Homewood council approves up to $2.3 million for repaving city's worst roads

The Homewood City Council tonight approved spending up to $2.3 million to mill and repave the 20 streets in Homewood that are deemed to be in the worst condition.

City officials hired Volkert Engineering to assess and give a grade to every street in the city, and the $2.3 million will be used to repave all the streets with a C grade, Mayor Scott McBrayer said.

Those streets include segments of 28th and 29th Avenue South, 18th Street South, 16th Place, Park Ridge, Barber Court, College Avenue, Wellington Road, Ridge Road, State Farm Parkway, Clermont Drive, Hall Avenue, South Forrest Drive, Columbiana Road, Tamworth Lane, Devon Drive, Brookwood Medical Plaza Drive, Independence Court, Briscoe Road and Shadow Lawn Drive, said J.J. Bischoff, the mayor's chief of staff. Each of these segments is under a mile in length.

“Our streets have been through a lot with our utility companies, and some of it’s just normal wear and tear that has not been addressed,” McBrayer said.

City officials still have to seek bids for the paving work but hope to do that soon and expect the work to be done this calendar year, McBrayer said.

Volkert had recommended repaving the C-graded streets in phases, spending only about $600,000 immediately, but McBrayer said he wanted to go ahead and repave all the C-graded streets. He appreciates the council’s willingness to spend the money, he said.

Council President Bruce Limbaugh said all the council members agree the issue needs to be tackled.

The city will pay cash for the repaving work with surplus tax revenues collected in past years, McBrayer said. That is why the city collects a surplus every year — so that when projects like this come up, the money is available to take care of it without having to borrow money, he said.

Once the C-graded streets are repaved, the city plans to begin work to maintain and protect its streets graded A and B with crack seals, micro surfacing and seal coats. All of this, McBrayer said, is a plan to bring Homewood's streets up to a higher standard and maintain that standard longer.

This pavement plan is paired with a recent Homewood ordinance requiring utility companies to improve the patching system used to repair cuts made into city streets. Homewood has a new system to monitor these patches and make sure they hold up for at least one year after being placed.

In other business tonight, the Homewood City Council voted 10-0 to:

• Take part in the state’s “back-to-school” sales tax holiday Aug. 5-7, waiving the city’s portion of sales and use taxes on certain purchases that weekend. Items exempt from the city sales tax that weekend will include clothing items with a sales price of $100 or less (excluding certain accessories and protective and sports equipment); computer equipment and supplies with a sales price of $750 or less per item or computer package; and noncommercial purchases of school supplies, school art supplies or school instructional materials up to $50 per item.
• Reject the donation of a small piece of property at 628 Greenhill Drive.
• Reject the latest offer by West Homewood Development Group to build a Post Office Pies and townhomes at 165 Oxmoor Road. McBrayer said the deal is not dead; city officials will continue to negotiate with the development group to try to reach a deal that is suitable to both developers and the city.
• Reject an offer to sell patrol rifles to the Police Department because there was only one bidder and authorize city officials to negotiate a better price.
• Set July 8 as the deadline for companies to turn in bids to sell tasers to the Police Department. The bids will be opened at 5 p.m. on July 11.
• Zone several recently annexed properties on Citation Court as a light manufacturing district. The properties previously were zoned for light industrial use by Jefferson County.
• Set public hearings for July 11 to consider variances to the sign ordinance at 2700 19^th Place South, 135 West Valley Avenue, 2910 18^th Street South and 929 Oxmoor Road.
• Authorize Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church to build several parallel parking spaces on the city right of way at 1728 Oxmoor Road by the church’s administrative building. The sidewalk will be moved about 7 feet, and Our Lady of Sorrows will pay for all of the work, said Greg Cobb of the city’s Building, Engineering and Zoning Department.
• Declare a 2001 Chevrolet truck with 187,000 miles, a 2003 Ford Windstar with 83,515 miles and a 2007 Harley-Davidson motorcycle as surplus property.
• Authorize McBrayer to enter into an emergency services contract for Red Clay Bar and Event Services LLC to provide management and operation services for Rosewood Hall.

This article was updated at 2:43 p.m. on June 28 with a more complete list of roads to be milled and repaved.