Town says it will enforce speed limit on Englewood

By Nathan R. Huff

Acknowledging that numbers don't always tell the whole story, the Los Gatos Town Council members recently agreed to allocate town resources to slow down the traffic that races along Englewood Avenue.

The decision, which follows the recommendation of the town's traffic consultant, came after some debate over providing town-funded services to county pocket residents who had rejected annexation. The street is located in a county pocket.

The council directed the Los Gatos Monte Sereno Police Department to start enforcing the speed limit as a short-term solution while the town worked with the county on more permanent traffic-calming measures.

Police Chief Larry Todd said that the police department can enforce traffic laws in the county, but the Englewood Avenue area is under the direct jurisdiction of the California Highway Patrol and Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department. However, county pockets are not heavily patrolled by the Sheriff's Department, and the CHP concentrates its enforcement on areas with high fatality and injury-accident rates, such as highways 17 and 101.

Todd added that it would require a council directive to allow active enforcement in unincorporated areas. "If this were an incorporated area of Los Gatos, it would be near the top of our enforcement areas because of the ongoing problems," Todd said.

Councilman Randy Attaway expressed initial hesitation in committing Los Gatos police to a county area without first knowing what role county and state law enforcement would take in the matter. "I don't want to start a habit of providing services for county residents that don't want anything to do with the town," Attaway said.

Councilman Jan Hutchins disagreed, saying the urgency of the situation called for an immediate response. "The neighborhood faces a danger I'm not willing to ignore just because they had the audacity not to be annexed," Hutchins said.

The study, done by TJKM transportation consultant Gary Kruger, showed that while the average speed along Englewood was a reasonable 25 mph, many drivers were seen doing 55 mph or more, particularly in the northbound direction. Several drivers were clocked in excess of 70 mph through the 25 mph area.

The study also noted the area suffered from high peak-hour traffic volumes, unsafe pedestrian conditions and large-truck traffic.

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