Losing friendships: Public access gates pit neighbors against neighbors

• Jackson's gate ordinance allows neighborhoods to vote on whether they want a gate.
• Public access is still allowed to all neighborhoods.
• Supporters say the gates control traffic and offer a sense of safety and security.
• Opponents say gates are divisive, could affect property values. Voting process also questioned.

A rise in public access gate requests in Jackson is pitting neighbors against neighbors, depending on what side of the gate they might live on. 

The gates don't actually keep anybody out — there's clearly marked public access 24 hours a day.

But a perception of exclusion — and worries over property values in neighboring non-gated areas — are tied to the gates that supporters say act as traffic-calming measures and offer a sense of security and safety.

A city ordinance — amended from the original 2011 gate ordinance and passed in 2017 — requires that a majority of residents in a neighborhood must vote in favor of a gate and hold a public hearing before it is considered by the City Council. Still, there are some who say that they aren't being included in the voting process because of the way a neighborhood is defined.

Such arguments boiled over at an April public hearing over gate proposals for Woodland Hills and Eastover neighborhoods in north Jackson, with one council member suggesting the gates have created "civil wars" inside neighborhoods. 

Tensions high during public hearing

During the crowded hearing, Woodland Hills neighborhood president Mary Alice White said 50 homeowners, making up 86 percent of the community, voted in favor of the gates. She attempted to allay perceptions that the gates will prevent the public from entering sections of the neighborhood. 

"It's a traffic-calming tool. A public access gate is no more than a stop sign you cannot outrun," White said. 

Elta Johnston, whose family has lived in Woodland Hills for 67 years, argued traffic congestion from increased commercialization has made the neighborhood less secure.

"In the last 15 years things have changed," Johnston said. "Along with the boom in Fondren has come negative impacts for Woodland Hills with an uptick in crime, drive-throughs, speeding...These gates represent a significant investment not just in Woodland Hills but an investment in the future of Jackson."

'These gates are beginning to divide the neighborhood'

Attorney Steve Smith, who serves as a voice for residents opposed to gates, told council members the areas selected for gate access only represent a small portion of the overall Woodland Hills neighborhood. He said some residents were excluded from voting on the gate measure. 

"It's arbitrary. It's capricious," Smith said of the Woodland Hills gate request. 

"It is not based on any study and it is totally biased against my clients. They are excluded and have no benefit in having a gate." 

Neighborhood resident Stephanie Busby, who would live on the other side of the proposed gate, said she fears losing friendships with neighbors.

"One of my greatest concerns isn't my property value, my safety or security, but in losing these wonderful friendships I've developed in these 15 years we've lived there. I've been so discouraged...these gates are beginning to divide the neighborhood," she said. 

As tensions rose, representatives of both Woodland Hills and Eastover requested the gate applications be taken off the city agenda before the City Council could take a vote.  

Ward 1 Councilman Ashby Foote, who met with neighborhood representatives the day after the public hearing, said Thursday gates may still be pursued though there is no specific timeline.

Jackson councilman has change of heart on gates

A larger debate continues to brew among some council members over whether the amended gate ordinance is setting a bad precedent in the Capital City. 

"My initial opposition to the ordinance is that it was incomplete and I feared that it would set up these kind of civil wars that we would have to resolve," Ward 4 Councilman De'Keither Stamps said. 

Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes also raised concerns. 

"When we first started having these conversations about these gates, it was just a matter of time before you started running into a slippery slope. Somebody is going to get sued. That's what is going to happen," he said. 

Councilman Aaron Banks, who voted for the five existing neighborhood gates, said he had a change of heart after the latest public hearing. 

He recommended rehashing the ordinance altogether.

"I think this is something, the ordinance itself, that needs to be rehashed in the Rules Committee," he said. 

How did we get here?

Foote began working on an amended gate ordinance in 2016, a move that would make it possible for neighborhoods to more easily pursue gates. The neighborhoods themselves pay for the gates. Most of the neighborhood associations that have gotten or were seeking gates are in Foote's Ward 1 in north Jackson.

The city spent a year holding public hearings to refine the ordinance, and the City Council voted 5 to 2 to approve the ordinance in September 2017.

The first two gates were approved by the council at an October 2018 meeting.

How many gates are there and where?

Since 2017, the city of Jackson has approved gates for five neighborhoods, all in north Jackson. One neighborhood includes two gates.  

• Northlake Drive                            

Northlake Drive/Kristen Drive 

• Rollingwood Homeowner's Association   

Old Canton Road/Banyan Drive, Banyan Drive/Yucca Drive 

• Village of Northpointe 

Plantation Drive/Waterford Drive 

• Massena Heights Homeowners Association 

Cheryl Drive/Heritage Hills Drive 

• Heatherwood 

Briarfield Road (mid-block) 

Contact Justin Vicory at 769-572-1418 or jvicory@gannett.com. Follow @justinvicory on Twitter.

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