Council approves sign ordinance with 7-4 vote

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The Homewood City Council tonight approved a variance to a sign ordinance, thereby allowing a sign for The Brookwood Apartment Homes on Independence Drive to be larger than the usual 50 inches.

Deidra Underwood, a representative of Resource Residential, said the reason they asked for a larger sign is to allow higher visibility from the street.

“When people cross those two hills, we want people to be able to see the sign visibly, and the building is so big to where the size of the sign is not visible,” Underwood said.

When the special issues committee met on Feb. 6, some members were concerned about the proposed size because it is “dramatically” larger what is typically allowed, said Councilor Barry Smith. Committee members were also concerned with the fact that the sign would be lit.

A rendering presented to the council said the sign would be 70 inches tall, but Greg Cobb with the building, engineering and zoning department said that measurement had been done differently than he measures. Cobb said the 70-inch measurement was based on adding together the measurements of each line of text, rather than drawing a rectangle around the whole sign as he would.

“What they’re showing as 70 is really 90 because they don’t calculate like I do,” Cobb said.

The council agreed to base the size off of Cobb’s calculations.

“I certainly don’t want to prevent them from being able to be visible to people as the traffic goes by,” Smith said. “And they are off the road quite a bit, but I would want to make sure that if we approve this, we approve this in a size that’s more fitting, I think, than the 96 inches. That’s really large to me, especially when it’s lit up.”

Smith motioned for approval, limiting the sign to 70.3 inches in height. It was approved with a 7-4 vote from the council, with Councilors Mike Higginbotham, Andrew Wolverton, Jennifer Andress and Peter Wright voting against.

The council also approved a request for consideration in regard to a project to create more parking on Central Avenue. The finance committee recommended funding a traffic study to not exceed $5,000, said Councilor Walter Jones, and to amend the 2016-17 general fund budget for the expenditure. Jones asked to carry the item over to allow more work.

“It’s a very exciting project, it’s going to add a lot of parking spots and just general traffic calming within Central, so lots of exciting things are happening,” Jones said. “We just can’t do it all at one time. It’s going to be in phases, so this is the first part to make sure we don’t have any sight line distance issues with the parking spots.”

The resolution was passed unanimously by the council.

Also at the meeting, the council:

  • Held a moment of silence for former Homewood Mayor Barry McCulley, who died on Feb. 3.
  • Approved an ordinance to declare property at 1900 26th Avenue South surplus property. The property was appraised for $10,000.
  • Approved a request for consideration to allow work in the city right of way at 126 Barber Court. The work will install a concrete storm water control box pending an indemnification agreement.
  • Referred to the finance committee a request for consideration to add one additional streetlight around the roundabout by All Saints Church.
  • Approved a request for consideration for permission to work in the city right of way at 1926 29th Avenue South. This work will involve putting in two trees in front of the future Big Bad Breakfast location, in addition to foundation work and work to the front of the building. Cobb said the decision to close the sidewalk was made for the safety of the public.
  • Approved a request from Sam Croft, who lives at 308 Ridge Drive, to put in a parking pad in front of his house. This request required a variance to the driveway ordinance and was approved by the council, pending a proper indemnification agreement.
  • Approved a request to close Oak Grove Road between Raleigh Avenue and Hall Avenue for the West Homewood Street Fest on May 13 from 3-9 p.m.
  • Approved an ordinance to levy sales tax in the police jurisdiction. This request came before the council following a letter sent by the Alabama Department of Revenue, which stated it would not accept the city’s recent sales tax increase. The issue was discussed in the finance committee’s Feb. 6 meeting, and city attorney Mike Kendrick said the ordinance made changes to pacify the department of revenue.
  • Approved a request for consideration for a retail beer and table wine license.
  • Carried over a request to accept an ALDOT project along SR-149 south of U.S. 280 to Columbiana Road.
  • Approved an ordinance to place two pedestrian crosswalks across Clermont Drive and two crosswalks across Manhattan Street.
  • Set public hearings for two sign ordinance variance requests and one fence ordinance variance request for Feb. 27.
  • Approved requests for considerations for two restaurant retail liquor licenses — one for Vinnie Baggs and one for SOHO Social.
  • Approved a request for consideration for retail beer and retail table wine licenses for Homewood Markettable.
  • Approved an ordinance to declare city clerk/ finance department furniture as surplus.
  • Approved a request for consideration to authorize Mayor Scott McBrayer to sign a contract with Brunson White for IT assessment.
  • Approved a request for consideration for the approval of vouchers for the period of Jan. 23 to Feb. 12, including the addition of two items that came in late.