Residents fight to slow neighborhood traffic

Tariq Malik

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- A group of residents are preparing to take on City

Hall to get stop signals installed in their neighborhood.

Neighbors concerned about speeding drivers along Seapoint Avenue said

they’re ready to go to the City Council with their request for stop signs

or traffic lights at Seapoint and Doral Drive.

The request stems from a June 22 accident in which then-12-year-old

Trevor Schulte was struck by a car near Doral Drive while riding his bike

along Seapoint to his home in the Estates at Seacliff community. He spent

69 days in a hospital. Part of the time he was in a coma, and he suffered

10 broken bones, including three skull fractures.

“I think that if there was a stop sign there or something, the driver

who hit me would have been more cautious, instead of being distracted

trying to find a water bottle in his car,” Trevor said.

Running from Garfield Avenue to Pacific Coast Highway, Seapoint is

less than a mile long.During an Oct. 18 meeting, the city’s Public Works

Commission rejected a plan to install stop signs or a traffic signal at

Seapoint and Doral, where residents say traffic flows at life-threatening

speeds.

“We’ve seen cars driving down Seapoint, going between 50 and 70 mph,”

said Judy Schulte, Trevor’s mother. “The two children who almost died

there, those are the only numbers we care about.”

In addition to Schulte, Josh Haynes, 18, was injured by a speeding car

in May 1999.

“I love it when neighborhoods come together like this to get things

done, but I’m concerned that adding stop signs won’t control the

speeding,” said Phillip Smith, a public works commissioner.

A stop light, city officials added, would probably have more success,

but it would cost about $60,000 at the Seapoint-Dorsal intersection, and

there are higher priority streets. The Public Works Department is limited

to installing stoplights in up to three intersections a year.

This year, the city compiled a list of 29 intersections across the

city that need stoplights to control excess speed, congestion and other

traffic problems. The Seapoint-Dorsal intersection ranks near the bottom

of that list at No. 26.

However, for the past few months, the city has been working with

residents to resolve the issue. Speed limits have been lowered from 45 to

40 mph, restriping has narrowed lanes and radar enforcement has been more

frequent, Brohard added.

City officials said a stoplight could be installed sooner if the

county, which could build one in conjunction with a park planned to run

along Seapoint.

But Trevor, his mother and other residents say they plan to appeal the

commission’s decision and have collected more than 900 signatures in

support of stoplights and signs.

“I just wonder what they are waiting for,” Judy Schulte said. “I mean,

will it take a death to convince them we need something there?”