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Neighbors oppose rezoning to allow hair salon on Palisades Boulevard

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Sydney Cromwell

Sydney Cromwell

A hair salon owner hopes to occupy a former residence on Palisades Boulevard, but nearby residents spoke in opposition at Monday night's city council meeting, expressing concerns about potential future consequences of the rezoning request.

Charles Jason Emerson wants to open Salon Inclusion Family Hair Spa at 285 Palisades Boulevard. He and property owner Cindy Wade requested to rezone the building from its current Office Building District to Green Springs Urban Renewal District, which includes salons in its permitted uses. In a planning and development committee meeting on April 17, Emerson said he planned to keep the salon open until 8 p.m., but could change it to close at 7 p.m. if neighbors were concerned about noise and traffic at night.

Ward 1 Representative Britt Thames, who is the planning commission liaison for the council, said the commission approved the GURD rezoning request to prevent spot rezoning, with a single property zoned differently from those around it, and felt that the small size of the lot would prevent some of the less desirable potential uses under GURD zoning, such as a fast food restaurant.

It was these potential other uses that concerned residents at tonight's meeting more so than Emerson's plans for a salon. Several residents from Theda Street said they liked the current character of the residential areas and did not want more encroachment of commercial properties like those on Green Springs.

Resident William Moore said he was concerned that rezoning this home to GURD could make it more likely for adjacent residents to move, opening up those properties to the possibility of purchase for further commercial use instead of residential. Should Emerson ever relocate or close his salon, the next tenant of the property might be more prone to noise and traffic. Moore and the other attending residents asked the council to keep the building in Office District or rezone it for residential use only.

Ward 3 Representative Walter Jones spoke in favor of the residents, saying that he wanted Emerson to open his salon in the city but not at this location, and that he felt GURD rezoning was a bad idea.

"It's clear cut, in my opinion, this needs to remain [Office District]," Jones said. "Do you want a fast food restaurant in your backyard?"

Though Jones and attending residents asked the city council to make a decision tonight, Council President Bruce Limbaugh moved to continue the public meeting so that Wade could attend and give her thoughts and answer questions. The issue will be picked up again at the May 22 council meeting at 5 p.m. The meeting was moved an hour earlier to avoid conflict with the Homewood High graduation ceremony.

Also at tonight's meeting, the council decided that the property owner of 602 Windsor Drive will have to reduce the size of his driveway to meet the city's driveway ordinance.

Eddie Lumpkin, who has been working on the development of the property, said at tonight's meeting that a misreading of the city's ordinance had led him to create the driveway in question, which is about 40 feet wide for most of its length and, because of its diagonal approach to the street, about 61 feet wide where it meets the road. The city ordinance says driveways can be a maximum of 20 feet and are allowed up to three separate entrances for semicircle or other irregular driveways, though Lumpkin said he thought those entrance widths could be combined into a single entrance.

He offered a compromise of removing about 13 feet from the width of the driveway, though he said the steepness of the property meant he would still need a wider entrance to the drive. In response to concerns from Ward 5 Representative Jennifer Andress, he said he also planned to fill that 13-foot space with grass and some landscaping, as well as adding mature trees to the yard, but did not have a plan for the landscaping available.

Nearby resident Thomas Reid said he did not feel that the property's driveway was any steeper than its neighbors that were within the city's ordinance. Andress and Limbaugh said that approving a variance of this size was not possible.

"Allowing this sets a precedent we cannot set," Limbaugh said.

Lumpkin was given 60 days to bring the driveway within the 20-foot restriction, though he was allowed up to 29 feet at the entrance so the drive can flare out slightly and be easier to access.

Rendering courtesy of city of Homewood.

Sydney Cromwell

At a planning and development meeting preceding the council meeting, committee members also discussed moving forward with the 18th Street revitalization project. The city has about $1.5 million in total, between grants and its own matching funds, to spend on the project between 28th Avenue South and about 1,000 feet north of Rosedale Drive.

A representative from Goodwyn Mills and Cawood said about three more months of ALDOT processes still need to be completed, but he recommends starting with a traffic analysis as 18th Street likely has more lanes in that area than necessary. Redesign of the intersection with Rosedale Drive could also be studied. Removing lanes would allow room for landscaped medians, wider sidewalks and diagonal parking spaces.

The city is also considering having utility poles relocated in the area, which would cost between $100,000 and $200,000 but would be paid for entirely from city funds. The project could also include some crosswalks in the area.

“I think this is great. This is exactly what Homewood needs to do,” landscape architect Jane Reed Ross said.

At its May 8 meeting, the council also:

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