Environmental impact at center of parking lot plan at HHS

As conversations around controlling stormwater runoff continue to take place throughout Homewood, one plan to expand parking at Homewood High School has some residents concerned.

Melonie McBrayer, an AP environmental science teacher for many years, said there is concern about the power line easement acquired by Homewood City Schools that will be turned into additional parking near Lakeshore Parkway. The school system is also considering annexing property at its tiered parking area, though that project has not been approved.

“None of us really knew anything about it,” McBrayer said. “It was a little bit of a surprise.”

There is concern that stripping the land to build parking will create more stormwater runoff in an area where the stream bank is collapsing as is, McBrayer said. The existing tree forest is a bird habitat and trees help absorb water, McBrayer said.

Merrick Wilson, director of communications for HCS, said the system has had the Army Corps of Engineers and Spectrum Environmental “evaluate the proposed sites and potential impacts to proximal streams and wetlands.”

Because of that, the Army Corps of Engineers granted the permit for the parking expansion, Wilson said. The school system is also required by city ordinance to ensure that stormwater runoff is not made worse by the project, she said.

“As part of city permitting requirements, the final design must ensure that the post-construction stormwater runoff rate is less than or equal to the pre-development condition,” Wilson said. “We are implementing underground stormwater detention to mitigate the increase in runoff resulting from conversion of pervious surfaces to impervious parking areas.”

City permitting also requires the school system to allow water quality measures to be implemented, Wilson said.

Resident and landscape architect Bram Odrezin said the time of construction could impact salamander breeding and questioned what was being done for erosion control.

Odrezin said he isn’t saying the school system is doing anything wrong but noted that Homewood has seen increased flooding over the years. The city is currently awaiting the results of a stormwater study to help them make future plans for improvement projects.

“Storms will be heavier,” Odrezin said.

That’s a problem for a city that has collapsed pipes, Odrezin said, and adding more impervious surfaces makes that worse.

“We’re starting to put ourselves in a bad position,” Odrezin said.

The city needs heavier infrastructure, he said, and failing to address that in the past is costing the city now.

The stream near the proposed parking area is a site where salamanders breed, Odrezin said, and if that channel is cut or damaged, it could damage salamander populations.

There are also concerns with the tiered parking plan, which McBrayer said would cut into the hill and take out existing pine trees. That takes away a chance to slow down rain, she said.

The city and school system should not pave over every strip of land and should use low-impact design, McBrayer said.

The project was expected to go to bid in late October, after the print deadline for the November issue of The Homewood Star. The tiered parking project has not yet been approved, Wilson said.