Speeders along Pontiac Street and Edmonston Road, be warned. The Berwyn Heights Town Council voted Monday night to put a speed camera, which would move every 30 days, on these streets in the near future.
The council approved speed cameras at the town meeting on Oct. 11, just 10 days after a new state law went into effect Oct. 1 giving municipalities and counties the authority to install speed cameras within a half-mile of schools. Berwyn Heights Elementary is located on Pontiac, and Edmonston is used for children walking to either Berwyn Heights Elementary or Greenbelt Middle School.
Under the law, during the first month when the cameras are used, police departments may mail only warnings to drivers caught speeding by the cameras, according to the Maryland State Highway Administration's Web site. After that, speeders would be issued a $40 ticket for driving 12 mph or more above the posted speed limit.
Mayor Cheye Calvo said the town likely will begin the 30-day notice Jan. 1 and start using the speed camera Feb. 1. The town plans to have one portable camera that would change location every 30 days. It would be funded not by the town, but by the tickets issued to speeders.
"Edmonston Road has a tremendous amount of volume, but it's not currently in a school zone," Calvo said. "We would need to do a resolution to make Edmonston Road, north of Pontiac, a school zone and post school signs."
The council unanimously agreed to keep the speed limit on Edmonston Road at 25 mph. All residents living within a two-block radius of Edmonston Road, between Pontiac and Seminole streets, will receive a mailed notice of the school zone designation.
The council also plans to ask the SHA for approval to put the cameras on the south side of Greenbelt Road, running from 62nd to Kenilworth avenues.
Council member James Wilkinson, the only member of council who has young children, expressed interest in expanding the school zone on Pontiac Street up to Edmonston Road and down to 58th Avenue. The rest of the council voted unanimously to extend the school zone, but have not officially decided what the speed limit would be.
Residents will have a chance to voice their opinions at the Dec. 9 town meeting, where the council plans to introduce and pass the resolution.