Pursuant to City Ordinance, the Mayor and Aldermen may close streets for the purpose of establishing municipal parks. Traffic Engineering has received a request for the City to close and cul-de-sac Woodley Road north of Windsor Road and Lindwood Road west of Woodley Road in order to develop a neighborhood park.

Between 1999 and 2001, the Mayor and Aldermen acquired 28 previously flooded homes along Woodley and Lindwood roads and Juniper Circle in the Windsor Forest neighborhood. The City’s use of FEMA funding to acquire the parcels precludes the construction of buildings but does permit the development of a park or greenspace.

During the development of the Windsor Forest Neighborhood Traffic Calming Master Plan in 2014, residents along Woodley Road between Deerfield and Windsor Roads raised a concern over cut-through traffic. Average daily traffic counts of more than 900 vehicles per day validated those concerns and a recommendation to close Woodley and Lindwood Roads to through traffic was incorporated into the master plan.

Closure of Woodley Road between Deerfield and Windsor roads coupled with the closure of Lindwood Road west of Woodley Road would serve to eliminate long-standing cut-through traffic issues. Free of vehicle traffic, the FEMA lots can be developed into a neighborhood park.

Section 10-2204. - Establishment and maintenance of sidewalks, recreational, athletic, educational, amusement, etc., facilities, airports, etc.

In addition to the powers it may now have, any municipality shall have the power, in the interest of the health and general welfare, to accept by gift, acquire, construct, lease, own, regulate, operate, improve, open, close, or extend public streets, alleys, sidewalks, parks, swimming pools, golf courses, recreation grounds, airports, airfields, parking areas, parking buildings, athletic fields, grandstands and stadium buildings used or useful for sports, buildings used or useful for housing fairs and exhibits, buildings for educational purposes, libraries, buildings used or useful for poultry and livestock shows and exhibits for buildings used or useful for public amusement purposes, together with facilities or buildings used for any combination of the above. Any municipality may, under this Act [sections 10-2201 to 10-2208], contract with any other political subdivision for the joint use of any of the above facilities.

Approval