It may sound like a setback, but a bump in the road is exactly what residents of the Hunter Heights neighborhood are asking for - several of them, to be specific.
In the latest of several conversations with members of the Madison Parish Police Jury, residents of the neighborhood were on hand again during the MPPJ’s regular meeting Monday, where one Hunter Heights homeowner said a man pulled a gun on her over the weekend after she called local authorities to report his excessive speed while driving through the residential area.
“It’s out of control,” she told jurors during the meeting. Previously, residents from the neighborhood reached out to MPPJ members and presented signed petitions advocating both sides of the argument, with the neighborhood seemingly split down the middle on the issue.
In May, residents presented their arguments to jurors and homeowner Beth Fields said the speed bumps would cause more problems than they would solve.
“They damage your car and it brings down the value of our homes,” Fields said.
But Hunter Heights resident Melonie Munn told jurors the speed bumps are needed to curb a very serious issue.
“There are speeders,” Munn said. “We do have a problem, and it’s not occasional; it’s severe.”
Munn and others signing the petition in favor of installing speed bumps said their primary concern is the safety of children living in the neighborhood, a worry only exacerbated, they said Monday, by this weekend’s incident.
Joy Sims, assistant extension agent with Tallulah’s arm of the LSUAgCenter, has been working with Hunter Heights residents and MPPJ members since May and said Monday the possibility of the agency helping secure funding for the speed bumps still exists, but only with a majority of the neighborhood’s residents behind the project. MPPJ President Jane Sanders said the alternative would be residents themselves coming up with the $79-to-$93 per speed bump needed for the project.
While residents in attendance said there is a clear majority in favor of the project, Sims said a meeting with homeowners would be needed before action can be taken. A tentative community meeting is being planned for next week, but a time and date have not yet been finalized.
Currently, Hunter Heights is made up of 29 homes, with all but two houses occupied.
