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Home My WebLink About2021-08-31 - Agendas - FinalCITY OF _! FAYETTEVILLE ARKANSAS MEETING AGENDA City Council Transportation Committee Tuesday, August 31, 2021 5:30 pm or Immediately Following Agenda Session NOTICE: THE TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE WILL BE HELD VIRTUALLY WITH NO PHYSICAL LOCATION TO ATTEND VIDEO CONFERENCING BY ZOOM WILL BE USED FOR THIS MEETING. TO REGISTER FOR THE MEETING GO TO THIS LINK: Register Members: Matthew Petty, Chairperson; Sarah Bunch; Sonia Gutierrez; Holly Hertzberg City Staff: Chris Brown, Public Works Director/City Engineer; Terry Gulley, Asst. PW Director for Operations/Transportation Services Director Agenda: 1. Old Business: None 2. New Business: A. CITYWIDE SPEED LIMITS: Review of proposed changes to City Ordinance section 71.065(B) to revise speed limits to 20 mph unless otherwise posted on all City streets. Memo and draft ordinance language are attached. (Staff requests a recommendation from the Committee to the City Council on this item.) B. TRAFFIC CALMING PROJECTS: Review of traffic calming requests, and staff recommendations for installation at various locations. Detailed information to be provided at the Committee meeting. 3. Adjourn Mailing Address: 113 W. Mountain Street www.fayetteville-ar.gov Fayetteville, AR 72701 CITY OF ._ FAYETTEVILLE ARKANSAS TO: Transportation Committee THRU: Chris Brown, Public Works Director FROM: Dane Eifling, Mobility Coordinator DATE: 25, August 2021 SUBJECT: Speed Limit Ordinance RECOMMENDATION: Consider amending City ordinance related to default speed limits. STAFF MEMO BACKGROUND: The City's current ordinance sets the default speed limits of 20 MPH for business districts and 25 MPH for residential districts. The August 2019 meeting of the Transportation Committee approved a reduction of the speed limit on Prospect St, Trenton Blvd and Rebecca St as a pilot for lower residential speed limits. At the July 2020 Transportation Committee meeting the committee unanimously recommended an item unifying residential and business speed limits at 20 MPH be forwarded to City Council. DISCUSSION: Fayetteville City Plan 2040 sets desired operating speeds for each street classification. Street Classification Desired Operating Speed Residential Link 15-20 MPH Downtown/Urban 20-25 MPH Neighborhood Link 25-30MPH Regional Link 30-40 MPH NACTO guidance recommends setting safe speed limits for cities as follows. Street Classification NACTO Recommended Speed Limit Shared Streets & Alleys 10-20 MPH Minor Streets 20 MPH Major Streets 20-35 MPH The University of Arkansas Facilities Management has a plan to lower speed limits on and around the main UA campus. This plan is a response to a resolution from the Associated Student Government for Safer Streets following two fatal pedestrian crashes involving UA affiliates. University Staff is awaiting an ordinance change from the city in order to lower the speed limits. Mailing Address: 113 W. Mountain Street www.fayetteville-ar.gov Fayetteville, AR 72701 BUDGET/STAFF IMPACT: TBD Attachments: City of Fayetteville Ordinance 71.065 https://library.municode.com/ar/favetteville/codes/code of ordinances?nodeld=CD ORD TITVI ITRCO CH71TRRU ARTIVSPRE 71.065GESPRE City Plan 2040 https://www.fayetteville-ar.gov/DocumentCenterNiew/l 9993/12-3-2019-City-Plan-2040- Presentatinn NACTO "City Limits, Setting Safe Speed Limits on Urban Streets" https://nacto.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/NACTO CityLimits Spreads.pdf ORDINANCE NO. AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND §71.065 GENERAL SPEED LIMITATIONS OF THE FAYE7TEVILLE CODE TO REDUCE THE GENERAL SPEED RESTRICTIONS ON CITY STREETS TO 20 MILES PER HOUR BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS: Section l . That the City Council of the City of Fayetteville, Arkansas hereby amends §71.065 (B) General Speed Limitations of the Fayetteville Code by repealing it and enacting a new §71.065(B) as follows: "(B) Where no special hazard exists and unless otherwise posted or required by the goverment, 20 miles per hour shall be lawful, but any speed in excess of 20 miles per hour on city streets shall be prima facie evidence that the speed is not reasonable or prudent and that it is unlawful." PASSED and APPROVED this 5s' day of January, 2021. APPROVED: ATTEST: By: By: LIONELD JORDAN, Mayor KARA PAXTON, City Clerk/Treasurer L14� DEPARTMENTAL CORRESPONDENCE � �� OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY Kit Williams TO: Chris Brown, City Engineer city,ltt°r"ey Blake Pennington CC: Susan Norton, Chief of Staff As>i#nnt City Altomey Baik Garner Stoll, Development Services Director oih F"r"tleg tr FROM: Kit Williams, City Attorney I DATE: August 28, 2020 RE: City of Fayetteville's statutory authority to set speed limits on City streets (not state highways) Thanks, Chris, for your question about the City's power to regulate speed limits below the 30 MPH limit referred to in state statutes. It was almost as much fun trying to navigate the labyrinth of state statutes to determine whether the City can regulate speed limits on city sheets (not highways) as it is tdetermine h o can tax alcohol establishments. Obviously, it is not crystal clearow and how much we. Additionally, the law appears to have changed since the Arkansas Attorney General rendered Opinion No. 2003-131 when the Attorney General opined: "(T)hat the Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on Highways of Arkansas ... is not limited to the State Highway System, but applies to all highways, roads and streets in the State of Arkansas. If a road is 'open to the use of the public, as a matter of right, for purposes of vehicular traffic', it is a'street or highway' under the Uniform Act" (page 2) (Some of the A.G.'s authority for these statements have since been repealed.) "' Local authorities' have authority under the Uniform Act with respect to speed limits." (page 3) Unfortunately, when you look at current law, this power is not so clear. 'No person shall drive a vehicle upon a highway at a speed greater than is reasonable and prudent..." A.C.A. § 27-51-201(a)(emphasis added). Later in this same statute it states: "(T)he limits specified in this section or established as authorized shall be maximum lawful speeds, and a person shall not drive a vehicle on a highway at a speed in excess of: (1) Thirty miles per hour (30 m.p.h.) in any urban district." A.C.A. §27-51-201(c)(1) The obvious issue is whether "street" means the same thing as "highway" as the Attorney General implied. I do not think so. "Street" or "highway" are actually defined together and the same way in A.C.A. §27-49-114(28). If street and highway mean the same thing, then the 30 m.p.h. maximum speed limit in urban districts would also apply to streets, not just highways. A.C.A. §27-510-204(a) states: "The maximum speed limits under §27-51-201 (quoted above) shall apply to all vehicles using the facility ..." Huh? Now the statute refers to "facility" instead of a highway or street? Confusing. However, we do find some real clarity about the Legislature's intent in A.C.A. §27-51- 207 Assistance to local authorities in determining limits. "Local authorities may request professional assistance of the Arkansas Department of Transportation determining reasonable and prudent maximum and minimum speeds for arterial highways, roads, and streets not on the state highway system in their respective jurisdictions." This reveals a clear intention to differentiate between city streets and state highways. Therefore, I do not believe the City of Fayetteville is bound to follow 30 m.p.h. standard for "highways" when determining allowable speed limits for city streets. My conclusion is not much helped by A.C.A. §27-49-106(b)(5) which says a city can exercise its police power for: "Regulating the speed of vehicles in parks" but makes no mention of city streets. Why did the legislature believe it had to authorize the regulatory power of a city to control the speed of vehicles "in parks" if vehicles could be regulated throughout the city? A final irony is that I believe the City is free to regulate its desired speed limits even down to 20 m.p.h. city-wide except for school zones. "A school zone ... shall be posted with appropriate signs showing: `School _ 25 M.P.H. WHEN CHILDREN ARE PRESENT". I guess when children are not present, the City Council can mandate 20 M.P.H. To lower the 25 M.P.H. all the time to 20 M.P.H. for school zones is not allowed "unless a special traffic engineering study for a specific school zone produces other recommendations for that school zone." Id I believe the Fayetteville School District said they have 17 campuses, often fronting unto more than one street/school zone. That is a lot of individual "special traffic engineering" studies. A reduction to 25 M.P.H. rather than 20 M.P.H. would not be so costly and confusing to drivers to implement.