Homewood council clarifies allowable length of hotel stays

The Homewood City Council on Monday night passed an ordinance designed to clarify how long people can stay in hotels and motels in the city.

City Attorney Mike Kendrick said the city’s zoning ordinance since 1986 has held that hotels and motels were for transient people only, but at least one hotel owner has complained that the term “transient” was not defined.

Kendrick said the Alabama Department of Revenue, which collects lodging taxes for the city, has defined a transient hotel guest as one who stays less than 180 consecutive days.

So the action taken by the Homewood City Council Monday night was to officially adopt the same definition of transient as the Alabama Department of Revenue. The city already has been using that definition, but this just clarifies that position for anyone who might question it, Kendrick said.

Ravi Patel, whose family owns the Travel Inn at 275 Oxmoor Road, has repeatedly objected to the clarification passed by the council Monday night.

In March, he said that between a quarter and a third of his hotel guests stay at Travel Inn longer than 180 days, including some employees who live on-site. Many of the guests are short-term contract workers, employees on construction projects such as the Interstate 59/20 bridge replacement and super-commuters who don’t travel back home every day, he said.

“It’s unfathomable to us how that would affect our business,” Patel said of the 179-day limit.

Kendrick said it’s really common sense what transient means, and everyone should understand that hotels are not meant to be long-term living quarters. A hotel is a commercial business and is not zoned as a residential area, he said.

Councilman Andrew Wolverton agreed and said he doesn’t understand why someone would want to stay in a hotel for longer than six months, given the rates that hotels charge.

“There are affordable apartments in Homewood, too,” Wolverton said.

Also, hotels do not have to meet the same fire protection requirements that apartment complexes do, Wolverton said. For example, hotels do not have the same requirements for firewalls as apartment complexes, he said.

Someone living in a hotel for more than six months might accumulate a lot more belongings than the typical hotel guest and create a condition that is more of a fire hazard, he said.

Councilman Mike Higginbotham was the only council member to vote against the clarifying ordinance. He said he did so because he doesn’t think the ordinance will have any practical impact.

“It requires people to check out at 180 days, but they could turn right around and check right back in for another 180 days under the way they rule is,” Higginbotham said. “I’m not sure what we’re really accomplishing by doing it, other than maybe making it a little more difficult from a paperwork standpoint for the people who have extended stays. As a practical matter, it will not change the behavior of extended stays for more than 180 days.”

Also, Higginbotham said he wanted to know what problems were being caused by people staying more than 180 days in a hotel, and “no one could answer that question for me adequately,” he said. “I just had a hard time telling business owners we’re going to make this change if I don’t understand what the problem is.”

Wolverton in March said his concern about extended stays at hotels partially stemmed from the discovery that a sex offender was living in a West Homewood hotel without property notifying the community. The police got involved, and the offender left, but Wolverton said he felt hotels weren’t doing enough to prevent this, giving sex offenders a loophole in meeting requirements for their living situation.

Wolverton said some hotel patrons also were long-term visitors in Homewood hotels in order to get their children in Homewood schools.

WEST HOMEWOOD DISTRICT

In other business Monday night, the City Council recommended some changes to the West Homewood zoning district, which includes properties fronting Scott Street and parts of Oxmoor Road and Oak Grove Road.

Upon the recommendation of the two council members representing Ward 2, the council voted to recommend a prohibition against light industry, funeral homes and townhomes in the district. The only type of housing that would be permitted would be in a mixed-use situation with a residential unit above a non-residential usage, such as a retail store or restaurant, Higginbotham said.

Also, the council wants to have the final say on approval of development plans in the West Homewood District instead of the Planning Commission. The council also recommends that requests for sign variances in the district be handled the same as any other sign variance request and that a definitive map of the zoning district boundaries be established. There are currently some conflicting maps, Higginbotham said.

The Planning Commission now will consider all these recommendations before sending a final recommendation back to the council for final approval.

In other business Monday, the council:

• Approved a $1,164,656 contract with Bennett Building to construct a computer lab addition at the Homewood Public Library.
• Agreed to require that lots be at least 75 feet wide, instead of 60 feet, to have a parking pad or second driveway.
• Approved a statement that the city commits to responding to open records requests within 10 days.
• Declared a house at 553 Edgecrest Drive as a public nuisance due to a lack of handrails on the structure and the need to remove a platform and other materials on the property outside the residence. The property owner has 30 days to correct the problem before the city takes action and seeks reimbursement from the owner.
• Approved an engineering contract with Gonzalez-Strength & Associates for sidewalk projects.
• Approved a revitalization project for 18^th Street.
• Rejected a bid to sell the city a fuel tank for Fire Station No. 3 and authorized the fire chief to negotiate a different price with the only bidder.
• Declined a request to declare an alley between 2600 and 2630 18^th Street South as surplus.
• Gave approval for Alabama Power Co. to remove four street lights and poles at the corner of 18^th Street and 28^th Avenue for the new Valley Hotel project.
• Declined a request to add a crosswalk on Brookwood Boulevard at the Alabama Allergy & Asthma Center.
• Declined a request to add a stop sign at the intersection of Roseland Drive and West Linwood Drive.
• Authorized the mayor to sign a one-year contract with radio provider Tango Tango to add a push-to-talk police radio to police officers’ cell phones.
• Declared a 2006 Ford 500 car in the Parks and Recreation Department as surplus, to be sold at auction.
• Agreed to contribute $5,000 to the July 4 Bicentennial Fireworks Display atop Red Mountain.
• Approved liquor licenses for the Ruby Sunshine Café at 1017 Oxmoor Road, Suite 101 and The Seafood King at 180 State Farm Parkway, subject to approval by the Fire Department.
• Set a public hearing for July 8 to consider a request for a sign variance at 109 Wildwood Parkway.