Photo by Erin Nelson.
Ed’s Pet World and the Homewood Barber Shop on 18th Street in downtown Homewood on Tuesday, April 27, 2021. Homewood City Council has proposed adding sidewalks in front of both businesses. Photo by Erin Nelson.
A previous plan to remove the left-turn lane onto 28th Avenue from 18th Street southbound has been amended and drivers will still be able to turn left onto the road, the city of Homewood’s Finance Committee announced Monday.
The third lane on 18th Street South will be lost to make room for 26 new angled parking spaces, however. The far right lane will become a right-turn only lane at the intersection, with the other lane set to be straight or left turn only. Traffic lights will be signalized to allow drivers turning left onto 28th Avenue to do so before traffic continues northbound on 18th Street.
The mailboxes at the U.S. Post Office will also be moved, and the 18th Street entrance to the post office will be eliminated. Drivers will enter the post office off of 27th Avenue South and will exit onto Central Court, which will be marked right-turn only coming out of the post office. To get back to 18th Street, drivers can turn right onto 27th Avenue South from Central Court and make their way back to the main thoroughfare. The committee also recommended adding directional signage to the post office alleyway to help drivers navigate through the changes.
In other business, the committee:
- Sent out to the council without recommendation a bid for a new Trane chiller at City Hall, a cost of $1.1 million with the first year of service built into that cost. The annual cost of service after the first year is $20,457 and the city would purchase the chiller outright instead of doing a purchase contract. The budget for the chiller was $1.6 million.
- Recommended approving traffic calming measures at Morris Boulevard and Sterrett Avenue, including a stop sign at the intersection and permanent striping and paving markers
- Recommended approving for signage for The World Games. The cost is $4,500, to be split three ways between the cities of Homewood and Mountain Brook and The World Games organization.
- Recommending approving a budget amendment in the amount of roughly $26,000 for IT services, specifically a license for a hosted email service through Microsoft 365
- Recommended approving the emergency purchase of a sanitation truck, which should arrive in 2024. The truck will cost $252,000 and should come through Southland.
- Recommended declaring certain library items as surplus
- Dropped a request to consider traffic calming updates for existing projects
