Council approves sidewalk closure during $12.8 million Trinity UMC construction

by

Trinity United Methodist Church is getting ready to start a $12.8 million construction project at its Oxmoor Road and West Homewood campuses. At the Oct. 22 Homewood City Council meeting, the church received approval to close off part of the sidewalks on Oxmoor Road and Seminole Drive during the construction process.

Mark Limbaugh, the chair of Trinity's building committee and brother of Council Chair Bruce Limbaugh, told the council the project began with moisture damage found in one of the church courtyards in fall 2016, which led to the closure of some children's classrooms. Upon finding out that the damage would cost $1 million to remediate, Limbaugh said church leaders decided to take a look at other changes that might be needed on the site.

A master planning process took place during most of 2017, followed by a capital campaign from February to March 2018 that raised $7.8 million in pledges. Limbaugh said there will be a second fundraising campaign later on to cover the remainder of the projects.

The construction will include a new infill addition in the water-damaged courtyard, on the east half of the church facing Oxmoor Road. Other parts of the project include improvements to the HVAC system, welcome and drop-off area, relocating administrative functions to the first floor and other renovations such as painting, ceiling replacement, carpet and tiling.

Trinity's Oak Grove campus in West Homewood will also receive $300,000 worth of facelifts, Limbaugh said.

He said this project represents the last major construction possible on Trinity's Oxmoor Road site due to available space.

"Once we fill in this courtyard, we're out of room," Limbaugh said.

The church asked the city to allow a 6-feet-tall construction fence around part of the church during the estimated 14-month construction project. The fence would block the sidewalk on the north side of Oxmoor Road from Seminole Drive until about the midpoint of the church in front, as well as sidewalks on part of Seminole Drive. 

The construction fences would allow equipment and crews on site but would keep pedestrians farther away from the work. The special issues committee had some concerns about blocking these routes during its Oct. 15 meeting, but members said they understood the need, including Ward 5 Councilor Jennifer Andress, who previously voted no.

Council members also asked Limbaugh about scheduling construction traffic outside of peak school and work traffic hours, as Oxmoor is "the busiest road in town, probably," Ward 2 Councilor Andrew Wolverton said.

Limbaugh said the church is committed to keeping the traffic from impacting surrounding drivers, though Wolverton noted the city has not had a mechanism to enforce this request in similar agreements in the past.

The vote to allow the construction fences was unanimous.

The City Council also voted 7-3 to allow the owner of 1622 Ridge Road to construct a parking pad in the city right-of-way due to steep conditions on the lot. The pad is only partially in the right-of-way, but some council members felt that proper steps hadn't been followed, as some work had already begun before the need for the right-of-way access was found out.

The homeowner had also chosen to pave the parking pad before approval from the council and risk having to remove it, as Building, Engineering and Zoning employee Greg Cobb said an upcoming storm had made him concerned about leaving a large amount of exposed dirt to become runoff in the rain.

Ward 1 Councilor Andy Gwaltney and Ward 2 Councilors Mike Higginbotham and Wolverton opposed the request. Ward 3 Councilor Patrick McClusky was absent.

The council also:

  • Set a Nov. 19 public hearing for a set of zoning amendments, including changes to the way property lines on corner lots are defined and the addition of driveways and other hard surfaces to the structures that can take up no more than 50 percent of a lot, though an extra 5 percent of lot coverage is allowed if permeable surfaces are used.
  • Approved funding for a citywide traffic study by Volkert Engineering.
  • Approved acceptance of a community grant from the county for senior center operations.
  • Approved painting the Shades Cahaba tunnel under U.S. 31 and possible concrete fixes.
  • Approved a series of budget amendments due to overtime hours in the fire department, as well as some additional pension and health insurance funding.
  • Approved upgrading the contract with Telestaff, which provides scheduling software for the fire department.
  • Declared a 2018 Chevrolet truck from the police department as surplus, as the police have withdrawn from the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) Task Force and must return the truck, which was bought with ADECA grant money. Capt. Ben Sutton said the department had been a part-time member of the task force but was asked to make a full-time commitment, and the department chose to withdraw and focus on other community commitments
  • Declared six vehicles and other parks and recreation and fleet maintenance equipment as surplus.
  • Endorsed the downtown master plan.
  • Set Nov. 5 public hearings for: a public nuisance hearing for 1509 Beckham Drive and sign ordinance variance requests at 3055 Independence Drive, 201 Green Springs Highway and 813 Green Springs Highway.
  • Set Nov. 19 public hearings to consider condemning the following addresses: 1801 Kensington Road, 1569 Valley View Circle, 1627 Saulter Road and 2827 16th Place South.
  • Released a weed lien on 1605 Berry Road, as the lien, which was set in 2007 and never sent to collections, has now been paid and the home is about to be sold.
  • Dropped a request to work in the right-of-way at 1024 Saulter Road for drainage work, as the homeowner and a neighbor worked out an alternate plan to deal with the problem.

Due to the upcoming holidays, the City Council amended its scheduled meetings to the following dates: Nov. 5, Nov. 19, Dec. 3 and Dec. 17, all at 6 p.m.