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The College Park City Council took its first step toward approving a city speed camera system, as it voted 8-0 on Feb. 23 to allow its city manager to begin negotiating with camera vendors.

The council will host a public hearing on the issue at 7:30 p.m. March 23 at City Hall, and will vote whether to approve the cameras later that night.

State laws allow municipalities to install speed cameras on roads within a half-mile of local schools, although further permission is required to post them on roads owned by the county or state. The cameras photograph and levy $40 fines against drivers who exceed posted speed limits by 12 or more miles per hour.

Council members have long lamented speeding on roads including Route 1, Rhode Island Avenue and Paint Branch Parkway in the city. Councilman Patrick Wojahn (Dist. 1) said cameras would be especially helpful on Rhode Island Avenue, which falls within multiple North College Park school zones.

"I've heard stories about cars going as fast as 50 or 60 miles per hour," Wojahn said. The road's speed limit in the city is 35 miles per hour. "[A camera] is certainly not a panacea to the problems that we have ... but it could at least make a difference."

During a Feb. 16 council work session, Lanham-based speed camera firm Optotraffic, which has not entered into any agreement with the city, outlined areas surrounding Hollywood, Paint Branch, Al-Huda, Holy Redeemer and Friends Community schools as potential camera sites.

"Since kids are there, I think that would probably be good," said April Lee, the assistant principal at Hollywood Elementary. She added that the school has used teachers as crossing guards to keep intersections near the school safe.

City Attorney Suellen Ferguson said Feb. 23 that the city could also pursue cameras near the University of Maryland, College Park, as state laws do not specifically say whether a university qualifies as a school zone.

When the city decides on a vendor, it may run into further issues with county transportation officials. Ferguson said that while the state has a clear process for considering local camera requests, Prince George's County has no such policy and has been reluctant to consider requests since County Executive Jack Johnson (D) nixed county plans to install its own speed cameras in January.

City officials have pointed to Rhode Island Avenue and Paint Branch Parkway as two of the city's most speeding-plagued roads, both of which are owned by the county.

While the vote passed unanimously, Councilman Marcus Afzali (Dist. 4) expressed concern that speed cameras could open the city to legal trouble. An ongoing lawsuit in Montgomery County alleges that several county municipalities violated state laws by paying camera vendors on a per-ticket basis.

"People have sued when they've gotten tickets, because they're from a for-profit corporation that has an interest in people getting tickets," Afzali said. "There's a lot of potential good that can come of this ... [But] we still need to do more work before we go forward."