State disputes Westlake speed limit By Dave Ferman Star-Telegram staff writer WESTLAKE - Unsuspecting motorists along a stretch of Texas 114 in Denton County are being ticketed for violating a 50-mph speed limit that isn't posted and doesn't exist -- as far as the state is concerned. The state and Westlake disagree on the speed limit for a one-mile stretch of Texas 114 between Trophy Club Road and Trophy Lake Drive. The speed limit to the east of the stretch is 65 mph, and to the west it is 50 mph. About a dozen motorists have complained to the Texas Department of Transportation, which considers their citations invalid. Police are still writing tickets to motorists traveling faster than 50 mph. Westlake officials say they don't know how many citations are in question. Among those ticketed was Trophy Club resident Stephen Skeen, who got a $95 ticket in January for doing 70 mph. "I'm so outraged," Skeen said. "I'm tired of being tromped down by people who don't know the law." The dispute led to the removal of two 50-mph signs in December, said Terry Sams, a transportation operations director for the Texas Department of Transportation. Sams said two Transportation Department officials told Westlake then that the 50-mph speed limit was invalid. But Westlake employees put the signs back up, and the Transportation Department removed them again in early January, she said. Westlake Town Manager Trent Petty said he told employees to put the signs back up in late December because "maintaining safe driving was more important than arguing with TxDOT over why they have not set a new speed limit."

STAR-TELEGRAM/KELLEY CHINN The speed limit is 65 mph on Texas 114 just east of Westlake. Westlake has ticketed drivers like Stephen Skeen who exceed 50 mph on the stretch of Texas 114 that runs through the town. STAR-TELEGRAM/TIM BEDISON Speed limit controversy

"You can't go and arbitrarily take down speed-limit signs without having a plan to regulate the speed," he said. "There's not a lot of logic in that. This is a ridiculous comedy of bureaucratic errors. I don't know how it got this far."

Sams said the Transportation Department "doesn't want to get into an adversarial relationship with the town of Westlake."

"They thought they had an ordinance that supported the speed limit, but they don't," she said.

Since the signs were removed in January, that part of Texas 114 has had no posted speed limit, Sams said. But police continue to ticket motorists traveling faster than 50 mph.

The number of tickets was not available.

The situation angers Trophy Club resident Neil Twomey, who said Westlake is "just taking money out of people's pockets."

"When they've been warned and put the signs back up, that's just ridiculous," said Twomey, a member of Trophy Club's Ways and Means Advisory Committee. "Westlake officials have been told what the rules are, and they've blatantly disregarded them. This appears to be nothing more than a speed trap."

Sams would not comment on Twomey's accusation.

"I have to work with them," she said of Westlake officials.

Petty said the section of highway "has been painted as a speed trap, and that's not the facts behind the truth. TxDOT left us no choice -- they just went out there and took the signs down."

Sams said motorists ticketed for going more than 50 mph on that part of Texas 114 should be able to avoid paying their fines.

"The people who don't know will pay the fines," she said. "And if they paid, it would still be on their driving record."

Motorists who want to fight their tickets, Sams said, should file a state open-records request with the Transportation Department asking to see any speed study in effect on the date they were ticketed. No speed study is in effect for that stretch, she said.

Armed with that knowledge, she said, ticketed motorists can go to the Westlake Municipal Court and plead their cases.

That's what Skeen did. After he got his ticket in January, he pleaded guilty and paid the $95 fine.

After talking to other Trophy Club residents, he spoke with a Transportation Department official a few weeks ago and was told the ticket is not valid, he said.

He has written to Westlake asking to formally change his plea to not guilty and will "fight this to the ends of the earth," he said.

Sams said that she e-mailed Westlake on Wednesday asking for a meeting on the issue but that none had been scheduled as of Friday.

The speed limit on the stretch of road was 50 mph during construction, but the project was completed 18 months ago, Sams said.

The limit becomes 70 mph after construction on a segment of state highway is completed, and it remains there until the state does a study and a new limit is adopted.

A recent study suggesting a speed limit of 60 mph was approved this week by the Transportation Department's Traffic Operations Division in Austin, Sams said. The study is expected to be presented to the town in the next few weeks.

Westlake's Board of Aldermen must adopt an ordinance approving the speed limit before it can take effect, Sams said. It could then go into effect within weeks, she said.

Petty said the town would "absolutely" accept a 60-mph limit.

"We have no argument with what the speed limit should be," he said. "We wanted a speed limit set."

Meanwhile, the Keller Police Department, which Westlake has contracted with since June 2002, continues to write tickets in the contested area.

"It's one of those issues where if you feel you're standing on good legal ground, you continue to do your job," Keller police Lt. Tommy Williams said. "We've been told the ordinance is good."