Village to buy sign to slow traffic

Those speeding while entering or driving in the Village of Belgium are going to know how fast they are going in the near future.

The Public Safety Committee last month unanimously agreed to purchase a speed sign. The Village Board on Monday will discuss where to put it.

The sign is slated to cost $5,190, which was in this year’s budget. Public Works Director Dan Birenbaum said he expects to order it soon.

The purchase is in response to village residents’ complaints last fall about speeding traffic coming into Belgium on highways KW and D.

Colleen Allen, who lives at 105 Rose Lane, on the corner of Rose and KW, said the speeding issue is nothing new.

“This discussion has been going on for years and years and years about the speeding on KW,” she told the Public Works Committee last September.

“I put up a big sign for two years, a yellow sign, (that says) ‘25 mph, slow down.’ It doesn’t make any difference.”

Trustee Don Gotcher said he understands the concerns. He lives in the Ardennes II subdivision near KW and D and sees the trucks.

“It’s scary when these kids are going to football ... That’s where all the truck traffic is coming. They do not slow down,” he said. “They come straight off of KW on D — as soon as they get past a couple of houses, they’re booking, they’re going.”

Undersheriff Christy Knowles, who lives in Belgium, as do  several other Sheriff’s Office employees, told the Public Safety Committee last September, “We’ve always had a problem on KW” with speeding, and added that speed signs do a good job of slowing down traffic.

She said Cedar Grove put up speed signs last year on highways KW and 32 “that helped big time” to prevent speeding.

Residents were hoping the board could make a difference, but trustees said their options are limited since KW and D are county roads that the village doesn’t control.

The Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Office ended up putting a portable speed sign last September facing north on Highway KW, earning praise from area residents.

That’s one option for where Belgium’s sign may be placed at first, Birenbaum said. The Village Board will discuss locations at its 7 p.m. meeting on Monday.

The Public Safety Committee initially put in money for two signs.

“The prices came in a little higher than we expected. We’re going to start out with one,” Birenbaum said.