The Edgartown Select Board voted 2-1 to reduce the speed limit on Meeting House Way to 25 mph.
The town has received numerous complaints about speeding drivers on the street.
Edgartown Police Chief Bruce McNamee said Meeting House Way was one of the “top streets” for complaints. He said a similar speed reduction was implemented a few years ago on Clevelandtown Road, which saw a decrease in complaints.
Board member Michael Donaroma was the sole dissenting vote.
“Twenty-five [mph], you can almost run that fast,” Donaroma said. “It just seems like you’re creating a problem for the police. Everybody’s going to go over 25.”
McNamee said that radar signboards have been placed in some areas to minimize the need for a cruiser. “Sometimes that assuages some of the neighbors’ concerns, but on Meeting House it has not,” he said.
Donaroma said he liked the radar signboards, but had concerns about reducing the speed limit based on neighbors’ complaints. “I’m just afraid to get trapped into if any neighborhood decides to just start complaining, then the neighborhoods control the speed rather than safety and common sense,” he said. “Just my opinion.”
Town administrator James Hagerty said a town-adopted stipulation allowed the board to lower the speed limit of a “thickly dense area” from the traditional 30 mph to 25 mph. The speed limit will come into effect once the signs have been replaced, which Hagerty said should happen within the next couple of weeks.
In other news, Edgartown’s water department was awarded the 2023 Public Water System Award by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. This is the eighth consecutive year the town was recognized by state and federal regulators for “the standards we’ve set for ourselves,” according to Edgartown Water Superintendent William Chapman.
And the board unanimously approved extending McNamee’s police chief contract for three years.
On Thursday, the Chappy Ferry steering committee and engineering firm Fuss & O’Neill will be holding a public information session regarding the feasibility and climate resiliency study they have been doing for the past six months. It will be on Zoom from 5 to 7 pm. The agenda is available on the town website.
I would love to see Mike “almost run 25 miles an hour”! He doesn’t like it because Donaromas trucks would be sitting ducks!
No Mike, you cannot almost run that fast. The world record for the marathon, which is 26.2 miles, is just over 2 hours. That’s roughly 13 miles and hour. I’m with Buck, this is about your trucks bombing down Meetinghouse
I live on Meetinghouse Way. Sure, there are some speedy drivers, but you get them on every roadway on the island. I was driving 30 one day and a person was waving hysterically at me to slow down. 30 is not fast, people. 25 mph is absurd. It’s not a “thickly settled” area. To expect people to drive 25 down a paved straightaway is fantasy. But at least the town will make some $$$ on tickets.