Council discussion continues on West Homewood odor litigation, Hickory Knoll sinkhole

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Members of the city council's special issues committee entered a 40-minute executive session tonight with Volatile Analysis' Katherine Bazemore to discuss pending litigation.

The contents of an executive session are not public, but this is the third such session by council members in recent weeks, all of which have been related to discussions of a new odor ordinance. Bazemore's firm was hired by the city more than a year ago to test and find the source of odor problems at the Buffalo Rock and Barber plants in West Homewood, which have been ongoing since October 2015.

At the close of the executive session, Ward 4 Representative Barry Smith told attending West Homewood residents that a new odor ordinance with more "teeth" for enforcement, particularly regulating wastewater treatment facilities, is on its way.

Residents said there has not been any odor in about a week, though long absences of the smell have happened before. Noise issues at Buffalo Rock have not changed. Smith said a new carbon bed filter has been installed at Buffalo Rock's plant, and a new fan will be installed on July 18. Some odor may leak outside while the fan is being installed.

Though the sinkhole at Hickory Knoll apartment complex was not on tonight's agenda, the apartment complex's owner, Charles Strain, showed up to talk with city officials during the public works meeting. There was disagreement on whose jurisdiction the sinkhole falls under. Strain and his lawyer, Jesse Evans, said Homewood is responsible for fixing the sinkhole due to it being in the road right-of-way on a street the city maintains.

Evans said the project believed to have damaged a pipeline and caused the sinkhole, performed by Jefferson County, was contracted by the city and therefore their responsibility. However, city attorney Mike Kendrick said the project was initiated by the county and Homewood was only asked to contribute to the cost.

Though Kendrick and Building, Engineering and Zoning department employee Greg Cobb had said in last week's discussion that the sinkhole was on private property, Cobb clarified tonight that the sinkhole is in the city's right-of-way, but the pipe believed to be its cause is on private property.

Strain and Evans disagreed with the city on the source of the sinkhole. The public works committee took no action, but Strain said he intended to continue talking with Cobb and the city to find the sinkhole's cause and, therefore, the responsible party for repairing it.

Other items discussed tonight include:

  • New public safety building: Chief Tim Ross said tonight that new drawings
  • have been made for the planned public safety headquarters on Bagby Drive in West Homewood. Though cosmetic details are still being worked out, the plans call for a 50,000-square-foot-plus building, with a 16-seat courtroom, administrative offices and the records and detective departments on the first floor. The second floor would include the patrol, tactical, special operations and narcotics divisions; training rooms; other offices; a gym and locker rooms; a three-lane, 25-yard indoor firing range; and a 34-bed jail. Ross said he expects to get pricing based on the schematics this week. Demolition and site work is expected in August, with the 14-month construction phase estimated to start in January.
  • Gas station plans: The Circle K at the intersection of Columbiana Road and Lakeshore Drive presented its plans for a major redesign of its prop
  • erty. The plans include enlarging and changing its entryways, replacing one entry with sidewalks and new landscaping. The plans were introduced in brief when the gas station asked for sign ordinance variances, but tonight's presentation included far more detail. Council members decided to carry over the discussion to review the plans in further detail. Ward 1 Representative Andy Gwaltney said one of his concerns was that the plan included about 20 removed trees, though at least 12 new ones would be planted.
  • Tiny homes: Mountain Brook resident Laurel Creager briefly spoke to the special issues committee about creating a residential area in the city for "tiny homes," a trend in extra-small, minimalist living spaces. Creager and her family of four intend to move into a tiny home and said they would like to do so in Homewood, but admitted they wouldn't be a good fit in a regular neighborhood. Committee members felt they needed more information about tiny homes before making any decisions, and they had serious concerns about how tiny homes would fit in Homewood and their effect on home value and neighborhood appearance. The issue was referred to the planning commission, and Creager said she would gather more information.
  • New road dedication: Special issues committee members also expressed doubts about whether to make a new subdivision's street part of the city's public roadways. Developers built a small subdivision at 818-822 Columbiana Road, including a 150-foot new road they have asked to dedicate as Edgewood Place. Making the road public means it must be built to city standards, and the city will be responsible for road maintenance and garbage and trash pickup. This is the first such request to the city in years, and committee members asked for time to consider longterm budget impacts. The developers pointed out that if the road remains private, the homeowners will pay city taxes without reaping all the benefits from them. Discussion was carried over to the next committee meeting in August.