SPEED ZONE QUESTIONED RESIDENTS DIVIDED OVER USE OF HUMPS.

Byline: Amy Raisin Staff Writer

WESTLAKE VILLAGE - Herbert Hutchinson's home is a few houses from where Glastonbury Road levels off - and where, he says, motorists traveling at excessive speeds race by.

Twice residents living on or near the street have requested speed humps from the city, and twice their proposal has been nixed - a decision debated by Hutchinson but embraced by others in the divided community.

``This is not a traffic engineering problem but a pedestrian safety problem,'' he said. ``This is not city policy when it comes to protecting the residents.

``We're dealing with people's lives here,'' he said.

Located in Ventura County off Triunfo Canyon Road, Glastonbury Road ends in a cul-de-sac but provides the only access to other streets in the neighborhood.

Glastonbury Road also dead-ends at the top of a steep hill with what officials said is a 12-percent grade.

``This involves vehicles traveling at very high rates of speed and possibly striking a pedestrian on the street. Period,'' said Hutchinson, 68, a retired aeronautical engineer.

The neighbors' request, first brought before the city last November, proposed that nine speed humps be placed in equal distance along the seven-tenths-of-a-mile road.

A second request for speed humps by Hutchinson and others was heard last week by the Thousand Oaks Traffic and Transportation Advisory Commission, which explained that after studies, the general guidelines used to determine speed hump placement were not met.

John Helliwell, a manager for the Traffic Engineering Division, said that justification for installing speed humps just has not been sufficient.

``The typical speed wasn't any different than any other street in the city,'' Helliwell said. ``In general, most people, about 85 percent, drive about 32 mph on a residential street (where the speed limit is 25).''

City studies included monitoring the road with radar boards and measuring the volume of traffic in a 24-hour period.

Some residents who are against the speed humps mentioned residual negative effects of the plan.

``I'm adamantly opposed to the speed humps,'' said Gib Poiry, who lives near the top of Glastonbury Road.

Poiry cited the delayed time for emergency response vehicles and the blight the signs and humps would create in the area as his reasons for opposing the plan.

Agreeing the situation has polarized the neighborhood, Poiry said he believes the bigger issue is parental supervision and community awareness.

But Hutchinson, who said he is now appealing directly to Thousand Oaks Mayor Dennis Gillette, said this is not a matter of unsightly signs or motorists not realizing the speed generated on a street decline.

A small park rests at the intersection of his street, Channelford Road, and Glastonbury Road, attracting children and senior citizens, which causes concern for Hutchinson and others in favor of the humps.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color in Simi edition) Residents continue to debate placing speed humps onto Glastonbury Road in Westlake Village to limit the speed in which drivers make their way down the 12-percent grade.

(2 -- color in Conejo edition) Glastonbury Road and Channelford Road is the heart of the problem area.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer