NEWPORT BEACH : Council to Weigh Stop Signs Proposal

A resolution proposing six additional stop signs to be placed along Balboa Boulevard will be debated at tonight’s City Council meeting.

The proposal calls for stop signs to be installed on a six-month trial basis along Balboa Boulevard at its intersections with G Street, 10th Street, Island Avenue, 18th Street, 35th Street, and 42nd Street. It would also allocate $38,000 for the installation of “high visibility” crosswalks.

The proposal culminates more than three years of pleas by residents for stricter traffic control along the busy roadway. But Police Chief Arb Campbell has argued that the resolution, drawn up by a coalition of council members, city staff and residents’ representatives, will add to congestion and create even more safety problems than currently exist.

“I predict that stop signs placed at these low-volume cross-traffic intersections will have a high violation rate,” Campbell wrote in a letter to the city manager. “In addition to congestion and hazardous conditions, these stop signs will be a source of excessive noise with the stopping and starting, as well as exhaust pollution.”

Dayna Pettit, Balboa Point Resident Assn. president, said the coalition listened to Campbell’s concerns but still thought the stop signs were the best of all the alternatives studied.