Agenda - Council - 02/08/2005 - Laserfiche WebLink

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CHARTERED 470 Pil'bbur~ Center 200 South Sixth Sriee~ "~inneapo!j~ MN' 5~5402 (6 t 2~} 337-9300 iel~phone ' ~-m~l: a~ kennadv-~ra~en.com CHARI.F-~; [4. L£FEYERE Direct Di~t (6.12) 337-9215 August 1, 1997 Mr. Matt Fulton City Manager City of New Brighton 803 5th Avenue NW New Brighton MN 55112-2792 RE: Liability for ?lacemenr of Stop Signs Dear Matt: Some time ago the council was consideOng the installation of a stop stgn at an intersecnoa where the "warrants" for a: stop sign.did:not exist. The City Council requested that [ review the law to determine whether placement of a Stop sign under these circumstances exposes the City tO potential liability. A memorandum on the subject is attached. To summarize the memorandum, if the City were sued for placing a stop sign at an intersection where warrants for a stop sign did: not exist, 'the first line of defense would be to claim that the City Council's decision was one which qual.ified for a defense of immunity,. In recent years, the courts have expanded the applicability of the doctrine Of immunity so that more governmental ~"~' wihStn the docs'inc. ~:the City were ....... :,~ ...... basis, there would be no liability. However,_ the law relating to immunity is not well settled, and it is entirely possible that the immUnitY defense would not prevail. If the City were not successful in defending such a claim on this basis, the question would be whether the City, was negligent in.Ptaclng the sign. It is highly likely that the warrants of the lMinnesota Manual would be: introduced as' evidence that the City had not exercised due care in traffic management. AdditionallY, ~ have heard several engineers note that there are studies which suggest that if the public perceives that a stop sign is p!aced in a location where circumstances do not justify it, motor/sm will be inctined to disobey the sign, or they will be more likely to increase their sPeed,after stopping at the sign to-make up for [ost time. Assuming this is an accurate description of!reputable:traffic studies which are known and respecled by traffic engineers, there may be additional evidence that the placement Of such signs creates an unsafe condition.