Council considers four-way stop on 12th

By Andy Hallman

The JOURNAL

The intersection of Taylor Street and South 12th Avenue was the subject of much discussion at the Washington City Council?s meeting Wednesday. The council has heard from residents who would like to make the intersection a four-way stop. Only Taylor Street has stops now.

The council voted 5-1 to pass the first reading of an ordinance to install stop signs on 12th Avenue at the intersection with Taylor. Councilors Fred Stark, Bob Shepherd, Merlin Hagie, Mark Kendall and Bob Shellmyer voted in favor of the ordinance. Councilor Russ Zieglowsky voted against it.

Stark said that stretch of 12th Avenue, from Adams Street south to Fillmore Street, is one of the longest stretches in town without a stop sign. He said the street presents a danger because it is narrow and has a small shoulder. He also said the council should consider the close proximity of the park to the intersection. There is a park east of the baseball fields that includes playground equipment.

Shepherd supported the four-way stop but wanted to make sure the council understood that stop signs cannot be installed just to slow traffic.

?I don?t want to set a precedent that we use stop signs to control speed,? he said. ?Marion Avenue has 12 blocks without a stop sign. There is a playground a quarter block away from this intersection. That?s a better reason for a stop sign than speeding. We could have a stop sign at every single intersection and it would not solve our problems. Everyone would be up in arms because they were stopping and stopping and stopping and using two to three times as much fuel.?

Hagie said the state of Iowa has made it clear to the city that stop signs are not to be used for speed control. He said he supported the four-way stop because of the absence of sidewalks along 12th Avenue.

Zieglowsky said there were other streets in town where motorists speed, such as on West Main Street by Sunset Park. He asked the council why there are no stop signs on that street in that part of town. He said there are five times as many kids who visit Sunset Park than who visit the park near 12th Avenue.

Shellmyer said he supported the four-way stop because there are day care centers whose kids cross that intersection to play at the park. He asked that the three-readings be waived and that the measure just be passed after a single reading. Mayor Sandra Johnson said she does not like waiving an ordinance reading and especially does not like waiving two.

In other news, the council:

? voted 6-0 to approve the street reconfiguration around the middle school so that the parking along the east side of the building will be reserved as a drop-off zone on school days. The council had earlier talked about closing part of Third Avenue west of the middle school but decided not to do that.

? discussed department budgets and how much they have grown. Shellmyer asked Hinson at the July 18 meeting for a list of how much each department?s budget has increased. Hinson said at the July 25 meeting that he would give Shellmyer that information but he reminded the council that personnel management is his purview. Shellmyer said he wanted to keep a close eye on the budget because five of the 10 city departments overspent their budgets in the past year.

? talked about altering the parking along Second Avenue near the intersection with Third Street to improve the visibility for traffic coming from the west. Hagie said the parking space on that block that is reserved for compact cars is often used by large cars. He said the city should consider eliminating that parking spot.