Proposed townhome development revives a familiar struggle for Rosedale residents

When a townhome development on 18th Street moved forward with the Homewood City Council in January, many Rosedale residents spoke in opposition to the development.

Most of those in opposition didn’t say that they thought the development looked bad or that they thought the development would bring too much traffic, which are often reasons why a resident might speak against a development. In Rosedale, residents have spent decades watching their historically Black community shrink and change because of Homewood’s thriving market and development.

In 1926, the city of Homewood was established and combined three neighborhoods: Edgewood, Grove Park and Rosedale. According to the Rosedale Memorial Project, Black people could afford to purchase land in Rosedale (formerly called Clifton) in the late 1800s because it was a heavily wooded area with sloping terrain and a lack of transportation.

Ask longtime Rosedale residents what the community was like in the early days, and they’ll tell you it was a community where everyone knew each other and was friendly to one another. The community would play games together like marbles, hopscotch and softball.

“We had a village,” said Marlene Burnett. She grew up and currently lives in Rosedale with her mother, Christine McKnight, and McKnight has lived in Rosedale since the 1930s. “Everybody looked out for everybody else’s children. We never had any trouble. This has been one quiet community.”

Today, there are two pockets of Rosedale: one on the Spring Park side of 18th Street and another by the Lee Community Center. Rosedale at one time took up much more space, though, said resident Barbara Pope, who has lived in the community for 83 years.

“Rosedale extended up to Oxmoor Road, up by Piggly Wiggly on the north side,” she said. “It went down to 20th Street, which is now the Red Mountain Expressway. It went all the way behind B. M. Montgomery Street.”

Mary Edwards, a Rosedale resident for 88 years, said in the beginning, Rosedale was one of the best towns she’d ever known.

“I would describe Rosedale today, the love is still here, but business people have taken over about half of the community,” she said. “Everyone that’s still here knows each other and still associates with each other, and the older people are sick of being moved out of Rosedale.

“I was reared here, and I would like to die here. And there are people in Rosedale who feel the same way.”

Townhome development

As The Homewood Star previously reported, a rezoning request for a townhome development at 2510 18th St. S. was passed by the City Council with a controversial 6-5 vote on Jan. 25. John Abernathy, president of Blackwater Resources, said the monthly rent for these one- and two-bedroom units will be in the range of $2,500 to $3,000.

The Rev. Byron White spoke at the meeting against the rezoning. White grew up in Homewood and recently moved into a 1930s house in Rosedale that he inherited from his family.

“Property tax was an issue,” he said, referring to conversations residents had with the developer. “If this is allowed to be built, will our property tax go up?”

Since being in Rosedale, he and his neighbors did improvements on their houses at the same time. Their property taxes doubled in the next year, he said.

“We have residents that have been there 30, 40, 50 years, and their house may be paid for, or who are elderly,” he said. “If you allow and approve this, their taxes go up, and now they can’t afford their taxes, so now they’re pushed or maybe forced out of their residence.”

At the council meeting, the future townhome property was rezoned from a C-2 neighborhood shopping district to an R-7 attached dwelling district. Under C-2, the property could have been the site of a car wash or gas station, which was an argument the developer made in favor of rezoning.

“Actually, we don’t want either one of them there,” Pope said. “We’re just stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

Concerns expressed by Rosedale residents didn’t begin with the townhome development. For Burnett, it’s been years of “living” at City Hall to speak up for her and her mother’s neighborhood in efforts to limit commercial development. ServisFirst Bank, a four-story bank building, touches their backyard.

“People get tired, and they’re exhausted,” Burnett said. “It gets to a point where it beats you down.”

Brief History of Rosedale

► 1926: Establishment of Homewood combines Edgewood, Grove Park and Rosedale.

► 1926: Bishop Martienne Montgomery, at the time a teenager, becomes first principal of the Rosedale School.

► 1930s: Rosedale School is destroyed after multiple fires, which residents say were racially motivated.

► 1944: New school is constructed and still stands today. It now houses the Islamic Academy of Alabama.

► 1966: City dedicates Spring Park. A swimming pool is constructed and offers swimming lessons.

► 1968: Homewood City Council gains first Black member: Rosedale resident and advocate Afton Lee.

► 1969: Jefferson County Schools system is integrated, and Rosedale School closes.

► 1983: Rosedale resident Julia Vann Finley appears before Homewood City Council in protest of plans regarding zoning laws in favor of commercialization.

► 1984: Rosedale Community Development Corporation is incorporated as a nonprofit organization.

► 2007: Homewood City Council establishes a Rosedale Revitalization Committee, but many goals outlined by committee are never realized.

This timeline was adapted from the Rosedale Memory Project. Visit rosedalememoryproject.omeka.net for more information.

Future efforts

In 1968, Homewood gained its first Black City Council member with Afton Lee, who was a longtime Rosedale resident and community leader, according to the Rosedale Memory Project. Other Rosedale residents and advocates have served on the council over the years but have had trouble effecting much change, McKnight said.

In the 2020 municipal election, Melanie Geer secured a seat on the council in Ward 1, and one of her three key areas of focus was preserving and revitalizing Rosedale. In a recent conversation with Geer, she mentioned the Rosedale Revitalization Committee that was formed by the council in 2007. The goals identified in 2007 included protecting Rosedale’s historic character, increasing the number of owner-occupied homes, creating more affordable housing and establishing neighborhood boundaries.

Most of these goals were never realized, so a new committee is being formed to reevaluate the current climate in Rosedale and to develop new ideas, goals and recommendations for the city to consider, she said.

“Without a specific plan for preserving and revitalizing Rosedale that is supported by the city of Homewood, Rosedale as we’ve known it will most likely continue to deteriorate and eventually sell to the highest bidder,” she said. “If we care about preservation and responsible revitalization, then we have to be deliberate in our planning and our commitment.”

Edwards said she thinks the council has not cared about Rosedale over the years, and if they did, they wouldn’t have allowed so much commercial development to come into the community.

“I think, how would they like it if commercial went into their neighborhood and wanted to buy?” she said. “They wouldn’t like it.”

If she had her way and had the money, people in Rosedale would have nice homes, she said. The streets would be paved. No businesses would be in the neighborhood — there would be houses and churches, the way it used to be, she said.

“They have already taken over half of it,” she said. “I wish they would leave us alone. The few that are here, let us continue to live here and die here.”