Council approves Greenway Phase II, duplex rezoning

Tonight's city council meeting included another step forward for the Greenway project and a rezoning allowing a duplex property to renovate its buildings.

The council approved Mayor Scott McBrayer to contract with ALDOT for Phase II of the Greenway, which includes paving, a pedestrian bridge, boardwalk, signs and landscaping. However, another project to widen Lakeshore Drive from Columbiana Road almost to U.S. 280 was carried over, as the council had questions about details of the project and its cost, which includes widening, resurfacing, traffic loop detectors, guardrails and traffic stripes.

Homewood resident Cynthia Parris came before the council to request rezoning four duplex units at 316-322 Carr Avenue from Green Springs Urban Renewal District (GURD) to Attached Dwelling Units. While all the units are currently occupied, Parris said she wants to rebuild them in the future as families move out, which is not a permitted use under the current zoning.

“We’ve done repairs and repairs and repairs, and so the next thing to do is to rebuild, but I can’t do that under GURD,” Parris said of the duplexes, which her grandfather built in the 1950s and have been family-owned ever since.

Jones noted that the GURD zoning was created hastily a few years ago when the council was investing money in the Green Springs Highway area and wanted to prevent certain types of businesses from entering the area. The council voted unanimously to approve the zoning.

In a special issues committee meeting preceding the Jan. 23 council session, disagreement arose over a request from Barber Dairy to use city right-of-way at 126 Barber Court to construct a spill control system. According to a Barber representative, the system would have on-site instruments to detect changes in water quality and, in the instance of a spill of dairy products, chemicals or other materials, would close off access to stormwater drains on the property and contain the spill until it could be disposed of by staff.

Ward 3 Representative Walter Jones referenced the odor problem that has been consistent in West Homewood since October 2015 and believed to be coming from either the Barber Dairy or Buffalo Rock plants, as well as a recent chemical spill on the property that killed several fish in the local water system. He said he wanted more information before giving Barber access to city property.

“We need to get over what we’ve been going through for the past 14 months," Jones said. "We don’t need to jump into anything hastily.”

Ward 1 Representative Britt Thames added that changing circumstances at the plant while odor testing is still going on could complicate identification of the source. However, Ward 5 Representative Peter Wright countered that a spill containment system is beneficial to environmental health and safety, and that the reports he has received from Volatile Analysis, who is leading odor testing, lead him to believe that Barber is likely not the source of the odor.

“I’m not sure I want to be the person that could have stopped it and didn’t,” said Ward 4 Representative Barry Smith of the possibility of a spill.

The Barber representative said a spill containment system should have no effect on any odors on the property, and that installation would take 4-6 months to complete. The committee voted to carry over their discussion so they could review the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) report from the previous Barber spill and talk with county stormwater management employees about the impact of the system.

The council also:

• Approved the Hollywood Garden Club to work in the city right-of-way to plant sapling trees in four out of 17 traffic islands in the Hollywood area. The trees will include bags to keep them watered and the club plans to maintain the trees after the bags are removed. The Homewood Environmental Commission has planted 35 native trees around Homewood and lost six of them so far, some of which will be replaced. The council briefly discussed funding the Initiative to buy and plant older trees that are more likely to survive, but did not make a formal decision.
• Approved the property owners adjacent to a "paper alley" at 1105 Palmetto Street to work in the alley, with an indemnification agreement, to clean it up and add landscaping. The property owners originally proposed purchasing the paper alley from the city and could still pursue that route, but the indemnification agreement allows them to improve the area more quickly than waiting for the sale process.
• Accepted a bid from Sain Associates to create an ADA accessibility transition for the city at a cost of $39,000. Sain was the lowest of three bidders that included everything needed in the bid.
• Sent revisions to the municipal tree ordinance to the planning commission for discussion. Once approved, the ordinance will be sent back to the council for approval and implementation.
• Approved a tent variance for Trinity United Methodist to put up a tent in its parking lot as part of its Discovery youth weekend retreat March 4-5.
• Approved funding for two streetlights in the area of 507 Morris Boulevard, two streetlights at 402 and 410 Sterrett Avenue and one at the corner of Bristol Lane and West Oxmoor Road.
• Approved a restaurant retail liquor license for La Perla Nayarita, 150 Green Springs Highway, and carried over a request for an on and off-premises beer and wine license for Black Pearl, 180 State Farm Parkway, due to concerns about allowing off-premises sales.
• Set Feb. 13 public hearings for a sign ordinance variance request at 3450 Independence Drive and a driveway ordinance variance request at 308 Ridge Road.
• Placed liens on 1602 Ridge Road and 1624 Mountain Gap Circle to recoup costs of abatement after the properties were declared public nuisances due to overgrowth of vegetation.
• Asked the finance committee to consider funding roughly $10,000 to build public parking in front of the future home of Caliber sporting goods on Central Avenue, as well as parallel spaces on 28th Court South.
• Discussed traffic concerns at 3100 Independence Drive, near Lancaster Road, due to a high number of accidents in the area and concerns from residents and workers in the area. Ross said he would like to bring wreck data to the state in order to move forward with solutions for the intersection.
• Dropped discussion of a three-way stop sign at Sterrett Avenue and Oxford Circle due to speeding concerns. The city is planning a citywide traffic study in the near future and will look at safety and speed options for the area at that time. As a temporary measure, Police Chief Tim Ross said he will increase traffic enforcement and put an electronic speed display sign in the area.

Council President Bruce Limbaugh also noted that there will be a second meeting on the city's $110 million bond for schools, parks and other city projects on Monday, Jan. 30 at 5 p.m. at Rosewood Hall. It will be a chance for citizen comment and the task force that the city put together has had its first meeting to develop an RFP for a project manager.