HomeMy WebLinkAboutProvisional Adoption of Ordinance No. 1758, Amendments to Chapter 10, Municipal Code1
Commission Memorandum
REPORT TO: Honorable Mayor and City Commission
FROM: Debbie Arkell, Director of Public Services
Chris Kukulski, City Manager
SUBJECT: Ordinance No. 1758 amending sections of Chapter 10.24, Speed Limits, of
the Bozeman Municipal Code
MEETING DATE: April 6, 2009
BACKGROUND: This Ordinance was provided to the Commission on March 23, 2009 to
provide you with time to review the proposed changes before this public hearing. The intent of
the revisions is to clean up the Ordinance to eliminate antiquated references and
revise/add/delete speed limits in certain areas. Additions are shown in underline and deletions in
strikeout. The following is a summary or clarification of the major amendments. A detailed
summary of each change is provided in the attached report:
1. Section 10.24.010.A provides that in the future, speed limits will be altered by
Commission Resolution (rather than an Ordinance amendment), upon investigation and
recommendation by the City Engineer. (page 1)
2. Section 10.24.010.C was added to allow temporary speed limits to be set without a
complete study in the event they are needed for odd circumstances. (page 2)
3. School Crossing Zones (pages 5 and 12) have been deleted as the zones are covered
under school speed limits. (Section 10.24.030, page 8)
4. Public Park Speed Zones are established for streets adjacent to certain parks (Section
10.24.020.A.6 - page 5) and are specified in Section 10.24.040 (page 12). Currently, 15
mph speed zones are posted adjacent to Bogert, Kirk, and Centennial Parks, and Section
10.24.040 adds several more parks. The speed limits are set at 15 mph between the hours
of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., 7 days a week.
5. Section 10.24.030 (page 8) revises and establishes speed zones on certain streets adjacent
to public schools. The major change in this section is that the speed limit will be
effective 24 hours a day/365 days a year (versus 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 pm M-F). This change
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is suggested because there are a variety of before and after school activities and there are
many year-round activities at the schools.
6. Section 10.24.050 (page 14) establishes speed limits greater than 25 mph on certain
streets. These speed limits have either already been established by the current Ordinance
or by speed studies approved by City, County or State Highway Commissions and are
being reiterated, or are being established based on recent speed studies by the City
Engineering Office or MDT. Streets with new speed limits are: West Babcock Street (30
mph from Main Street to Cottonwood Road); Baxter Lane (varies, 30 to 45 mph); Bridger
Drive (add speed limit signs to reflect limits recently established by Montana
Transportation Commission); Davis Lane (35 mph); Durston Road (30 mph from N. 7th
to Ferguson and 35 mph from Ferguson to City limits, excepting 20 mph on school days
at N. 25th Avenue school crossing as signed by the new variable speed limit sign); Oak
Street (35 mph from N. 19th to New Holland Drive).
7. Section 10.24.060 (page 21) is a new section establishing a penalty for violations, as
recommended by the City Attorney’s staff. Current fines for speeding are $20, $40, $70
and $100 based on a schedule in §61-8-725 MCA. This schedule was always used for
state highways, but until about 8 years ago, a separate schedule was used when we
realized this code section applied to all speeding citations, not just highway speeding
citations. This discovery and change drastically reduced the fines generated by speeding
citations.
All other traffic citations in Municipal Court are set at $100 (with few exceptions).
Adding this schedule will allow the officers to cite under the City Ordinance for speeding
and allow the Court to impose fines more consistent with what we were charging years
ago, and they would be more consistent with the rest of the fines imposed by the Court.
This new fine schedule will eliminate the $35 administrative surcharge we have to
impose under state code. If fines are increased as proposed, drivers will likely be more
inclined to be careful to avoid the higher fine.
RECOMMENDATION: That the Commission pass Ordinance No. 1758, amending sections of
Chapter 10.24, Speed Limits, of the Bozeman Municipal Code.
FISCAL EFFECTS: The cost of a new speed limit sign, including the post (but not including
installation time) is $55 each. Any sign removed will be reused elsewhere, if its condition
allows. Existing posts will be used whenever possible, which will reduce the costs. In areas
such as the parks, it is likely posts will be needed. The costs of the additional signs can be
absorbed in the Signs/Signals and Streets budgets.
ALTERNATIVES: As suggested by the City Commission.
Attachments: Ordinance No. 1758
Staff Report
Report compiled on April 1, 2009
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