Councilman Walter Jones seeks further discussion on the possibility of the Board of Zoning Adjustment taking over responsibility of signs from the Homewood City Council. The issue will be brought up at a future council meeting.
An item on the agenda of Monday’s meeting of the Special Issues Committee of the Homewood City Council was held over for discussion at a future meeting.
But that postponement didn’t stop Councilman Walter Jones from expressing his thoughts about a proposal to move the responsibility of signs in the city from the council to the Board of Zoning Adjustment.
“Tonight is a great example of us being very tactical in looking at signs,” Jones said. “You go back to exactly what we did with fences. It was all tactical; there was no strategic part of it at all. BZA took over and we need to do the same thing with signs.
“We're wasting a ton of time doing signs when the BZA is perfectly capable of doing it,” Jones continued.
“That's why I put it on there [the committee agenda].”
Committee chair Barry Smith said she received a call from Councilman Carlos Alemán, a member of the committee who has long expressed concerns about the council frequently permitting variances on signs.
Alemán suspected he would miss the meeting and wanted to be part of the discussion.
Jones said he asked Council President Alex Wyatt, who did not attend Monday’s committee meetings, to add the item to the committee agenda. Smith, the chair of the Special Issues Committee, said she was unaware of the addition until she saw it on the agenda.
Jones said he wants the remainder of his term on the council to be impactful.
“Think about all the things we want to accomplish before the end of our terms,” he said. “I don't want that to be a tactical meeting, talking about sidewalks. I want it to be a strategic meeting where we look at big projects that we want to accomplish. I feel strongly about this, obviously, that we are bogged down with these types of requests. I want to at least figure out the logistics of it and vote on it and move on.”
City Attorney Mike Kendrick said the council’s willingness to give requested variances equates to not having a sign ordinance.
“What you need to do is enforce what you've got,” he said. “That's what I said five years ago when you paid $25,000 to get a sign ordinance but we vary it every time.”
The Special Issues Committee set public hearings for May 20 for three requested sign variances for Rob’e Mans Automotive Service at 2600 18th Street South, Rob’e Mans Automotive Service at 2630 18th Street South and Morgan Stanley at 740 Shades Creek Parkway. Each was sent to the full council for a public hearing without recommendation.
The Public Works Committee recommended granting permission for 14 parking spaces to be placed in the right of way of Covenant Presbyterian Church at 65 Old Montgomery Highway. There was continued discussion about the merits of the parking slots being angular versus being perpendicular to the street.
The Public Safety Committee recommended giving permission aid pedestrian traffic on Oxmoor Road on either side of Trinity United Methodist Church. The recommended actions bring some street crossings into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“It is the Seminole Street side, which is a one-way street that goes from Manhattan towards Oxmoor,” Smith said. “On those two curbs on either side of Seminole at Oxmoor, we're adding ADA compliant ramps (because) currently there or not on either side, along with a crosswalk that goes across Seminole. On the opposite side, we are adding one ADA compliant ramp on East Linwood because there is one on the east side, there's not one on the west side.”
The committee expanded what was on the agenda, adding a signalized pedestrian crosswalk with flashing lights across Oxmoor from East Linwood to Seminole. The Finance Committee recommended a budget transfer for the Fleet Department, moving $1,500 from memberships and subscriptions and then another $1,500 from tuitions for a total of $3,000 for fleet maintenance.
The committee also recommended a pair of budget transfers for the Public Works Department. It recommended a transfer of $34,000 from the carryover fund balance for vehicle maintenance and a transfer of $750 from travel and conference to the natural gas line item.
