SOHO Partners plan to continue parking complaints
The developers of SoHo, who filed a complaint over parking with the city of Homewood in March, say they plan to continue their attempt to change the parking situation. The city did not respond to their complaint within 30 days.
SOHO Partners’ Bubba Smith and Scott Bryant claim the city has invalidated its parking agreement with the SoHo development by requiring future employees of the hotel and retail development planned on 18th Street South to park in the deck under Rosewood Hall. Smith and Bryant have also said they believe the city is not doing enough to enforce parking rules around the downtown area, leading to parking shortages.
City attorney Mike Kendrick has previously said the deal with hotel and retail developer MAM Investments in no way conflicts with the parking arrangement for SoHo commercial and residential tenants. The city’s most recent parking study also showed that the parking deck is underutilized during peak hours and there is not a shortage of spaces, though they may be less convenient.
Kendrick and Council President Bruce Limbaugh did not comment to the Homewood Star on why the city chose not to respond to SOHO Partners.
Read more about the original complaint and the city’s response here.
Bryant and Smith said they don’t have a problem with the hotel development itself, just the clause in the agreement with the city requiring parking use of the deck.
MAM Investments’ development plan for the 18th Street site has enough parking to meet city requirements for its various uses, so it did not require a parking variance when it was approved in December.
Bryant said SOHO Partners is considering its legal options as a next step.
However, he and Smith also said they believe other downtown business and property owners have similar complaints.
They are hoping to organize those people as a show of support to the Homewood City Council for the need for downtown parking changes.
“We’re going to ask every owner, every consumer for their support. And we need to show our support to the city. That is the way we’re going to solve the parking problem is showing a concerted effort from business people that this affects,” Smith said.