RPC, city to present draft of downtown zoning

The Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham and city of Homewood will present a draft of new zoning codes for the downtown area on April 23.

The drafted codes are part of the Heart of Homewood master planning process that began in 2017, which includes input from residents and city officials. That feedback included a strong desire for walkability, better use of public spaces, mixed-use development, more greenspaces and parking.

Recommendations from the RPC also included design standards for the appearance of buildings and tiered density levels, with bigger buildings near the center of the downtown area and smaller developments closer to residential and park areas.

A recap of recommendations from the master plan can be found here.

The consulting firm PlaceMakers has been working with the city and RPC on the drafted zoning codes.

The public meetings will be Tuesday, April 23, at 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. and 5-6:30 p.m. in City Hall's council chambers. The first 15 minutes will be an open house with displays about the drafted codes, followed by a 25-minute presentation from PlaceMakers. After this, there will be time for attendees to give feedback and ask questions.

Also, on April 25, there will be a public meeting with PlaceMakers to talk about plans for an overhaul of sign ordinances for the entire city. The Homewood City Council approved the contract for the project on April 8.

This meeting will be 5-6 p.m. in City Hall's council chambers.

According to an email sent by the Heart of Homewood team, the codes will be available for review at heartofhomewoodplan.com.