By Kevin Boneske
Staff Writer
HOWARD – Any reduction to the speed limit near Duck Creek Quarry Park will have to wait until next year.
Upon the recommendation of Geoff Farr, Howard public works director, the village board agreed Monday, Sept. 10, to table action on an ordinance amendment to reduce the speed limit from 25 to 15 mph on Glendale Avenue between Maywood Avenue and Lakeview Drive and consider installing official Quarry Park signage, entrances and pedestrian improvements as part of the 2019 budget process.
Farr noted that section of roadway, where there is a parking area used for the park, services the park beach as well as four homes, the Brown County Highway Department and a business at the intersection of Glendale and Lakeview.
“I think the concern here is really about safety,” said Farr, who pointed out areas where 15 mph speed zones exist in the village include school zones and parks.
In his report to the board, Farr said constructing official park driveway entrances, signage and intersection improvements at the Maywood Avenue and Lakeview Drive intersections with Glendale Avenue would convey to the public that “the Quarry Park area is now less of a street and more of a park, due to the changed use, surroundings and activity levels.”
“That would complement the speed change,” he said. “Also, there’s some regional planning going on… It might be more beneficial to wait on a decision and continue to table this item, because the (summer) season is essentially completed and that we have time to work on this a little bit more (in) the fall and winter.”
The board previously tabled action on a possible speed limit reduction two weeks earlier when it approved a series of parking restrictions near Duck Creek Quarry Park, a popular summertime swimming area, and also banned smoking there.
Board members corrected a provision in those parking restrictions at the Sept. 10 meeting with an ordinance amendment prohibiting parking on the west side of Lakeview Drive, beginning 850 feet north of Glendale Avenue and continuing north 450 feet.
The provision approved two weeks earlier had instead listed the east side of Lakeview Drive, which duplicated a portion of another area where parking is prohibited on the east side of Lakeview Drive, beginning at Glendale Avenue and continuing north 1,300 feet.