Photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
Homewood City Council member Andy Gwaltney is disappointed that a plan to rezone the former police station in downtown Homewood for a steakhouse and pocket park has been withdrawn.
If you blinked, you missed the public hearing about the potential rezoning of the former police station in downtown Homewood for a steakhouse and pocket park.
Chris Underwood blinked.
The Hollywood resident, who admits to having problems with her hearing, couldn’t make out what Homewood Council President Walter Jones said when he opened the public hearing at the Aug. 11 council meeting.
In nearly the same breath, Jones opened and closed the proceeding.
“As we all know, and have been discussing, this item is strictly about zoning but the applicant has withdrawn plans,” Jones said. “We really don't have a plan. I understand the council will probably drop this in light of not having a plan. In light of all that, I will open (gavel) and close (gavel) the public hearing.”
After a quick motion and second, the council dropped the matter on a 10-0 vote.
Speaking earlier with The Homewood Star, Underwood said she thought the council should accept suggestions from residents about the property at 1833 29th Avenue South.
“Whatever goes there impacts this section of downtown Homewood,” the 79-year-old said. “In my opinion, the section looks awfully bare right now. (It) looks not very welcoming, not very attractive. They might seek input from a city planner too.”
Jones said after the meeting that the hearing was specifically to address the request to rezone the property for the planned project. With no plan, he said, nothing else could be discussed.
But that didn’t stop a councilman and the mayor from weighing in. Each expressed disappointment that the project didn’t proceed.
“It's always nice when you have high quality developers that want to invest in the city,” Andy Gwaltney said. “Basically, they were bullied out of town by people who couldn't develop the property because they didn't have the skill set. They didn't follow basically the process.
“The people who were complaining – amateur developers – didn't follow the process for how we got there,” he continued. “They basically took to the internet to bully (developer) Mike Mouron and ran him off.”
Mayor Alex Wyatt said Mouron’s plan “checked all the boxes.”
“It really managed to thread the needle where it would provide for the park that people have been asking us for, for over a decade,” the mayor said. “It would allow the park to be built with new funds that would come from the sale of a third of the property so we wouldn't have to spend existing city money on it to get the park or to tear down the building.”
Wyatt added that the Mouron’s planned development would also add a revenue-producing business that would provide tax revenue from a fine dining restaurant on property that had never earned any tax revenue for the city.
“It really was a situation of everything lining up just right, in my opinion,” Wyatt said, “and would sort of check all the boxes without that property getting over developed in some way, whether it be too tall or something that wouldn't benefit the community very well.”
The mayor said he hopes lightning can strike a second time in the same place with another plan to develop the former police station.
“I certainly think that would be good for the city,” Wyatt said, adding that the matter now will fall on the next council. “I'm hopeful that they will, and that they will be able to find something that is so fiscally responsible that it doesn't require existing funds in the city, where it does produce revenue for the city and at the same time where it provides for the public use that the public has asked us for, for over a decade.”
