Council hopes stop sign will reduce speeding
By Matt Pelkey
In an effort to reduce speeding, the Washington Town Council voted 4-2 at its meeting on March 12 to add a stop sign on Main Street in Washington.
Council members Jerry Goebel and Jean Goodine cast the two opposing votes, arguing that it was not the best solution to the town's speeding problems. Council member Jeff Benson was not present at the meeting.
The Virginia Department of Transportation will place the sign at the intersection of Main and Porter streets in 60 to 90 days, said the department's regional planner David Cubbage, making it a four-way stop.
The council's vote immediately followed a heated public hearing in which Washington residents demanded that council members address speeding in town, and was met with applause from the approximately 20-person audience.
Washington is home to Rappahannock's county offices, about 180 residents and numerous bed and breakfasts. The town's narrow 25-mph streets are frequented by pedestrians.
Currently only one stop sign restricts traffic on Main Street, which connects to Route 211.
Town council member John Fox Sullivan urged VDOT's Cubbage to put the new sign in place expeditiously.
"I would plead with you to see if we could get this up fairly promptly," he said.
The council has been looking to crack down on speeders since at least the summer of 2004, when concerned residents petitioned for an analysis of speeding in Washington, said town clerk Laura Dodd. The subsequent VDOT study found that in one day there were 58 instances of speeders traveling faster than 45 mph on Washington's 25-mph streets. A similar study had been conducted a year earlier, but it was deemed flawed.
Dodd said a VDOT official presented anti-speeding measures to the town council following the release of the study results. She said the council decided in October 2004 to purchase a radar unit that measures and displays how fast a vehicle is traveling.
Calls to address speeding in town arose again this past summer when residents documented numerous vehicles exceeding the speed limit on Main Street.
At the council's request, in September VDOT's Cubbage laid out options to control speeding, including the use of stop signs.
At last week's public hearing, some town residents berated the council for not moving quickly enough.
"This seems like something that gets extended every month," said Washington resident John MacPherson.
Almost all of the residents who spoke at the hearing expressed support for the stop sign.
Town Mayor Eugene Leggett said he favored the stop sign as well as upping the penalty for speeding to $200 and putting up signs that warn drivers of the steep fines -- an option that the council has considered and some town residents have advocated for.
Leggett said that earlier this month he and Vice Mayor Jean Goodine met with Sheriff Connie Compton Smith to discuss both possibilities. Leggett said Smith was skeptical about how effective the stop sign would be and said it might create a noise problem, as trucks and motorcycles would have to down shift to stop.
Leggett said any issues with the stop sign could be easily solved by removing it.
Washington resident Gary Schwartz said that vehicle noise is already a problem on Main Street and should be addressed separately by the town council.
According to Mayor Leggett, Sheriff Smith thought that increasing the fines and stepping up enforcement would better address speeding.
Smith was not immediately available for comment.
To aid with enforcement, Leggett proposed a study to determine when speeding most often occurs.
The day after the council's meeting the Sheriff's Office put in speed monitoring devices on Main Street.
The council needs to hold a public hearing to discuss the possibility of instating increased speeding fines, but does not plan to do so until May at the earliest.
Council to require wastewater connection
Washington Town Attorney John Bennett said at last week's council meeting that homes and businesses in Washington will be required to hook up to the town's proposed wastewater system.
"If you're in the service district you'll have to hook up," he said.
Bennett's statement marked the first time that a town official publicly stated that participation in the wastewater system will be mandatory. Previously, council members had expressed interest in requiring participation, but Bennett had noted that the legal backing for such a decision would have to be explored.
The minimum cost to hook up to the wastewater system is $7,500, with that price increasing by step with greater expected usage. Connection fees for Washington homes and businesses were originally estimated to be $10,000.
Laura Dodd said need-based grants to cover the hook-up fees could be pursued with several agencies.
With hook-up, a small pump house will be installed, but property owners will be responsible for then connecting the pump houses to their buildings.
Bennett said that other counties were charging as much as $25,000 for wastewater hook-ups.
Monthly charges for wastewater service are estimated to start at $19.50.
Bennett's remarks came during a public hearing in which town residents asked about the cost of connecting to the system and the appearance and function of the pump houses that will be installed.
The hearing was one of the last hurdles before the council can take bids on construction of the system.
"We're very close... to having a project that we can take to construction," said Herb White III, president of the engineering firm that is designing the wastewater system.
E-mail the reporter at mpelkey@timespapers.com.