City to look at road diet, sidewalks for Mayfair Drive

After discussion with residents for over an hour, the city council's public works committee is going to study the possibility of narrowing Mayfair Drive and adding sidewalks.

The discussion of Mayfair sidewalks has been underway since February, with residents unable to come to a consensus. Residents in favor of sidewalks said they would make the streets safer for children, walkers and runners on a speeding-prone street, as well as enhancing walkability to schools, parks and retail. Residents in opposition said the sidewalks would cause the destruction of trees and landscaping, reduce the size of yards and make the street less attractive.

All these issues came to the forefront again at a specially called committee meeting on June 22. Committee Chairman and Ward 2 Representative Vance Moody stressed multiple times through the meeting that the goal was to hear residents' opinions and concerns to see if there was a solution that was "livable" for everyone, or whether to scrap the idea entirely.

The meeting began with a possible path that Building, Engineering and Zoning Department employee Greg Cobb staked out on the north side of Mayfair from Roxbury Road to Independence Drive. Cobb said this path could be made to avoid most trees and structures in the city right of way, but avoiding those obstacles in many cases would bring the sidewalk closer to houses.

Residents opposed this idea, and Moody agreed that sidewalks on the north side did not match the "character of the neighborhood." The south side has more steeply elevated yards, which requires the additional cost of building retaining walls, but also has fewer trees to impact. Residents at the meeting found this "much more palatable," as one homeowner put it. Several homeowners on the south side of Mayfair were in attendance and said they were willing to give up part of their yards or parking pads for the sidewalks.

Speeding on Mayfair has been a significant part of the sidewalk discussion. Since the last committee meeting on June 6, police have patrolled Mayfair more frequently and Moody said they have issued 30 traffic citations. Ward 3 Representative Patrick McClusky said the city is also performing a traffic study and will have the results available for the next committee meeting.

Because of these concerns, the committee proposed a road diet — decreasing the street's width — as visually smaller roads tend to correlate with reduced vehicle speed. The committee added that it may be possible to build part of the sidewalk into the portion of the street cut by the diet, leaving more of residents' yards intact.

None of the Mayfair residents present at the meeting opposed this plan, and some who had previously been against sidewalks said they were neutral or favorable toward this proposal.

There are potential challenges with a road diet, which the committee has asked Cobb to study along with how much the road could be narrowed. Moody said the public works committee will convene another specially called meeting with this information in hand, so they can talk with each Mayfair resident about their individual impact. 

That meeting date has not been set, but notice will be posted on the city website.