Council to set hearing for roof height changes, reconsider Patriot Park sidewalk design

Changes to the building height ordinance for homes in the Neighborhood Preservation District are set to be discussed by the full Homewood City Council at a public hearing. 

At the planning and development committee meeting on Monday, March 5, committee members worked with city planner Vanessa McGrath to consider new wording of the city's height ordinances to provide more clarity in how the height is measured.

McGrath said the Building, Engineering and Zoning Department has found the previous phrasing of "median front grade" to be difficult to determine on each lot. The ordinance as it stands now requires homes to meet either the height restriction measured from threshold to roof peak (29 feet for homes on 55-foot or smaller lots, 35 feet for homes on larger lots) or as measured from median front grade to roof height (32 feet for homes on lots 55 feet wide or less, 38 feet for homes on larger lots), whichever is smaller.

The change that committee members discussed tonight would simplify the height restriction to only 32 feet for lots 55 feet wide or less and 38 feet for lots over 55 feet, but the main difference is in how the height will be measured. The measurement will now go from the center of the front exterior wall to the roof peak.

Committee members said they felt this would in most cases be no different from the existing ordinance in terms of allowed height, and may be slightly stricter with a more exact measurement point. Ward 1 Representative Britt Thames said the city may see an increase in variance requests to the Board of Zoning Appeals if this change slightly tightens roof height allowances, but the committee generally felt that preserving height restrictions was an important goal.

There will be a public hearing to consider these changes and let residents give their feedback. The City Council will set that public hearing at its next meeting on March. 12.

Also at the finance committee meeting tonight, the plans for a connecting path from Hillmoor Lane to Patriot Park hit a snag. The City Council had asked the finance committee to consider an option, Scheme D, that would connect the road on right-of-way from two homeowners and boardwalks at two points along a culvert. The cost was estimated at around $61,100, plus the cost of obtaining easements from property owners.

However, tonight BEZ Department employee Greg Cobb said the estimates of Scheme D's cost have gone up, and he is considering other options. Ward 2 Representative Andrew Wolverton also said he felt the council was jumping the gun, as the homeowners whose property would be affected have not discussed and agreed to the idea with the city yet.

Cobb said he intends to bring the committee new numbers and sidewalk options for the Patriot Park connector, as well as hard costs and timeline estimates for other municipal sidewalk projects, for the committee's next meeting.