Planning Commission approves Forest Ridge Road subdivision, sends downtown master plan to council

The Homewood Planning Commission voted at its Oct. 3 meeting to send the Heart of Homewood master plan for downtown Homewood to the City Council for adoption.

The master planning process has been in the works for over a year with the help of the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham. The first draft of the master plan was presented to the Homewood City Council in July before putting it out for public opinion.

The draft that Lindsay Puckett from the RPCGB presented to the Planning Commission was largely the same as the draft presented to the Homewood Council in July. It included a few updates in response to citizen feedback, such as adding a covered bus shelter at Oxmoor Road and Cook Street and considering other shade options for the plaza in front of Rosewood Hall.

The master plan includes a vision for the downtown Homewood area based on top community desires from surveys and public forums, as well as 10 project ideas and nine policy recommendations. The projects include:

• Redesigning the plaza in front of city hall with greenspace, shade options and space for events such as food truck rallies.
• New and additional landscaping and amenities at the plaza on 18th Street in front of the Trak Shak.
• New lighting, paint, security cameras, repaving and signs for the pedestrian tunnel under U.S. 31 at Oxmoor Road.
• New paint, lighting, security cameras and signs to encourage parking in the garage under Rosewood Hall.
• The streetscape project on 18th Street South, to add sidewalks, landscaping, parking and mid-block crosswalks, as well as consistent design in landscaping, lighting, brick patterns and furnishings such as benches and trash cans.
• A "road diet" narrowing lanes on 18th Street from 28th Avenue South to Valley Avenue, making room for sidewalks and parking, as well as the possibility of bike lanes.
• More housing options around the Spring Park area, such as townhouses or duplexes.
• A plan for consistent signs, city gateways and branding throughout the area.
• A creek restoration and greenway at Griffin Creek, which would connect to area parks.

The policy recommendations include setting land use policies to determine development density in different areas of downtown, as well as aesthetic standards for buildings and commitments to improving greenspace and pedestrian accessibility around downtown. Enforcing parking limits and publicizing underused parking areas such as the deck below Rosewood Hall is another recommendation from the RPCGB.

According to the draft Pucket presented, the next step for the Heart of Homewood plan is adoption by the Homewood City Council within the next month or so, and zoning updates to be made at a future date. Adopting the plan does not mean the city is bound to its recommendations, but that those make a guide for downtown’s future.

The Planning Commission also approved a resurvey of a parcel at 1591 Forest Ridge Road into seven lots for a new subdivision.

The rezoning meets all standards for R-2 residential zoning, and the property, at the end of the street, will fit seven houses with a private road around the property edges to provide access to the homes. The private road will include a turnaround point for fire engine and garbage truck access.

The developers plan to have a homeowners association (HOA) for the subdivision and presented craftsman-style home designs that they said are similar to the planned look of the development. The houses will be priced above $400,000.

The Planning Commission also:

• Approved Creative Montessori School to combine two lots into one as part of an expansion of the school, to add a larger gym. The school recently added grades 7-8, and a future third phase of expansion will include more classrooms.
• Approved the owner of 210 Morris Avenue to divide one parcel into two, to build two houses.
• Removed a case from the Lakeshore Parkway Walmart shopping center, requesting changes to landscaping around the property’s entry and exit points due to new traffic patterns with the upcoming diverging diamond interchange construction project. The property owners withdrew their case to return when the amended development plan is finalized.