Library to host public meeting on proposed Samford, city agreement

Ward 4 City Councilor Alex Wyatt will host a meeting this weekend for residents to discuss a proposed agreement between the city and Samford University concerning the purchase and rezoning of residential homes.

Wyatt told the City Council on Monday that the meeting will be held at Homewood Public Library on Sunday, July 14, at 4 p.m.

After the expiration of a seven-year moratorium on the university purchasing residential properties, Samford has approached the council's planning and development committee with a new five-year agreement.

As first discussed on July 1, the agreement would limit Samford to purchasing homes within geographic boundaries and would prohibit them from rezoning requests for five years. Samford could only purchase homes that are for sale contiguous to its existing campus along its north boundary (along Saulter Road and Windsor Boulevard), Cornelius Drive, Currie Way and along Lakeshore Drive between the western end of the campus and 330 Lakeshore Drive.

Students would not be permitted to live in the homes. Most of the other homes the university owns are faculty and staff housing.

Council members expressed concerns on July 1 that the properties could be used in the future to expand the campus footprint, though Samford Executive Vice President Buck Brock said there are no plans in its current master plan to change the zoning or use of residential properties.

After the public meeting at the library on Sunday, the planning and development committee will meet again on Monday, July 15, to further discuss the proposed agreement.