The Greater Belhaven Foundation is waiting for the city of Jackson to refine an ordinance so it can proceed with its plans to make six entrances into the neighborhood open to pedestrians only.
“We are waiting for the planning and zoning board to finalize the ordinance language,” said Mary Alex Thigpen, executive director of the Greater Belhaven Foundation.
She said she’s been in touch with the city attorney about the ordinance, which would pave the way for the planning and zoning board to establish a new Traffic Calming Committee.
The Traffic Calming Committee will be a subcommittee of the planning and zoning board instead of a stand-alone committee. The chairman of the planning board is responsible for appointing a resident from each of the seven wards to the subcommittee.
It’s been six months since the Jackson City Council took an initial step and adopted the ordinance amending three sections of the city’s code of ordinances about neighborhood traffic calming procedures.
“We can’t do anything until the city forms a new Traffic Calming Committee,” Thigpen said.
The previous Traffic Calming Committee once met so sporadically that the terms of its members would expire in between meetings, which meant members would have to go through the lengthy process of being re-appointed and confirmed by the city council. Making the Traffic Calming Committee a subcommittee of the planning and zoning board will help alleviate that problem.
The transformation of streets so they’re open to just pedestrians will require thought and input from the neighborhood. “The community engagement process and petition process still need to be done,” Thigpen said.
The Greater Belhaven Foundation plans to seek input from the committee and a petition process .
Belhaven has more than 30 entrances and the idea of blocking six of them and converting them to pedestrian-only entrances grew from consultation with the Fred Carl Jr., Small Town Center at Mississippi State University.
Wooden posts would block the entrances and keep drivers out but allow people walking or on bicycles to enter. The pedestrian-only entrances would look similar to one located in the Fondren neighborhood on Montrose Circle at the I-55 West Frontage Road.
Installing bollards would cost less than putting public access gates in the neighborhood and would not require the maintenance and repairs that gates do, Thigpen said.
The Town Center findings from community meetings and traffic data suggested these locations be converted to pedestrian only:
- Gillespie Street and State Street
- Quinn Street and Fortification Street on the Belhaven side of Fortification
- Monroe Street and Fortification Street on the Belhaven Heights side of Fortification
- Belvoir Place and Riverside Drive
- North Street and Manship Street, which is part of the Belhaven Town Center Development
- Manship Street and Jefferson Street, which is part of the Belhaven Town Center Development
Thigpen said the foundation plans to consult with the Belhaven Town Center developers to determine if they would like to see the two entrances to the development be converted into pedestrian only entrances.
“We’ll let them make that decision whether they want to pursue those recommendations,” she said.
The entrances that the Carl Center suggested for closure to drivers are currently open to traffic.
The foundation met with residents of Gillespie Street and received positive feedback about the plan to convert its intersection at State Street into a pedestrian-only entrance, Thigpen said.
Meetings with residents on the other streets the Carl Center suggested to convert to pedestrian only would have to be scheduled as the plan progresses.
Another change to the ordinance amended the threshold approval required in an application for traffic calming to 76 percent of the affected residents. Previously, a majority of residents on the affected portion of a street was required.
The Belhaven neighborhood has been interested in traffic calming for several years. In 2022, a former city of Jackson planning director introduced a proposed traffic calming ordinance at the neighborhood town hall meeting, but an ordinance was never formally submitted to the city council.
Several neighborhoods already have traffic calming measures in place. The Sheffield Homeowners Association has a series of speed humps along Sheffield Drive near Jackson Academy. The McLeod Community Association has speed humps on Westbrook Road and Sunnyvale Drive.
Speed humps can also be found on Dogwood Drive, North Canton Club Road, Woodfield Drive, Mossline Drive, Oakridge Drive, Plantation Boulevard, Ridgeway Street, Winchester Street and River Thames Road.
Numerous neighborhoods in Jackson have public access gates, which force drivers to stop and wait while a gate opens.
The Greater Eastover Neighborhood Foundation has installed public access gates at Eastover Drive at Ridgewood Road, Eastbourne Place at Ridgewood Road, Lake Circle between Restbrook Place and Rhymes Place, Douglass Drive between Ridgewood and Lake Circle and Quail Run Road at East Manor Drive. The most recent one added is at 2206 Meadowbrook Road, east of the East Ridge Drive intersection.
The foundation paid for the installation and maintenance of each gate as is required by the city. Each gate is equipped with a battery backup so it can operate in case of a power failure, is able to recognize sirens from a distance and preemptively open as a safety feature and includes a “walk-around” so that pedestrians do not have to walk through the gate.
