RPC, city debut first draft of new downtown zoning

The new zoning codes for Homewood’s downtown commercial areas were presented for the first round of public feedback on April 23.

The zoning codes are the creation of the city of Homewood, the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham and the firm PlaceMakers. The proposed codes are derived from public input on the use and appearance of downtown areas, as well as city priorities.

At the April 23 public meetings, Placemakers and RPC employees presented the proposed code and answered questions. Lindsay Puckett with the RPC said the public meeting would be followed by city and business owner meetings and a second draft would be presented over the summer.

A final zoning code is likely to be given to the City Council for a vote in September, Puckett said.

The draft divides most of the downtown area into three new districts. Low intensity (LI) would feature residential homes, townhomes, duplexes, small apartments and neighborhood shopping buildings up to three stories high. Medium intensity (MI) would be storefronts and mixed-use buildings up to four stories, with sidewalks on most streets. High intensity (HI) would be up to five stories, with larger office buildings and mixed-use buildings, such as the hotel planned on 18th Street South.

The densities are tiered, with HI zoning in the center of downtown and LI zoning closer to residential neighborhoods.

Susan Henderson from PlaceMakers said the zoning code would not regulate aesthetics, but the limits on height and other features, such as setbacks from the street, lot coverage and window glazing, would help make sure developments conform to the general character of the area.

For new developments on properties over 1 acre, Henderson said PlaceMakers proposed that developers must commit a minimum of 5% of the property to open, landscaped space. Developers could also choose to instead give 5% of the property’s assessed value to a city fund specifically for downtown landscaping and green space.

Any open space in a new development would have regulated locations and landscaping. Henderson said in some instances, the 5% “impact fee” could be preferable, as the city could control the creation of the open space and make sure it is publicly accessible and maintained.

“Green space needs to be designed to be the most effective,” Henderson said.

One of the zoning code recommendations that Henderson and Puckett said they expected to be controversial was for the city to stop enforcing parking requirements for downtown businesses, in favor of regulating the location, access, landscaping and shape (such as diagonal or straight spaces) of parking.

Henderson said the parking deck under Rosewood Hall can meet parking needs if properly utilized, and she also said market forces and banks financing new developments would provide the pressure for developers to create adequate parking.

“We’re recommending the city get out of the parking quota business,” Henderson said.

Ongoing sidewalk construction and maintenance along main streets in downtown are also critical to the area’s success as a walkable shopping destination, Henderson said. She said the firm has considered requiring an impact fee for infrastructure projects from new developments.

Most resident comments in the morning public meeting on April 23 were related to green space and ways to create it throughout the downtown area. Henderson said buying, developing and maintaining property for pocket parks is expensive for cities, which was part of the reason for charging an impact fee to larger developments.

They have heard strong resident support for green space, however, and have looked at options like the plaza in front of Rosewood Hall. The Homewood Greenspace Initiative has been advocating to turn the current police department headquarters on 29th Avenue South into a pocket park when the police relocate to their new headquarters.

Ward 1 Councilor Andy Gwaltney, who was at the meeting, said discussions about the future of the police property likely will not begin until a date is set for the new headquarters to open. However, he pointed to the recent redevelopment of Spring Park and plans that are being considered to re-landscape the small plaza in front of the Trak Shak on 18th Street as examples that the council cares about creating public green spaces.

“We’ve definitely heard their voice,” Gwaltney said.

The three-story height allowed in LI districts also caused concern, as residents at the meeting felt that would be too high to match existing buildings in the area. Henderson said that is a maximum and there is no minimum in any of the density zonings, and she also said some of the current zonings in use in downtown allow that same height and higher.

Gwaltney said he felt the new zoning code was a “good step for cleaning up” the number of zoning districts currently in use downtown and setting the vision for the area’s future. The codes were created with input from residents, architects and builders, and he said everything presented in the draft should be achievable.

The full draft of the downtown zoning code is available on heartofhomewoodplan.com, and Puckett said the RPC will accept public feedback online through May 27 before the editing and review process begins.

The RPC is also hosting a public meeting about overhauling the citywide sign code on Thursday, April 25, at 5 p.m. in Rosewood Hall.