Petaluma plans speed limit reductions for school zones, business districts

People driving near local schools as well as certain business areas may have to “slow the fast down” after a new change to posted speed limits takes effect.

In a 6-1 vote, the City Council passed an ordinance to limit speeds to 15 mph in school zones and 20 mph in business districts. Council member Mike Healy voted against the ordinance. The ordinance could go in effect as early as 30 days after the second vote on May 6 once updated speed limit signs are in place, according to the ordinance.

The vote came during an April 8 City Council meeting where city streets and public safety took a significant portion of the night’s agenda.

In school zones, cars will be limited to 15 mph for both directions of travel within 500 feet of a school. The change counts for all hours before and after school, according to a staff report.

The reduction to 15 mph will impact streets around schools that have no more than two traffic lanes (one in each direction) and a maximum posted speed of 30 mph prior to and after the school zone.

The streets in question lie in the buffer zones around 21 schools, including all public and private K-12 grade schools within city limits and the Santa Rosa Junior College Petaluma campus.

In business districts, streets that will face reductions must have a maximum of four traffic lanes. If the speeds will reduce to 25 mph, there must be a maximum posted speed of 30 mph prior to or after the district or, if the speeds will go down to 20 mph, there must be a maximum posted speed of 25 mph prior to or after the district.

The business districts impacted by the reduction are on the west side of town, whose boundaries roughly extend east and west from Petaluma Boulevard North and South and between Kent Street in the north and H Street in the south.

“This first step with identifying our downtown business districts and our schools is a way to bring our speed limits down in those areas to improve safety for all our users, bicycles, (pedestrians), people going to school,” said Jeff Stutsman, deputy director of operations for the city’s public works and utilities department, who presented the item to the council.

The ordinance comes in response to the passage of California Assembly Bill 43 in October 2021, which modified the California Vehicle Code to authorize jurisdictions to set lower speed limits on certain streets, according to a staff report. The changes to state law allow authorities to reduce speed limits within business districts by 5 mph and reduce speeds to 15 mph within 500 feet of school grounds.

The item was initially introduced to reduce school zone speeds to 20 mph, and one of the attachments still listed the 20 mph speed around school zones at the Monday meeting and online in the weeks after.

Though Caltrans requires a traffic engineering study for changes from 25 to 20 mph, another subset of rules in the new law allows local authorities to reduce speeds to 15 mph based on local criteria, which was the basis for introducing such speed limit reductions, Stutsman said.

Healy noted the discrepancies during council discussion and called the reduction to 15 mph “unrealistic.” He supported the previous plan and, because the business and school zone speeds were combined, “I will respectfully be voting no,” he said.

These “are just the first phase of speed reductions that staff will bring for the Council’s consideration,” according to a staff report.

The report also stated that staff will bring another ordinance later this summer to “cover speed reductions for safety corridors.” This is pending a portion of AB 43 that will go in effect on June 30, Stutsman said.

You can reach Staff Writer Jennifer Sawhney at 707-521-5346 or jennifer.sawhney@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @sawhney_media.