There are plenty of things to keep an eye out for in Homewood in 2025. To kick off the new year, we’re highlighting five things worth attention in the new year, including stormwater drainage improvement projects.
As Homewood continues to struggle with stormwater flooding, like much of the surrounding area, the city will see some steps toward progress in 2025 as a few water drainage improvement projects are set to begin in the new year.
In October 2024, U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell (AL-07) presented the city of Homewood with $1 million that she secured for these projects. The funding will be used to install a stormwater culvert at Griffin Creek along Huntington Road, addressing long-time stormwater drainage and flooding issues in the area.
"This project will replace decades old infrastructure and relieve the current bottleneck that has led to significant flooding on several private properties," Sewell said. "We in Alabama are no stranger to severe weather. When disaster strikes, it is essential that our communities have the infrastructure needed to mitigate flooding and recover quickly."
Cale Smith, head of the city’s engineering and zoning department, said they are still waiting for the money to come through but are expecting to begin work on the project within the year.
Since Homewood had been unable to secure the funding for this larger project until now, the city has put a lot of their own money into smaller stormwater projects in other parts of Homewood, including the current construction along Kenilworth Drive and Ridge Road. The spot was identified as an area of focus in 2023 when the city did a study on stormwater flooding. The project began in 2024 and will carry over into the new year.
Other areas identified in the study are Primrose (Melrose Place), the Edgewood Elementary School area, Bellview Circle, Glenwood Drive, the Overton Park area, the Homewood Middle School area and Oxmoor Road. Smith noted that the city has a master plan to address stormwater issues, but it will be a long road to completing all the projects needed and a timeframe is unknown.
“It really all depends on the budget, which we just did. And so we only really budgeted for one project, which was the Kenilworth-Ridge stormwater project,” he said. “We didn't budget for it, but we have received, or will receive, money for that Huntington Road stormwater project. What we have budgeted for is continued maintenance on our creek walls.”
The city approved a budget in December 2024 for installation and maintenance of creek walls on Griffin Brook Creek and Edgewood.
For the information on the city’s stormwater plan, visit cityofhomewood.com/stormwater-program.
Check out the rest of the articles in our 5 Changes for 2025 series here.
