Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
Council President Alex Wyatt hesitated to call the work transformative in Monday's meeting.
The Homewood City Council Monday night gave permission for the mayor to execute a construction agreement with the Alabama Department of Transportation for the ATRIP II Project on US 31.
Homewood received the maximum $2 million available in this round of Alabama Transportation Rehabilitation and Improvement Program grants.
The state awarded $40 million in state transportation grants to cities and counties for road and bridge projects. The ATRIP-II program was created by the Rebuild Alabama Act, which requires money to be set aside from ALDOT’s share of new gas tax revenue for projects of local interest on the state highway system.
The Homewood award will include $2 million for construction work to be performed along U.S. 31 from Ventura Avenue to the intersection with Old Montgomery Highway just north of the YMCA. The plan is to alter the ingress and egress points along the highway and provide crosswalks to improve traffic flow and safety.
Council President Alex Wyatt hesitated to call the roadwork that is to come transformative.
“I do think it's something that will greatly enhance Homewood, both how it (the road) looks and how people are able to use it,” he said. “It will alter ingress and egress and I think it will enhance the overall experience of driving on 31 and/or walking.”
“And the pedestrian experience,” City Engineer Cale Smith added.
“That's the big deal,” Wyatt continued. “It's just making it, I would say, more user friendly, whether you're a driver or a pedestrian, and making it work.”
“And a lot safer,” Smith said. “Safety is important.”
The city engineer said the plan is for the project to be bid in about a year and then the contract will be awarded.
“I would say maybe 16 months from now they'll start construction,” he said.
In other action, the council:
- Agreed to enter an annual managed (Electronic Detection and Response) subscription, a digital agent that will effectively monitor all of the startup processes of city devices and look for things like malware that might be launched.
- Declared a number of pieces of library equipment and items to be surplus.
- Granted a variance to allow The Edge development to have a larger sign on the front of the development. The council permitted the used of lettering that is 64 inches high as opposed to the 36 inches in the ordinance. The ordinance allows such a sign to cover as much as 154 square feet; the approved sign will only cover 54 square feet. The variance was passed on a 9-1 vote with Walter Jones voting no.
- Rezoned 2917 Linden Avenue from a C-1 office building district to C-4 (a) retail shopping district. It passed with nine yes votes and John Hardin abstaining.
- Appointed Scott Bains to an at-large position on the Historic Preservation Commission.
- Voted 10-0 against setting a public hearing to consider granting a sign variance in the right of way adjacent to Vitalogy Wellness & Med-Spa at 2710 20th Street South.
