Lakeshore development met with controversy at Planning Commission

A proposal to develop 15 cottage-style houses for Samford University students was met with a controversial 4-4 vote at the Aug. 4 Planning Commission meeting.

The property, located at 800 University Park Place, is between the Samford University Athletic Track and the Shades Creek Greenway trail. The 15 modular houses would all be one-bedroom houses and approximately 400 square feet each. Amenities in each house include full kitchens with stainless steel appliances, large screen televisions and more.

Samford’s development plan, called Lakeshore Village, is in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Students who are exposed to the virus but live on campus could move into one of these modular houses and eliminate the risk of infecting their roommates or other people living in the residence hall. Students who are exposed to the virus but have nearby family could move home to quarantine.

“Our feeling is that leaving a [sick] person in a residential hall population is the best way to create a hotspot that would then spread through Samford and into the broader community,” said Colin Coyne, Samford’s chief strategy officer.

The current on-campus housing at Samford does not work well for quarantine situations, said Buck Brock, Samford’s vice president for business and financial affairs. Many rooms have more than one bed, and private rooms often share a community bathroom.

The university also explored other options, such as booking hotel rooms for the sick students. But Brock said the hotels did not want to board anyone who tested positive for the coronavirus. Brock also said it wouldn’t be fair to make healthy students move out of their dorms to accommodate sick roommates.

The Lakeshore Village project is a $1.9 million investment, and to recoup some of the costs, Brock said the university hopes to allow students to live in the housing for the next decade.

“It could be upperclassmen, graduate students, married students,” Brock said. “If we just dismantle this after the coronavirus crisis passes -- whenever that is -- we lose a whole lot of money.”

Coyne said at the Aug. 4 meeting that the university took a risk and purchased the modular homes before bringing the plan to the Planning Commission due to time constraints. Students will be moving onto Samford’s campus in about two weeks.

After the 4-4 vote by the Planning Commission, Brock asked the commissioners to reconsider.

“It puts us in an extraordinarily difficult situation,” he said. “I beg for some cooperation and understanding.”

Some members of the Planning Commission were concerned about the university’s plan to leave the modular homes in place for almost a decade. John Krontiras, who voted against the development, said he would change his vote if the houses could be dismantled following the end of the coronavirus pandemic. Brock said this would be throwing the $1.9 million investment away.

Another commissioner who voted no, Mark Woods, commented on the appearance of the homes.

“To me, it looks like, if you will, a glorified double-wide trailer with some skirting on it,” he said. “And that bothers me, especially when you say 10-year usage.”

Billy Higginbotham, who chairs the Planning Commission said these houses are built to a standard that equals or exceeds the standard building code. Modular homes are allowed by the current code and use, he said.

Although the issue had a tie vote of 4-4 in the Planning Commission, there is a special called meeting scheduled for Aug. 11 at 6 p.m. to revisit the issue. Visit cityofhomewood.com for information about joining the meeting.