Residents recently attended both the Crestwood and Sunset Hills board of aldermen meetings to convey their frustrations on traffic signage.
Both meetings were held on Oct. 8.
At Crestwood’s meeting, four residents from the new Villages at Crestwood Crossing came before the board to ask why multiple no parking signs were recently erected, seemingly without any warning.
“All of a sudden these signs came up. If you have more than two or three cars, (you) have no place to park,” one resident said. “You can park from my house – which is the first one in the cul-de-sac – to the curb. That is our entire parking for the holidays. So my whole family, where are they supposed to park?”
“I talked with the fire chief, and it actually has to do with following fire code that we’re obliged to follow,” Mayor Scott Shipley responded. “The code would require no parking on both sides of those streets, but Crestwood was able to relax that to the one side with fire hydrants.”
For background, the final development plan for Crestwood Crossing and the Villages at Crestwood Crossing, approved in 2022, identified several areas as no parking zones and fire lanes to ensure adequate access for emergency response vehicles. Last month, at the city’s Sept. 10 meeting, the board approved an ordinance to add the identified no parking zones and fire lanes to the city code, allowing the city to legally be able to enforce such measures.
“This is for life safety, to ensure that emergency vehicles can navigate the neighborhood, and is in compliance with the International Fire Code,” city administrator Kris Simpson said.
After the ordinance was passed, the signs were put up. Many residents, however, felt that they were not given proper warning.
“I understand because of the … codes, but we have not been informed on any of this,” another resident said. “The police come and ticket people on the wrong side of the street, and people are getting upset. I had three contractors come up to me today … question(ing) me about the rules. As a citizen, I shouldn’t be doing that kind of stuff. It should be up to the city to legislate this stuff … It seems like this happened kind of in the dark. Maybe you should have had some sort of notice that it’s gonna happen, not blindsiding everybody.”
Just a few miles away in Sunset Hills, residents spoke to their board about a traffic signage issue of their own: the lack of a stop sign at the intersection of Sunny Creek Lane and Robyn Road.
“I think everyone in Sunset Hills wins with a stop sign added on Robyn and Sunny Creek Lane – the local residents off Robyn, the police department and most importantly, the kids. The only folks I can see who wouldn’t want to support this would be those using Robyn as a cut-through to Gravois Road, or folks that are too late for a tee time in Tapawingo,” one resident said.
Adding a sidewalk on Robyn Road was also discussed, as was moving the bus stop back into the Crooked Creek Trail/Sunny Creek Lane neighborhood.
“I love living in Sunset Hills, but the biggest downside is the lack of safe places to walk,” a second resident said. “Traffic simply comes too fast on Robyn, and there is no safe place to walk or cross the street. The shoulder is too uneven … I think one of the greatest services that Sunset Hills could do for this neighborhood would be to install a sidewalk on Robyn … I worry if it’s not done soon, we will be having another meeting about a pedestrian who’s been struck by a vehicle.”
“The gutter areas along Robyn are horrible and unwalkable – there’s nowhere to go. There are areas one cannot even step off the road because of the large ditches,” a third resident added. “The whole road really needs to be looked at. It’s dangerous, unattractive and not conducive to walkers or bus riders. It’s very busy in the mornings as people go to work while our kids are standing on the corner waiting for the bus in someone’s yard. There’s not even a good spot on that corner for them to stand and wait.”
The topic was brought up again during general discussion. Ward 3 Alderman Cathy Friedmann made a motion to direct staff to install stop signs on Robyn and Sunny Creek, though before anyone could second the motion, a few other board members gave their input.
Ward 1 Alderman Ann McMunn recommended adding a flashing yellow light to alert drivers of the proposed new stop sign, while Ward 2 Alderman Casey Wong asked Bryson Baker, director of public works/city engineer, to elaborate on the criteria that is considered for a stop sign.
“Our normal process for justification of a stop sign is based on traffic counts … Most likely, if we do traffic counts, it’s not going to meet those traffic counts. But, when you’re looking at putting in a stop sign, you look at the whole picture. There’s many other factors,” Baker said. “One of the factors … is that blind spot from the west. Plus, Robyn being a very narrow, difficult, winding street … the speeds vehicles travel. Even though it’s not justified by numbers, I think it can be justified based on those other factors.”
Friedmann withdrew her original motion and made a second motion to “instruct staff to come back with an ordinance for two readings that would codify a stop sign with a flashing yellow at an appropriate distance from both directions.”
McMunn seconded the motion, and the board voted unanimously in favor, 7-0. Ward 4 Alderman Fred Daues did not vote as he was absent from the meeting.
The discussion was not finished, however. Following Friedmann’s motion passing unanimously, Wong made a “collateral motion to ask staff to do the traffic counts and see what the numbers are on Robyn and Sunny Creek.”
“In the back of my mind, a concern about a slippery slope in terms of if we put a stop sign here, there are a lot of other areas where I think stop signs are going to be requested,” he said.