Photo by Erin Nelson.
People walk along Shades Creek Greenway on Lakeshore Drive in Homewood.
Homewood residents looking for ways to get active, or just to get out and about, are in luck heading into 2022, with plans to extend the Shades Creek Greenway as well as adding sidewalks and a pocket park.
Those projects are just a few of the top projects and developments heading to Homewood in 2022.
Photo by Erin Nelson.
Pedestrians walk along Reese Street toward businesses on 18th Street in Homewood. One of the city projects in 2022 will include adding sidewalks along Reese Street.
Shades Creek Greenway Phase II
The second phase of the Shades Creek Greenway project will connect the existing trail that currently ends at the intersection of Columbiana Road and Lakeshore Parkway to the other side of Columbiana. It will extend down behind the Crescent at Lakeshore apartments, behind the businesses in the Wildwood area and ending at BioLife Plasma Services.
The estimated cost for the project is about $6 million, an 80-20 split between the Alabama Department of Transportation and the city of Homewood, which will be responsible for around $1.2 million, according to City Engineer Cale Smith.
The plan is for the project to go out to bid this spring, Smith said, with ALDOT overseeing the bidding process. A timeline for the project’s completion is unknown at this time, Smith said.
The new trail is 1.5 miles long, and the trail as a whole is 4 miles and runs from Target near Brookwood Village to Wildwood. The shared-use path can be used by both bikers and pedestrians who run or walk on the path, Smith said.
“It’s a great asset for our community,” Smith said.
City Council President Alex Wyatt said the Shades Creek Greenway has been a “long, long project,” and the first phase has been “immensely popular.”
“We feel like that will continue with this second phase,” Wyatt said.
The project connects West Homewood residents to the Lakeshore area and Wildwood, Wyatt said, and is a priority of the city due to its ability to create shared recreational space.
Sidewalk Projects
Several sidewalk projects are coming to Homewood next year, including on Reese Street, Saulter Road and Lancaster Road.
Wyatt said the Saulter Road sidewalk project was being bid in late December and is a “big and expensive” project that entails more than the usual sidewalk project. The plan is to connect the current sidewalk to a pocket park that’s also being constructed. The city was set to sign the lease for the park around mid-December, and to then move into design and construction of the park.
The land where the park will be built is owned by Samford University, which is leasing it to the city. Amenities will be part of the process, but the park will be passive, Wyatt said.
Reese Street sidewalks are also part of a larger process on that street, as the city will also add parking spaces in an effort to narrow the road and connect 18th Street and Central Avenue. Bids were due after press time for the Saulter and Lancaster projects, while Reese Street is going to bid first. The next phase of sidewalk building will be in West Homewood, Wyatt said.
Other city, state projects
The project at the intersection of Lakeshore Drive and Interstate 65 will help ease congestion in that area. The project will create a diverging diamond that crosses traffic to the opposite side of the road at the bridge, allowing drivers to veer left onto I-65 without stopping. It will also allow vehicles approaching Lakeshore from the interstate off-ramps to merge into traffic without waiting for a light.
The city is also paying about $332,000 to Kimberly Horn to create a stormwater master plan focusing on the Griffin Creek area. It includes the area between Valley Road and Green Springs Highway and is where most stormwater-related complaints come from.
The study will take inventory of existing structures and will also see the creation of an online dashboard of infrastructure so the city can monitor them, Smith said. It will also include a maintenance plan for the public works department, along with recommended updates to the city’s stormwater ordinance.
The project should take between four to six months to complete and will yield a number of projects the city can choose to undertake to improve stormwater issues, along with the maintenance plan and updated ordinance, Smith said.
On Green Springs Highway, Wyatt said the city is adding medians, landscaping, sidewalks and crosswalks in an effort to revitalize that area. The city may also add sidewalks toward Lakeshore, concentrating on linking Broadway Street to Oxmoor Road.
Economic Development
A company has purchased the Brookwood Village mall, along with Macy’s and the Brookwood Office Center, with plans for redevelopment.
In August, Fairway Investments and Pope & Land Real Estate sent out a press release announcing plans to redevelop Brookwood Village with a team including the services of Goodwyn Mills Cawood, DAG Architects and others, with Colliers International and Arlington Properties also acquiring contracts.
Sims Garrison, chief operating officer and president of Fairway Investments, said in the release, “We are looking forward to working with the cities of Mountain Brook and Homewood to try to transform the struggling mall into something more appropriate and representative of the communities it serves.”
There has not been much communication between the owners and the city since then, Wyatt said. Tim Wright with Markstein, which represents part of the owners group, said there was no further comment as of press time. Collier and Arlington made public presentations in October, but no further action was taken.
Wyatt said the most likely role for the City Council to take would be any rezonings that were needed.
At Wildwood, several new restaurants and businesses were set to open either in late 2021 or in 2022, including Whataburger, Chipotle, a remodeled Chick-fil-A and Aspen Dental.
Homewood City Schools
In the city’s public school system, Homewood City Schools will create its sixth five-year strategic plan, helping craft a vision for the future of the school system.
“The strategic planning process is made of community members, business leaders, students, and school staff and is a significant commitment for everyone involved. Our schools’ tremendous success is thanks to the strong strategic plans that have been in place in our school system,” said HCS Superintendent Justin Hefner. “This process will identify the goals, aspirations, and perspectives of
our schools and transform them into the priorities for our school system over the next five years.”
The process began in fall 2021, drawing together stakeholders from across the community. The school system utilized the Schlechty Center, a non-profit organization that provides strategic consultation, targeted advice, and technical assistance to district and school leaders to create engagement-focused schools and school districts.
All of the data and information will be compiled to allow school leaders to define the system’s “core values, mission, and the future goals of Homewood City Schools,” said the school system’s communications director, Merrick Wilson.
The team will come together this spring to finalize the “goals and direction” and present it to the Homewood Board of Education for approval, Hefner said.
“This process is a true example of Homewood’s love and commitment to our children and our schools. We are fortunate to have such a great school system already, but I am excited to see how we will challenge ourselves through this new strategic plan and grow even stronger as a school system,” Hefner said.