Land Use Control Board – Memphis Flyer

The Land Use Control Board voted overwhelmingly this morning to reject a proposal by the Midland Goodwyn Neighborhood Association to close off Goodwyn Street to vehicular traffic.

About 30 or 40 residents of Midtown neighborhoods surrounding Goodwyn Street were present to oppose the closure. Most cited concerns of diverting traffic to other neighborhood streets, such as Haynes and Greer. They were also concerned about hindering fire department response times.

Midland Goodwyn Neighborhood Association members filed an application in August proposing a brick masonry wall with a wrought-iron gate that would seal the 27-home street away from through-traffic.

Currently, drivers use Goodwyn as an artery to travel from Southern to Central. Association members claim vehicles often speed down Goodwyn, posing a safety risk to kids and pedestrians. Goodwyn does not have sidewalks.

Lawrence Wade has lived in the Glen Eagles on Southern Avenue, a condo complex about 200 feet west of Goodwyn, for 17 years. He drives down Goodwyn to access Central on a daily basis. Wade presented the board with a petition from neighbors opposing the street closure.

“On Haynes, kids regularly play in the street. If Goodwyn is closed off, Haynes would be used as an alternate,” said Wade. “That could result in children being seriously hurt or even killed [by speeding traffic].”

Another neighbor pointed out that the large homes on Goodwyn arebset further back from the street than the more modest homes on Haynes, and therefore pose less of a safety risk for children since they’re not as likely to play in the street on Goodwyn.

The Office of Planning and Development had already recommended rejection of this proposal, citing diverted traffic issues and slower fire response times. They also said closing off the street would create an illegal cul-de-sac because the new dead-end street length would exceed what is currently allowed.

For more background, read Mary Cashiola’s “In the Bluff” column in this week’s Flyer.

A hearing scheduled this Thursday, November 8th, about the closing of Goodwyn Street at Southern Avenue has been postponed for 30 days. The Land Use Control Board (LUCB) has re-scheduled the hearing for December 13th at 10 a.m.

In an e-mail sent to members of a committee resisting the street closing, activist Gwen Lausterer said that those pushing for the closing “will withdraw their request for a wall [at Southern] if we will back them for speed bumps and a sidewalk.” The e-mail included the statement that the LUCB staff has “already submitted its Report to the Board recommending that the application be REJECTED.”

The Midland Goodwyn Neighborhood Association, which is close to Chickasaw Gardens but has a separate association, has been trying for years to close the street in order to control speed and traffic. Residents are sharply divided over the issue, with opponents saying the measure is all about race and class and that the closure is to keep residents of the poorer neighborhood south of Southern from being able to enter the exclusive Chickasaw Gardens area.

However, in an e-mail to the Flyer, Will Deupree, president of the Midland Goodwyn Neighorhood Association, explained, “Our design left open a walkway for all pedestrian foot traffic, bike riders, and families who want to use Goodwyn. We were only closing it to cars. We do not want a gated community. We want the street open at Central and on Midland so all neighbors and Memphians can access the street.”

Deupree also emphasized that the street closing is “not about crime” or, specifically, the rape that occurred on Goodwyn last May. “Having a gate would not have prevented this crime by any stretch of the imagination nor will it protect the residents of our street from crimes in the future … ”

For more information, contact Gwen Lausterer at glausterer3@comcast.net or wdeupree@bellsouth.net