Sydney Cromwell
Sign ordinance
The city of Homewood is looking to overhaul the zoning codes that apply to the types of signs businesses can put up.
Homewood City Council's committees covered a lot of ground at their April 1 meetings, with major topics including a new citywide sign code, new definitions on hotel stays, traffic and pedestrian issues on Oak Grove Road and the reappearance of odor issues in West Homewood.
All of the decisions made in the committee meetings must come before the full council for an approval vote.
CITYWIDE SIGN CODE
While the city is working with the Regional Planning Commission and the firm PlaceMakers to update its zoning codes for downtown, the finance committee has also expressed interest in engaging PlaceMakers to update the sign code throughout the city.
City attorney Mike Kendrick said he feels strongly that the city needs to update its rules for the type, number, size and style of business signs. This is partly because of recent court cases that have changed legal precedents on commercial speech on signs, Kendrick said, and Homewood's codes don't match those rules.
However, Kendrick also said the number of sign variances the city has granted have taken the teeth out of the ordinances.
“You need to adopt a sign ordinance and pretty much stick to it,” he said.
PlaceMakers would charge $25,000 for its services in updating the sign code.
The finance committee first planned to carry the issue to its April 15 meeting to give more time to look at the proposal, but Ward 1 Councilor Britt Thames said he would like to see a decision more quickly since PlaceMakers is already going to be in town in late April to present its downtown zoning recommendations.
The request was sent to the council, and committee members agreed to review the proposal in advance of the vote on April 8.
The finance committee also ended its meeting with an executive session, which lasted about 15 minutes, on the subject of "economic development."
OAK GROVE PARKING AND PEDESTRIANS
The city council will vote on whether to prohibit on-street parking on the west side of Oak Grove Road, near Patriot Park and its neighboring businesses, on April 8. The parking has caused issues with traffic flow and with vehicles parking on sidewalks.
Ward 2 Councilor Andrew Wolverton and other West Homewood residents and business owners have come to the public safety committee with concerns about traffic speed and pedestrians, especially children, crossing Oak Grove Road unsafely.
The city and Hall-Kent Elementary are planning a traffic safety day on Friday, April 5, to help teach kids about the proper way to cross busy streets.
However, Wolverton and fellow residents came to the public safety committee Monday to propose more measures to make the road safer between Raleigh and Hall Avenues.
One suggestion was banning parking on both sides of the street, rather than just the west side. Public Services Director Berkley Squires said the new parking lot that will open with Patriot Park Pool in May will alleviate some of the parking issues, but residents like Erik Henninger and Ward 2 Councilor Mike Higginbotham said they feared the pool would drive more traffic to Oak Grove Road, not less.
“I’m not convinced that all the problems will be solved,” Higginbotham said.
On-street parking is allowed in Homewood, though problems have cropped up in the area in regards to blocked driveways and parking on sidewalks. The public safety committee decided to proceed with the ordinance prohibiting parking on the west side and wait to see how the pool impacts the situation before making more changes.
The committee also discussed pedestrian options including more crosswalks or creating a pedestrian zone for the entire stretch from Raleigh Avenue to Magic City Sweet Ice. The goal of striping the area as a pedestrian zone would be to call more attention so drivers would slow down, Wolverton said.
Henninger supported the pedestrian zone as a way to make families visiting the park or shops feel comfortable in the area. Higginbotham said he felt distracted drivers were more of a danger than speed with the number of children walking to the area after school, and he wanted a solution that would make drivers pay attention to their surroundings.
However, Ward 5 Councilor Jennifer Andress said she didn't think a pedestrian zone was a good fit for Oak Grove, which is a major conduit for West Homewood residents, and Ward 4 Councilor Barry Smith said she worried creating a pedestrian zone would backfire and cause walkers to pay less attention because they feel safe in the street. Ward 3 Councilor Walter Jones said he felt any changes were premature until the pool's impact can be judged.
The committee also looked at adding new crosswalks, one just south of Magic City Sweet Ice and one in the middle of the block. However, the mid-block crossing would require removing two parking spaces and cutting wheelchair ramps into existing sidewalks.
Ward 3 Councilor Patrick McClusky said adding more crosswalks may not be effective, as people already choose to cross in the middle of the block to reach parking faster, rather than using the crosswalk at Raleigh.
“Sadly people won’t walk to a crosswalk and walk across. That’s just the way things are,” he said.
Wolverton said he didn't want to wait to enact solutions with the frequency of the problem.
The committee decided to have Randy Hambley from the streets department look at the best place to put a new crosswalk south of the businesses that would not impact parking. The crosswalk would include a yield sign and delineators in the middle of the street to call drivers' attention.
LONG-TERM HOTEL STAYS
The special issues committee continued its discussion of long-term hotel stays from March 5.
The city has been interested in capping hotel stays in Homewood to 180 days due to concerns about safety and families staying in the hotels to be part of the Homewood school system. The state of Alabama also dictates that after 180 continuous days, a resident of a hotel can no longer be charged lodging tax.
This does not, however, prevent someone from checking out and immediately checking back in.
“As a practical matter, what are we really stopping from happening in the city,” Higginbotham asked.
"Nothing," Kendrick replied, adding that any issues with noncompliance would be on a complaint basis, and the city's zoning officials wouldn't be seeking out noncompliant hotels to fine them.
McClusky proposed adding the state's definition of transient residents (anyone staying 180 continuous days or fewer) to the city's codes defining hotels. The committee passed this 3-2, with Smith and Higginbotham voting no.
Higginbotham said he voted no because he wasn't sure what the change would accomplish, especially with limited city staffing for enforcement.
"This seems like a solution looking for a problem. I didn't hear anyone clearly articulate what we're trying to 'fix' and how things will be better once we make the change," Higginbotham said via email Tuesday.
A change to the zoning code must be approved by the Planning Commission before the full council can approve and enact it.
TREE PLANTING
The Homewood Environmental Commission is planning spring and fall mature tree plantings around Homewood.
HEC member Amy Milam said they intend to buy and plant 40 native trees this spring and another 20 in November.
Many of their planned planting locations are at the schools, Milam said. While they looked at a number of city-owned sites, she said they had to rule several out because of planned sidewalk or or other work in the city right-of-way, or a lack of adequate soil.
The special issues committee encouraged the HEC to seek assistance from Homewood City Schools for plantings on school property and to look for opportunities to plant in parks and other areas, where existing trees are beginning to age.
The council will approve the HEC to get bids on the planting costs for the spring and fall, which will include some care after the planting to ensure the trees' health. The special issues committee also plans to talk in more detail about a tree survey that the HEC intends to complete.
ODOR ISSUES IN WEST HOMEWOOD
Residents in West Homewood were visited by the foul odor that plagued the neighborhood from 2015 to 2017 again last week.
Smith said the city received several complaints about the bad smell and called Buffalo Rock, which changed the carbon beds that filter the air in its bottling plant. The last time the company notified the city that it was changing the carbon beds was last summer, Smith said, but Buffalo Rock had promised to test the beds every three months and keep new ones on hand for faster replacements.
Smith said she would talk with Buffalo Rock about more proactivity in dealing with potential odor leaks, and the special issues committee carried over the topic to follow up at its next meeting.
