Highland Village City Council has still made no decisions dealing with modifying speed limits in the city.

During a work session April 11, council gave direction to police to add stop signs on Lakeside and Hillside drives as they intersect with Lake Breeze Drive. The recommendation will be placed on the upcoming agenda for council to act on.

Highland Village Police Chief Doug Reim discussed speed limits in the city with council members, who hold conflicting views on what the city should do. Reim provided some data for council, who heard an idea for a pilot program to lower speeds in the Hillside/Lakeside area.

That data focused on speeding violations in Highland Village—3,667 from 2020-22, and that number occurred on major thoroughfares and residential streets. Village Parkway had the highest number of speeding violations—2,028— while Highland Village Road had 482, and Briarhill Boulevard had 417. Residential streets—Brazos Boulevard, Barnett Boulevard and three others—had 60 violations all told, or less than 1% overall in each category. Most people that were pulled over received warnings—more than 2,600—while the rest received citations.

The subject of speeding drivers also was discussed at the March 28 work session, when Mayor Daniel Jaworski said that speeding drivers are an issue he gets the most resident complaints about—next to garbage collection.

“We have done speed studies in our neighborhoods, and generally, 30 mph on the roadway is what we see,” said Highland Village City Manager Paul Stevens. “Now, the Lakeside-Hillside area, it ranks anywhere from 24 to 28 mph. In looking at 30 mph citywide, there really doesn’t appear to be a huge speeding problem. Of course, you’ve always got a handful of people that are going to be speed. There’s always that issue.”

Stevens said there was sentiment that the 30 mph limit was too fast for residential streets, as neighborhoods feature bicyclists, pedestrians and children sharing the roads. Traffic accidents in neighborhoods are minimal, as are pedestrian accidents, Stevens said.

“However, there does seem to be public support for lowering the speed limits for making our streets even safer than they already are,” he said.

Stevens also noted that in past discussions, there has been no consensus on lowering speed limits to 25 mph. But in examining the Hillside-Lakeside area, it could “be a good pilot project” to try the 25 mph limit, he said. He said the project could be accomplished by council action, with an ordinance to adopt that measure.

Council Member Tom Heslep said he thought a pilot program could be conducted in two areas of town—in the Hillside/Lakeside area and in a place with “good cross section,” he said. Speeding monitors could be used to determine efficacy of the program, Stevens said. The council would have to approve any pilot program.

Heslep wants lower speed limits, while fellow Council Member Mike Lombardo didn’t see the point in dropping the speed limit 5 miles an hour, because “5 mph isn’t going to make a difference with the perception of somebody speeding down the road.” A 20 mph zone would be “ridiculous,” he said, adding it would be a “school zone-type of of situation.”

“I don’t see the problem,” Council Member Jon Kixmiller said. “I hear anecdotal [evidence].”

He added that he has heard from people who asked the city not lower speed limits.

“I think it’s a problem that has not presented itself,” he said.

A lot of the solution lies in personal accountability and responsibility, Kixmiller added, noting children should not be allowed to play in the streets.

Stevens said there’s a bill in the Texas legislative session now to clarify on how state law requires a traffic study to lower the speed limit. But many cities have decided that a speed limit below 30 would be safe, he said.

Reim said he thought a combination approach would be best, explaining that placing stop signs with new speed limits all over the town would not take into consideration feeder streets and other streets involved. He would take whatever action the city and council decide. He did, though, say he would not conduct a pilot program because of the data and number of accidents, but he would support the program if he’s directed to do so.