Palm Springs City Council advances airport speed limit ordinance with caution

The Palm Springs City Council narrowly approved advancing an ordinance to establish enforceable speed limits at Palm Springs International Airport Thursday, aiming to address speeding concerns while ensuring safety for airport users.

The new limits, based on an engineering study, would increase speeds on some airport roads – raising worries from council members about potential safety hazards.

City Engineer Joel Montalvo said the study was requested by the Palm Springs Police Department because current posted speed limits are not enforceable because, “The current posted speed limits are not supported by an engineering and traffic study. As such, (they) are not enforceable by the police.”

The study examined six road segments at the airport. On Kirk Douglas Way from Arenas Road to East Tahquitz Canyon Way, the speed limit would increase from 20 mph to 35 mph. The arrivals and departures area would see an increase from 20 mph to 25 mph.

Councilmember Lisa Middleton, who along with Mayor Pro Tem Ron deHarte voted against advancing the ordinance in its current form, expressed concern about the increases.

“You’re looking at busy streets with traffic from folks going to the airport, where you’re almost doubling, in one instance, from 20 to 35 miles an hour,” Middleton said. “We’re creating an enormous traffic hazard at the airport. These speeds are not safe within the airport.”

Mayor Jeffrey Bernstein echoed those worries.

“To double to go from 20 to 35 when we’ve had speeding just doesn’t make logical sense,” Bernstein said. “What caused this, in part, was people speeding.”

The council directed staff to explore traffic calming measures like speed bumps before implementing the new limits.

“I would suggest we go back and look at other options on what we can do if we have to go with these speed limits, what else we can do for traffic calming,” Bernstein said.

Airport Executive Director Harry Barrett said officials were trying to solve an existing speeding problem.

“We were trying to solve a challenge that we have today, which is excessive speeding on the airport,” Barrett said. “Obviously it has the reversed effect, and so we can take that back and look at it in the master plan and bring that back to the council when appropriate.”

“We all agree on the same outcome. It’s just a question on how to get there and give them some tools to be able to enforce.”

— Mayor Jeffrey Bernstein

City Attorney Jeffrey Ballinger explained that while the council can post any speed limit, only those supported by an engineering study would be enforceable in traffic court.

Councilmember Christy Holstege suggested getting input from the police department on the proposed increases.

“I would like to get input from the police department because they’re the ones who said there’s speeding,” Holstege said. “Have they reviewed this to see that we’re going to increase the speed limit?”

City Manager Scott Stiles said police were aware the study increased speeds but agreed to revisit the issue with them.

“Obviously, we know that police department, they’ve undertaken their operational review mirror initiative. And so we know that speeding has been an issue,” Stiles said. “It seems perfectly appropriate to me if we went back to the police department, asked them to review some of these guidelines.”

While the council ultimately split its vote, staff was directed to return with more information before the second reading, including recommendations from police, fire, airport and engineering on whether the new limits make sense.

Staff will also investigate options for slowing traffic while maintaining enforceable speed limits. The council emphasized the need for safety while giving law enforcement tools to address speeding at the airport.

“We all agree on the same outcome. It’s just a question on how to get there and give them some tools to be able to enforce,” Bernstein said.

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