Downtown master plan committee releases community feedback results

The "Heart of Homewood" committee at work on a master plan for downtown Homewood released results of its first round of public feedback today.

The master planning group, which includes city officials and Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham staff, held an open house , as well as online surveys and interactive maps, for residents to submit their opinions on what they like, don't like and want to see in the downtown area. The data released today showed 87 participants at the open house, 469 survey respondents and 225 map users.

Based on comments and feedback received, some of the areas of greatest concern include greenspace, sidewalks, transportation and land use. The feedback also provided locations where Homewood residents and business owners would like to see sidewalks, bike lanes and landscaping. Turning the jail property into a pocket park was a major topic among respondents.

According to the timeline released along with feedback data today, the Heart of Homewood planning group will be in the "public visioning and recommendation forum" stage until about February. They intend to draft an initial master plan from March to June 2018, with adoption of the final plan and beginning of the zoning update process by September.

The timeline projects drafting the zoning update by November 2018, with public adoption and approval in December 2018.

See the full report of community feedback here. Visit heartofhomewoodplan.com for more information about the downtown master plan.