A one-way street does not good neighbors make.

Residents of the Green Meadows subdivision in south Napa are asking the city to crack down on scofflaws from Sheveland Ranch who ignore one-way street restrictions between the two neighborhoods.

When the city approved the homes at Sheveland Ranch in 2003, the extension of Greenbach Street into Sheveland Ranch was limited to southbound traffic.

This restriction was intended to prevent the new residents at Sheveland Ranch from using Greenbach as a northbound shortcut to Imola Avenue.

Green Meadow residents have been complaining ever since that motorists from Sheveland Ranch ignore the “Do Not Enter” signs.

Thirty-two vehicles broke the one-way rule during a one-week survey in late October, the city’s Traffic Advisory Committee learned Thursday.

“These are flagrant violations to us,” John Paul, a Green Meadows resident, told committee members. Over a year’s time, that’s 1,664 violations “that nobody seems to want to do something about,” he said.

Green Meadow residents have tried flagging down the violators, many of whom speed, and talking to the Sheveland Ranch homeowners’ association, but with little success, the committee was told.

“These people are very arrogant,” Betty O’Grady said of the worst of the scofflaws.

The city’s Public Works Department conceded that frequent police stakeouts hadn’t stopped the violators. “We’ve created an almost impossible situation,” Public Works Director Mike O’Bryon said.

Over the past 26 months, police reported issuing 10 citations for wrong-way driving into Green Meadows. A radar trailer was parked on Greenbach 11 times in response to complaints about speeders.

Officers have monitored Greenbach Street many times without observing any violations, while noting that Greenbach carries a low level of traffic, the Public Works Department reported.

The city could install a gate triggered by southbound vehicles or close the street connection entirely, city staff said. A spike strip that shredded the tires of violators was also mentioned.

The best solution might be to leave the street connection as it is, but increase police enforcement, public works said.

Traffic-actuated gates could turn out to be a major expense to maintain, officials said.

Helena Allison, a city traffic consultant, said some cities have had success handing out radar guns to residents who could build court cases against violators.

This was rejected as too confrontational, putting Green Meadows residents at risk.

Police Chief Rich Melton suggested installing a camera that snapped a picture of violators.

Tom Trzesniewski, a planning commissioner who sits on the traffic committee with two council members, suggested dramatically raising the fine for one-way violations. “Bring it up to a thousand bucks,” he said.

The city’s police and fire departments do not want the street connection closed, saying that Green Meadows residents need a second way to exit their subdivision in an emergency.

The Traffic Advisory Committee asked the police department to look at the feasibility of boosting citation fines and installing a camera.