LAGUNA HILLS : City OKs Stop Signs for Mackenzie Street

Residents of Mackenzie Street are breathing sighs of relief since the City Council agreed this week to try stop signs as a way to slow down speeders who use the residential street as a shortcut.

About 15 residents who voiced safety concerns at Tuesday night’s council meeting erupted into cheers and applause when the council voted 3 to 2 to install the signs.

Three-way stop signs will be placed where Califia Drive intersects Mackenzie and where Stage Coach Drive meets Mackenzie. Motions last November and last month to place stop signs at those intersections had failed.

The latest method the city tried to slow traffic was placing pylons where Mackenzie intersects Pike Road and Costeau Street. The pylons were intended to narrow the street, forcing drivers to slow down to negotiate the turns onto Mackenzie.

City Engineer Ken Rosenfield said the simulated “chokers” were effective, decreasing traffic’s median speed by about 4 m.p.h.

However, residents challenged the June 14 speed survey, saying the high visibility of the speed-measuring hoses across Mackenzie made drivers slow down.

Residents have been lobbying government for 20 years to slow down cars on the street, which many drivers use as a high-speed thoroughfare between La Paz Road and Alicia Parkway. Although many of the residents had said they preferred speed bumps over stop signs, they were still pleased with the decision, saying they see it as proof the council is responding to their concerns.

Mayor R. Craig Scott and Councilman Joel T. Lautenschleger voted against the stop-sign proposal, with Scott saying he believed drivers would probably just speed up after going through each sign, creating an even more dangerous situation.