LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council on Tuesday gave staff the go-ahead to move forward on a traffic control project to control speeds in a residential area on 20th Street.

Acting Public Works Director Doug Grider took the lead on the presentation for the plans on 20th Street, with support from Police Chief Brad Rasmussen.

Last month, as the result of a state-required speed survey that determines speed limits, the council voted to raise the speed limit on 20th Street between Alden Avenue and Hartley Street from 25 to 30 miles per hour, as Lake County News reported.

The city has to post speed limits based on the 85th percentile of speeds recorded. The speeds in that area actually put the required speed at 35 miles per hour, but due to safety concerns traffic engineer Phil Dow, who conducted the study, was able to use his limited discretion under state law to recommend a speed of 30 miles per hour.

City officials assured the neighborhood's concerned residents that they would begin increased enforcement in the area in order to push speeds down.

Rasmussen's officers already have begun making stops in the area. Additionally, he's developed an enforcement plan and authored a press release notifying the community of increased patrols and the safety concerns in that area of 20th Street.

Grider said city staff believes that a combination of the traffic enforcement Rasmussen is working on and the plan to make striping improvements along that stretch of roadway would reduce speeds.

In their written report to the council, Grider and Rasmussen said the police and public works departments, along with the Community Development Department and the city's engineer, were working together to create and implement the plan.

They concluded that the best plan – the most effective and affordable – involved striping the street with white fog lines 9 feet out from each curb and adding a double yellow center line. City staff also proposes installing raised traffic dots, which would narrow the travel lanes to approximately 11 feet wide, which is meant to create a visual narrowing effect and cause drivers to slow down.

Grider said they were asking for funding not to exceed $10,000 to move forward with the striping program's design and implementation.

Councilwoman Stacey Mattina asked Grider if staff had talked to Dow, about the idea. Grider said yes. Rasmussen added that Dow believes the plan is a good idea.

Community Development Director Kevin Ingram said such lane narrowing is the least expensive option as well as an effective one, and has been shown to reduce speeds by 3 to 4 miles per hour even without other enforcement measures.

Mattina moved to approve the proposal, with the council voting 5-0.

In other news, the council heard a presentation on a proposed sprintboat race in the summer of 2017 and gave support to the organizer to move forward on the next steps; held a public hearing and awarded a $65,931 bid to Leete Generators for two trailer-mounted generators; authorized an amendment to correct a $45,000 error in the Public Works budget due to an accounting system input error; and appointed Dave Thompson to be the council's member on the public educational governmental channel board.

The introduction of new employees Chris Pion and Larry Meldrum was postponed due to a scheduling conflict, Grider said.

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