Northsiders could soon have a chance to sound off on the city of Jackson’s plans to amend its controversial public access gating ordinance.
Ward Six Councilman Aaron Banks hopes to schedule a public hearing soon to allow residents to offer input on plans to change the ordinance, which governs the installation of the devices.
Banks said he would have scheduled the meeting sooner but was unable to because of COVID-19.
Now, scheduling a meeting is a matter of finding out when members of the council’s rules committee can meet, as well as when the council can find a larger space to host the hearing.
“One of the things the council president is doing is looking for a larger space, so we can have people there to have more input,” he said. “We couldn’t do it at city hall, because we would be cramped and we couldn’t guarantee that everyone would have proper PPE.”
PPE is personal protection equipment, such as gloves and masks.
No hearing was scheduled in April or May, because council meetings were limited to council members and essential city personnel.
Banks was proposing a facility, such as Thalia Mara Hall, where residents could gather and still practice social distancing.
The gating ordinance has been in limbo for more than a year, following hearings in April 2019 that forced two Northside neighborhoods to pull their applications for gates.
Unlike typical gates, which block off access to an area, public access gates simply require a motorist to stop and wait for the gate to open before entering.
The devices have become popular on the Northside, with numerous neighborhoods, including Heatherwood and Northpointe, having installed them.
Following those hearings, Banks took the lead to craft amendments to the existing ordinance.
Those changes were placed in the rules committee and have been under review by the city’s legal department for months.
In March, Banks told the Sun he hoped that the city attorney’s office would have completed the review by April.
However, the ordinance was put on hold as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.
Banks said he would move forward with a hearing, whether legal had wrapped up their review of the ordinance or not.
“I would like to have this done by the end of June,” he said.
Among amendments, the city is proposing adding a community meeting requirement to the gating approval process, to allow more public input on gating plans.
Banks is proposing a second amendment that would prohibit exit-only gates at entrances shared by multiple neighborhoods.
The amendments are designed to answer concerns brought up at a meeting held last April.
At the time, council members were slated to vote on gating applications from the Greater Eastover Neighborhood Foundation and the Woodland Hills Conservation Association.
Eastover was hoping to install five gates at neighborhood entrances. Woodland Hills was hoping for two.
Public hearings were held on both applications. In both cases, individuals told the council they had not had an opportunity to comment on the gates prior to those hearings.
Under proposed amendments, the city hopes to add a requirement to have a community meeting at the beginning of the gating application process.
During that meeting the gate locations are presented and comments/input is recorded,” Planning Director Jordan Hillman told the Sun previously. “The application then moves forward with the site plan/technical reviews and finishes at the council.”
Applicants would also be required to give notice about the meetings and about the applications, to ensure the public was aware of plans.
Right now, the only opportunity for public comment is before the council, at the end of the application process.
The gating ordinance has been stirring debate among Northsiders and council members for nearly a decade.
The original ordinance was adopted in 2011 and was drawn up by former Ward One Councilman Quentin Whitwell.
The ordinance was amended in 2016 and in 2017, with those amendments penned by current Ward One Councilman Ashby Foote.
The original code limited gates to subdivisions with one entrance.
The amended version expanded gating to all neighborhoods but was put on hiatus after the city’s legal department said the ordinance did not include due process for those opposed to the gates.
The 2017 ordinance supposedly addressed that concern by requiring the council to hold a public hearing before voting on whether to approve or deny a gating request.
Under that measure, applicants must obtain 75 percent support from residents within the proposed gated area. Additionally, gating plans have to be submitted to the city’s Site Plan Review Committee, to ensure they don’t have a negative impact on infrastructure or on police and fire response times. After clearing the site plan step, the applications go to the council, which set a public hearing. The council would be allowed to vote on gates the same day.
One of the major concerns brought up at the Woodland Hills and Eastover hearings was the fact that opponents did not have an opportunity to comment on the gating process prior to that meeting.
The format of the meeting also didn’t allow supporters to refute claims that they believed were erroneous.
Banks hopes his amendments will fix that problem. “People claimed they did not have the opportunity to give their input. I wanted to be able to allow that.”
