A Port Gibson woman will be allowed to open a small personal-care home for the elderly on Locust Street, Vicksburg officials decided Wednesday.

Such facilities, which provide food, transportation and other services for elderly and disabled residents, were previously not allowed on local residential streets under city zoning laws.

“The purpose of this is to give back some of the wonderful years the Page family enjoyed in that house,” said Helen Page, a registered nurse who works in a Jackson hospital. “I like the elderly and I enjoy taking care of them.”

Under a change made by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen Wednesday, personal-care homes in residential areas would still have to be approved by the city’s zoning board. But the change removes a requirement that the homes be on a “collector” street.

A collector street is designed to carry traffic from local residential streets to the city’s main thoroughfares, City Planner Ronnie Bounds said. Locust Street is considered a local street.

Page said her personal-care home will have 12 beds and is scheduled to open in mid-January. The ordinance change will not take effect for 30 days.