Whitehouse is looking for answers to a possibly improper speed limit on Waterville Street.

Village Council approved a study to find a definitive answer for what the limit ought to be on Waterville, part of State Rt. 64, from Providence Street east to the village limits. The village law department presented a memo to the village council Tuesday night that sought to determine what the street’s legal speed limit is.

“Currently there is a lack of definitive guidance as to the currently established 35 mph ‘Urban District’ on Route 64,” the memo reads.

Village police have enforced a 35-mph limit on Waterville between Whitehouse Square Boulevard and Gilead Street since the village posted signs there in 1987, despite an Ohio Department of Transportation notice in 1993 that the signs conflicted with the statutory speed limit for that street.

“The community has always treated this area as an urban district,” Village Solicitor Philip Davis said. “It is to slow traffic. It’s for safety.”

Ohio law establishes a 50- mph speed limit for sections of state routes in municipalities that are outside “urban districts,” defined as having businesses less than 100 feet apart for at least a quarter mile and marked by some traffic-control device — such as signs. Within such districts, the speed limit is 35 mph, the limit currently posted.

Whitehouse needs to know if the piece of Waterville Street in question passes through an urban district to determine its proper speed limit.

“Once that first question is resolved the rest of it will fall into place,” Mr. Davis said.

Whitehouse police will not enforce the posted 35 until after the study’s completion, Whitehouse Police Chief Mark McDonough said.

The police chief also said the March village council committee of the whole meeting was when he first learned of the discrepancy.

In a memo to village officials for that March meeting, Director of Public Service Steve Pilcher wrote that ODOT recommended a 50-mph limit for Waterville east of Gilead.

It will take a few weeks to get the proposal for the study ready to bid, Mr. Pilcher said.

Contact Zack Lemon at: zlemon@theblade.com, 419-724-6282, or on Twitter @zack_lemon.

First Published April 19, 2017, 4:00 a.m.