8-09-2024 8:07pm

Brookside traffic cameras an “enormous success” says Lake Forest Park mayor despite “messy” bill and mistakes

Oliver Moffat Sr. Editor

After Lake Forest Park turned on the traffic cameras on 178th near Brookside elementary all day in June, average speeds are down from over 30 miles an hour to less than 25 miles per hour. But the “no racing zone” law the city used to keep the cameras on was repealed in June. To comply with the new law, the city will now designate them “school walk zone” cameras instead. The city blamed “inaccurate” information and a “messy” bill for the mistake. Traffic fines generate $3.84 million per biennium in the city that is facing a budget deficit after repeated failed property tax ballot measures. The city’s Judge warned the council about the high workload caused by the tickets.

In June, the city of Lake Forest Park turned on the 178th traffic cameras by Brookside elementary 24 hours a day even when school is not in session.

At an August 5 city council meeting, Lake Forest Park mayor Tom French said, “the average speed in the 178 zone prior to the installation of the 24/7 traffic cameras was over 30 miles an hour.” After 60 days, “it is down now to 24.3 miles an hour. It's below 25 miles an hour, so by any metric it has been an enormous success,” he said.

Currently, the city is only issuing warnings. But with the light rail station at 185th street opening soon, the city is worried 178th will see increased cut-through traffic and speeding.

“The reality is, we have people that are continually speeding through our community and putting lives at risk. And this is a an absolutely proven method to slow people down,” said mayor French.

In December of 2023, Lake Forest Park added 178th to its list of designated no-racing zones and earlier this year, the city posted “no racing zone” signs along 178th, causing confusion for some residents.

A previous state law allowed cities to deploy traffic cameras in no-racing zones, and in April, the city council voted to leave the traffic cameras on all-day throughout the year whereas before they could only be active during school hours when Brookside elementary was in session.

Data on the street racing problem in Lake Forest Park is sparse. A public records request filed with WSDOT returned a total of ten crashes attributed to street racing in Shoreline, Lake Forest Park, and Kenmore since 2010 and a search on the Washington State Patrol’s website found only six street racing crashes in Shoreline and Lake Forest Park in the past ten years. In comparison, there were 1,785 crashes in Lake Forest Park alone over the last ten years according to the Washington State Patrol’s website.

The state law that previously allowed cities to use automated traffic cameras in “restricted racing zones” was repealed in June at the same time Lake Forest Park switched the traffic cameras to no-racing zone cameras. In public comments at an August 5 city council meeting, city attorney Kim Pratt, blamed “inaccurate” information received from Westlaw for the mistake.

“I have to admit I'm a little annoyed with the fact that they gave you poor information about this,” said council member Tracy Furutani.

“The legislature handed us… a very messy, messy bill,” said mayor Tom French about the new state law that took effect in June. “It is sausage making. There's just no question about it,” he said.

The new law allows cities to deploy automated traffic enforcement cameras in school walk zones within a one-mile radius of a school. To comply with the law, Lake Forest Park will designate 178th near Brookside elementary a “school walk zone” instead of a “no racing zone.” The “no racing zone” signs will be replaced.

“Ultimately the problem we're looking to address is pedestrian safety. Especially for children but really for the community as a whole,” said council member Larry Goldman at the August 8th meeting. “I still think it's a bit of a weird shaped tool that the legislature has given us but ultimately, the school walk zone is the best tool for the job to address pedestrian safety,” he said.

“The spirit of in which we have been approaching this is, of course, is pedestrian multimodal safety. Full stop,” said mayor Tom French. “100% of the net revenues that come from these traffic camera installations go right back into pedestrian and multimodal safety by state statute.”

The new state law requires cities who install new traffic cameras to spend revenue on traffic safety improvements and at least part of the money must be spent in low income neighborhoods. But that law doesn’t apply to cities like Lake Forest Park who had already deployed traffic cameras prior to the law’s passage. Lake Forest Park is allowed to direct revenue from the traffic cameras into their general fund.

“We need to make sure that we have additional sidewalks. We all know we need additional crosswalks,” said mayor French. But a levy to pay for parks and sidewalks on the 2021 ballot was rejected by over 65% of Lake Forest Park voters and a property tax levy was rejected by 77.97% of Lake Forest Park voters in 2010. Now, the city is facing a “structural financial deficit” and is considering placing a levy on the 2025 ballot.

According to the city’s budget, traffic fines will generate $3.84 million this biennium for the general fund and the city will spend $11 million (30% of the budget) on the city’s largest, single expense: the police department. Recently the city increased fines to $145 - the maximum allowed under the law.

A map from the city shows the locations of automated speed cameras near Brookside Elementary on 178th street

Only 8.5% of the traffic camera fines were issued to residents of Lake Forest Park - the majority of ticket recipients were from out of town. According to the police department, although less than 4% of Lake Forest Park residents are Black, 12% of people who received a traffic ticket in the city were Black. And an equity analysis said the traffic cameras on 178th have the potential to disproportionately impact Hispanic and lower-income commuters.

A study commissioned by the city estimated between 350 to 470 vehicles per day will receive citations now that the cameras are always on - an increase from 44 per day last year when they were only on during school hours.

Drivers who receive a traffic camera infraction can attempt to dispute the ticket in the Lake Forest Park municipal court.

At the August 8th meeting, Municipal Court Judge Jennifer Grant presented the council with the annual State of the Court. She cautioned the city about the workload caused by more than 23,000 traffic camera tickets last year. “Each and every one of those tickets does amount to a significant amount of work,” said Judge Grant.

Council member Tracy Furutani told her, “we may be potentially adding another 10,000 infractions per year.”

When asked by council member Larry Goldman to name a particular challenge the court faces, Judge Grant said, “Staffing. I think is critical just to keep up with what we need to do to make things continue to run smoothly.”