Costa Mesa will put rare speed humps on a residential street

In a rare move, the Costa Mesa City Council this week approved speed humps for a residential street at the request of homeowners.

At least two of the rubberized humps — which are few and far between in the city, as staff prefers to install other types of traffic-calming measures — will be placed along a nearly quarter-mile straightaway stretch of St. Clair Street between Velasco Lane and Drake Avenue.

The thoroughfare is an entrance into the Mesa del Mar neighborhood from Bear Street and nearby freeways.

The estimated cost is $8,000. The council approved the humps Tuesday, adding that they want to reexamine the thresholds needed to install speed humps at a later date.

Residents expressed concerns about drivers going over the 25 mph speed limit.

“It’s going to slow down traffic 90% of the time, but you are going to have some other issues,” said Councilman Gary Monahan, noting that humps can create extra noise when vehicles pass over them and can encourage some drivers to purposefully speed just to see how their cars “react.”

City staff received a petition, led by Velasco Lane resident Jay Litvak, for the humps in 2015, though they did not feel the street met the minimum requirements. They logged 1,600 vehicles per day along St. Clair — far below the 3,500-vehicle minimum needed and the 2,500 cars petitioners claimed. Median speeds were 30 mph, or 5 mph above the limit.

Litvak’s petition said St. Clair has filed multiple requests at City Hall over the decades for speed humps, and traffic issues have only “escalated in terms of the speed and aggressiveness of drivers” in recent years.

He mentioned accidents, including a drunk driver running into his garage.

Staff also noted three reported car accidents near that stretch of St. Clair within the past five years.

Instead of humps, St. Clair received raised markers in the street last spring. The markers cause cars to vibrate when they drive over them.

Residents remained dissatisfied, however, and Councilwoman Katrina Foley requested that the matter go before the council.

City staff have noted that 15 speed hump requests came into City Hall last year, three of which made the minimum thresholds, but none received them.

Staff opted for other measures, such as additional speed limit signs.