Nearly three months after lowering the speed limit throughout the city of Bellevue and the alternating calls of support and annoyance that ensued, Mayor Jon Anderson recommended that the speed limit be adjusted once again.
At a City Council meeting Thursday, Oct. 25, Anderson took cue from previous council deliberations and suggested that the 25 miles per hour speed limit at the north and south ends of town be raised to 35 mph. He said this would create a smooth transition to the 45 mph zones just beyond the town limits on state Highway 75.
The raised limit will begin just north of Kirtley Street and in front of the Southern Belle light-industrial area, just south of the Gannett Road intersection.
Council members agreed that raising the limit would not go against the principle of pedestrian safety behind the original change, as these areas are surrounded by mostly open space. The speed limit will remain 25 mph in front of the Sun Valley Garden Center, with a sidewalk still planned for the northern end of town.
Planning and Zoning Administrator Craig Eckles said that the city had participated in a traffic study with the Idaho Department of Transportation approximately one year ago and will not have to do so again to enact this change.
Eckles said he will bring back a draft ordinance before the council at its Nov. 8 meeting to make the change official.
In other Bellevue news:
- While the council approved the renewing of the automatic aid agreement between the southern Wood River Valley fire services, including the Bellevue, Hailey, Wood River Fire & Rescue, and Friedman Memorial Airport fire departments, the deliberations regarding a contract for services between the Bellevue and Hailey departments continued.
Councilman Shaun Mahoney said Bellevue could not afford to pay the originally suggested $154,000, which is 30 percent of Hailey's fire budget. He told Hailey Fire Chief Mike Chapman, who was in attendance, that he would like to sit down with Hailey city officials and staff to work on negotiating a figure that would work for both entities.
Mahoney said he would like to work out an agreement that will last at least four or five years and that he would also like to continue to talk with Wood River Fire & Rescue once Bellevue figures out the exact cost and benefits of a contact with Hailey.
Mayor Anderson said the two cities' attorneys would be meeting the following week to go over the contracts, but no timeline was given for further negotiations.
- Bellevue is also still waiting on the Blaine County Sheriffs Office to present the city with a contract for law enforcement services. Blaine County Chief Deputy Sheriff Gene Ramsey said that once Bellevue approves the contract, it would take about 45 days to implement coverage.
For Bellevue, getting this deal down in a timely manner is definitely important, as the Bellevue Marshal's Office has shrunk over the past six months from four officers to just Marshal Tim Green.
Green said there is an aid agreement in place from the sheriff's office to help in emergency situations, but that it's impossible to provide regular around-the-clock coverage.
