Photo by Jesse Chambers
HPC meeting 2-4-20
The Homewood Planning Commission met on Feb. 4, 2020, to discuss a controversial proposal to rezone the downtown area.
The Homewood Planning Commission — at its regular meeting Tuesday, Feb. 4 — voted 5-4 to table discussion of a controversial proposed rezoning of downtown Homewood.
Commission member Mark Woods made the motion to table the plan.
However, the motion did not include a specific date indicating when the commission or any of its subcommittees will take up the item again.
Immediately after the meeting, Commission Chair Billy Higginbotham said he didn't know exactly when the matter will be discussed.
Voting in favor of the motion to table the item were Woods, Commission Vice Chair Jeffrey Foster and members James Riddle, John Krontiras and Brady Wilson
Voting no on the motion were Higginbotham and members Stuart Roberts, Britt Thames and Nickolas Hill. Thames is also a member of the City Council.
Prior to this vote by the commission, the Homewood City Council was scheduled to to discuss the item again at a public hearing March 9.
The commission can only make a recommendation to the council regarding the rezoning. The council has the sole power to adopt or reject the plan.
The commission also discussed the rezoning in November. At that time, members voted 3-2 with one abstention to send the item to the council with a favorable recommendation.
At that time, Susan Henderson — a consultant with Placemakers LLC who helped craft the zoning — had also made some changes to the plan in response to public comments.
The City Council voted unanimously Dec. 16 to send the plan back to the Planning Commission.
The proposed zoning would take the current 13 zoning districts in the downtown area, including six commercial districts, and combine them into three districts.
The three districts would be low intensity (with buildings limited to two stories), medium intensity (with a four-story limit) and high intensity (with a limit of five stories, for buildings such as SoHo, the Aloft hotel and The Valley Hotel).
About 100 people attended the meeting Tuesday, and about 35 people spoke during the public hearing portion of the meeting.
While there were several speakers in support of the rezoning, many of the residents and downtown business owners expressed their opposition to the plan.
There were also numerous speakers who asked that a final vote on the issue be delayed, allowing for more public discussion.
Several speakers also suggested the city complete new parking and traffic studies before it makes any changes to downtown zoning.
Henderson also spoke at the meeting and went over her suggested changes to the plan. There are now nearly 10 suggested changes.
To see the suggested changes in the plan , go to heartofhomewoodplan.com and click on "Ordinance to Amend Zoning Ordinance for Downtown District - January 28, 2020 - Redline."
This article will be updated as more information becomes available about the city's next steps with the rezoning plan.
