Expect city leaders to start looking at the number of vehicles permanently left parking in public view on residential driveways and on city streets.
Mayor Darren Musselwhite told aldermen at the city’s board meeting Tuesday night he intends to present for consideration an ordinance revision that would limit the number of permanently parked vehicles. Musselwhite said he was given a copy of a similar ordinance in Memphis from a citizen, reviewed it, and believes it addresses a problem in Southaven residential areas.
“It restricts the number of vehicles that can be parked at a dwelling unit that are not completely enclosed,” Musselwhite told aldermen. “We have a lot of people who work on cars as a hobby or like to have extra recreational vehicles. No problem with that. You just need to have a garage to put it in.”
What happens, Musselwhite said, is it becomes a problem with too many cars on the street, is bad for neighborhood property values, and it becomes a safety issue.
“If somebody has a party or some holiday, you know, they’re going to have visitors there so it would exclude that,” The mayor said. “It would be something that’s permanently parked there. But I think it’s a good ordinance.”
Musselwhite expects to call a special meeting in the near future to discuss ordinance revisions.
Large trucks looking to enter the distribution centers near the Landers Center are about to be rerouted off Pepperchase Drive and Venture Drive and instead be required to use the intersection of U.S. Highway 51 and Turman Drive. The truck route entering that area is expected to be changed following formal approval. Once voted on and after a short period with message boards announcing the change, tickets will begin to be written to violators.
The Mississippi Department of Transportation has completed the improvement project that adds traffic signals at the Turman-Highway 51 intersection. The project was requested by the City of Southaven three years ago to take truck traffic off Pepperchase and Venture, which surround the Landers Center. The streets also will surround the new Embassy Suites by Hilton hotel being constructed next to the Landers Center expansion.
Paperchase and Venture have been repaved but are not built for heavy trucks and that was the reason for the requests to MDOT by the city concerning Turman and Highway 51.
Trucks will now have two options: exit I-55, travel west on Church Road to Highway 51, then south to Turman, followed by a left turn onto Turman and the centers, or exit at Pleasant Hill Road south of Southaven and travel north on Highway 51 to Turman.
“You can’t have truck traffic going through a hotel convention center,” said Musselwhite. “We’re going to amend the truck route, bring it back to you guys for formal approval, but I want you to know that’s the purpose. It’s a non-debatable issue.”
Aldermen at Tuesday’s meeting were also informed that Fire Station #5, located at 2076 Starlanding Road, is about to be occupied, either late this week or early next week.
Construction began on the new fire station after the board awarded a $3.87 million contract to Legacy Construction Services. The facility, designed by A2H, features a dual-front design to accommodate future road changes.
The addition of Fire Station #5 is part of Southaven’s efforts to improve public safety and aims to enhance the city’s fire rating from Class 3 to Class 2.
“We’re wrapping up some details, like getting 911 connected to it and making sure everything is set up there,” Musselwhite said.
Musselwhite also said the swearing-in ceremony for the new Board of Aldermen beginning their terms on Tuesday, July 1 will be held on Monday, June 30 at 4 p.m. on the front lawn of the Snowden House at Snowden Grove Park.
