City Council delays action on downtown rezoning
The Homewood City Council — at its regular meeting on Monday, Dec. 9 — chose to delay action on a controversial new downtown zoning plan until Monday, Dec. 16.
City Council President Peter Wright announced that decision at the end of a public hearing on the proposed zoning changes.
The hearing lasted more than three hours and attracted at least 250 Homewood residents and business owners to the council chambers at City Hall.
The proposed zoning would take the current 13 zoning districts in the downtown area, including six commercial districts, and combine them into three districts, to be labeled low intensity, medium intensity and high intensity.
In his opening remarks, Wright said the plan would simplify a “kaleidoscope” of differing zoning types downtown. He said the point of the plan is to “protect our downtown “ and “to keep Homewood like it is.”
However, the proposed changes — an outgrowth of the city’s Heart of Homewood master plan — have generated a lot of public comments in recent weeks.
Some residents and merchants have expressed concerns that the plan could have a negative impact on parking downtown.
There are also fears that the plan could open the way for mixed-use developments that would damage the quaint feel of Homewood’s downtown, especially the popular shopping strip on 18th Street South.
More than 40 residents and business owners spoke at the meeting Dec. 9, and a fair number of them expressed support for the new zoning.
However, a majority of the speakers expressed concerns about the plan and, in many cases, strongly urged the City Council to delay final action until after the new year.
After hearing recent public comments, Susan Henderson of Placemakers LLC — the firm that wrote the new zoning code — has suggested several changes to the plan.
To see her recommendations, go to heartofhomewoodplan.com and click on “December 9 — City Council Public Hearing Presentation.” The recommendations are found in the “You told us” section of the document.