City Council delays vote for rezoning request on Oxmoor Road

The Homewood City Council carried over a controversial rezoning request at the March 9 meeting and plans to revisit it at their next meeting.

The request was for the property at 1619 Oxmoor Road. Owners Kevin and Leigh Misso wish to rezone the property from R-5, Attached Dwelling District, to C-1c, Office Building District with Proffered Conditions, so they can operate their design and construction services business in the house.

Although the house is located in a bustling part of Homewood — it’s directly across the street from Homewood Central Park and the Exceptional Foundation — the property has had a long history of failing to attract single-family homeowners. Some of the property is in a floodway, and Oxmoor Road can have heavy traffic. 

There have been failed efforts to redevelop the property in the past — in the early 2000s, it went before the Planning Commission with plans to turn it into a snow cone stand.

Now, the Missos want the property to serve as an office for their construction business, Riverbrook Design & Construction. Kevin has spent the past few months going door to door to ask his neighbors if they support this development and what concerns they have. If the rezoning passes, the Missos have agreed to a list of conditions, including that he and future owners can not build out of the house’s current footprint.

“If I sold this house to Trip tomorrow, or anyone else in this audience, you would have to operate out of that house. You could not tear that house down,” Kevin said. “If the house was blown away in a tornado, you have to rebuild that house in that footprint and operate your business out of it.”

Even screening in a front porch, Kevin said, would require them to go back to City Council to ask for approval.

At the public hearing, 16 Homewood residents spoke in favor of the rezoning. If the property remained R-5, the Missos or future owners could develop a multifamily unit there, and those who spoke in favor of the rezoning said they think the construction office would be more attractive than a multifamily unit.

“For the last two years, this house has looked rather in disrepair with grass growing and nothing happening,” said Stan Way, who lives on West Glenwood Drive. “I speak in favor of this rezoning because I walk by this place with my children, I ride by on bikes, and I know the importance of Homewood.

Jesse Cash, an East Glenwood Drive resident, said he would love for this to be a single-family residence.

“But the market has spoken on this — this house has sat there,” he said. “No one has wanted to live in it as their single family residence. … I think the highest and best use of this property would be a C-1c, so I speak in favor of the change.”

Other residents spoke of their concerns about traffic and flooding. The Missos plan to have eight parking spaces on the property, and some said pouring more asphalt for these spaces would increase flooding in the surrounding neighborhoods. 

But Kevin said these spots will be on the property’s existing driveway and will not affect the house’s current footprint.

In response to traffic concerns, Kevin said three people work in the Riverbrook office — Kevin, Leigh and an interior designer, Caylee Stefanek. They work 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and don’t work weekends, he said. The most traffic they receive is from their mailman, he said with a laugh.

One resident said he still doesn’t want the property to be zoned commercial, although the property is located a few hundred feet from Valley Cleaners and Applause Dancewear.

After the public hearing, the Council needed unanimous consent for a subsequent vote on the item. They did not reach unanimous consent, so the item will be carried over to the March 30 meeting for a second reading, and the Council will vote on the item at this meeting. There will not be another public hearing for this item.

Also on the March 9 agenda was a public hearing for rezoning the Homewood Downtown District, but this item was dropped because it was not sent to City Council by the Planning Commission.