The details
The idea of the four-way stop sign began as a resident request, city staff said during the meeting.
The police department has received several complaints from a couple of people living along the streets, Tomball Chief of Police Jeff Bert said during the meeting.
“Multiple times in the four years that I've been here, [we’ve] put up speed surveys to look at what is the speed in a 30-mile-an-hour zone, and the rising average speed is 14.86 miles per hour combined,” Bert said during the meeting.
Bert said the department's studies do not show that there is a speeding problem on the street. However, City Manager David Esquivel said there are other reasons besides the speed data to consider.
“That [speed] doesn't warrant it outright—that doesn't mean we can't establish a four-way stop there,” Esquivel said during the meeting. “When we went out there and looked ... [the] intersection is not perfectly perpendicular to each other. ... There is a slight curve, there's some established trees, and so there are other warrants, other than the data, that we are required to factor in.”
What this means
There will be a stop sign at the intersection; however, city officials can decide at a later date to remove the sign, Bert said.
“If we do something and we've engineered something in a way that we think at the end of the day is creating another problem ... if it doesn't work, I think the city has the flexibility and adaptability to change gears and maybe take the stop sign out if it doesn’t work,” Bert said.
What they’re saying
- “I just walk around over there and see the employees driving in there, very, very fast and I feel like they are allowed to build speed all the way from Zion [Road] traveling northbound on Stella [Lane] to Camille [Drive], at which point they take that 90-degree turn, almost on two wheels. Then that's a very dangerous area because so many children walk to the school bus stop from there,” council member Lisa Covington said during the meeting. “So I feel like an opportunity to slow them down would greatly improve safety for the children in the dark, especially in the mornings, trying to catch the school bus.”
- “I err on the side of safety, but I'm just trying to be objective, listening [and] hearing,” council member Paul Garcia said during the meeting. “So we've got maybe two complaints, there's no data that says people are speeding. ... Why would we do it other than erring on the side of safety, which is an important factor, obviously.”
- “I'm just saying that speed hasn't been a warning factor. But you have students out there and we do have neighbor complaints,” Bert said during the meeting. “And sometimes those are ... absolutely the voices we need to listen to.”
View the intersection below.
