior draft. On slope limits, staff said areas above an 8% threshold are not suitable for speed bumps because of safety concerns: "So in that instance, those areas above 8%, you wouldn't wanna put speed bumps," the planner said, and public works will check slopes during any site analysis for requested traffic calming devices. Stop signs are not included in the traffic‑calming ordinance itself; staff said individual stop‑sign requests can be evaluated by public works and typically require city council review. For Business Highway 20, staff reported the street is an arterial and not a typical target for the traffic‑calming ordinance; staff has discussed signage, crosswalk repainting and striping with public works and forwarded speeding concerns to the police department.

Commissioners raised frustrations about previous poor striping work in town; staff said the city had contracted an inexperienced crew earlier and has included funds in the June 17 council budget to restripe the city with an experienced contractor. Staff said the traffic‑calming ordinance draft will be posted on the city web site and included in the July newsletter ahead of the city council packet; staff is targeting the July 15 council meeting for consideration.