We are considering advocating for the installation of speed humps on Young St SE, similar to what was installed on “East Sargent” this past Fall of 2019. Our motivation for pursuing the additional traffic calming include:

  • Greater safety for pedestrians, children, and pets in our neighborhood, as there are no sidewalks on Young
  • Safer ingress/egress of residents driveways who live on Young
  • Improved general traffic safety for residents driving in our neighborhood (e.g. having to cross Young from “East Sargent” to “West Sargent” and vice versa)
  • Better enforcement of the 25MPH speed limit on the road
  • Reducing the amount of “through-traffic” of commuters who are cutting between Eastland Rd and Bouldercrest Rd

Here is a link to the DeKalb County traffic calming program, which outlines the procedure for applying for and having speed humps installed. Here are the highlights of the program:

  • Citizen requests an initial interest petition is filed with the county
  • The county sends the initiating citizen who filed the initial interest the petition
  • The initiating citizen has 45 days to obtain >= 20% resident (owners and renters) signatures highlighting interest
  • The county performs a traffic study to review the speed and volume of traffic on the road
  • Informational stakeholder’s meeting is held to review design proposal for implementing speed humps/traffic calming measures
  • The initiating citizen has 90 days to obtain >= 65% residents (real property owners only) signatures affirming agreement for the design
  • County reviews signed petition and approves/rejects the installation of the traffic calming measures
  • An additional $25/year property tax is levied on each parcel of land in the affected area

We believe Young St is a good candidate for traffic calming. Based on an initial analysis, there are 15 properties that we will need to secure signatures, meaning:

  • Initial Petition Requirement: >= 3 signatures
  • Property Owner Approval for Speed Humps: >= 10 signatures

We plan on starting our door-to-door efforts in early spring to judge interest and collect signatures, so keep an eye out for your neighbors!