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Erica Techo
Residents filled the Shelby County Planning Commission meeting to oppose a rezoning request.
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Erica Techo
A side view of the proposed apartment complex.
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Erica Techo
Shelby County Commission Chairman Rick Shepherd speaks against the proposed rezoning.
The Shelby County Planning Commission denied the rezoning request for an apartment complex on Cahaba Valley Road at its Monday, Aug. 3 meeting.
The request was submitted by Joe Ciccarello of Abbey-Greystone LLC and asked to rezone the property from holding zone district and general business district to multi-family residential special district. A multi-family residential development was planned for the property.
Around 80 residents attended the meeting to contest the rezoning and potential 379-unit complex. Residents listed concerns about infrastructure and the apartment’s affect on local schools as main concerns.
The property is 29.89 acres, with half of the property in a floodway preventing any development. Gross density for the property is 12.7 units per acre, said senior planner Sharman Brooks, but taking into account the limitations from the floodway, the density is 25.3 units per acre.
Commissioner James Land said the high net density seemed to go against the core community of place in the comprehensive plan.
“My recollection of it is that we have what is called a center of gravity in this core, and … you go out from the center of gravity, the farther out it becomes less dense,” Land said. “Unless I’m misreading this, this is just the opposite.”
Many of those working on the project were present at the meeting, providing landscaping plans and renderings of the apartments.
Engineer Brian Harris asked to compare similar numbers between the proposed community and others in the area, noting that the net density is not known for those complexes.
Following the applicant’s presentation, 11 residents spoke to oppose the rezoning request.
Rick Shepherd, chairman for the Shelby County Commission and Greystone resident, said he and commissioners Mike Vest and Lindsey Allison opposed the plan because of the density of the development.
“It was planned for the area to not have that high of density,” Shepherd said. “The land is zoned for commercial business, which was the intent of the county, the intent of the planners to start with. To rezone it for high-density apartments changes the whole area.”
Shepherd also noted that other areas, including the city of Hoover, are cutting back on apartments, even tearing down some existing complexes due to pressures on schools.
Aside from the potential strain on schools, an Inverness resident brought up the potential strain on infrastructure such as roads. She asked that changes to roadways be made “proactively, not reactively.”
“We can’t support it with our infrastructure,” said Brook Highland resident Brad Burton.
Commissioner Rachel Garrett informed residents that even if the commission denied the rezoning request, the location of this property allows the owner to petition to annex it to the city of Birmingham. Residents were upset that Garrett would present that idea to the developer.
Scott Skipper, traffic consultant on the project, presented plans to alleviate traffic, including full-length left and right turn lanes into the property. He also said current construction on Highway 119 and US 280 would help alleviate traffic in the future, but residents continued to comment that he did not understand the traffic issues.
After the developer’s rebuttal, the commission motioned to deny the rezoning request. The motion passed six to one, with Commissioner Bill Kinnebrew opposing.
In other news, the commission:
- Approved a resubdivision of the Evans Family Acres in the Sterrett-Vandiver zoning beat.
- Approved a continuance for Caroline T. Little with Shoal Creek. The continuance will allow Little, president of Thompson Realty, more time to address questions engineering concerns regarding road changes and lot resubdivisions.
- Approved a resubdivision of land into two residential lots at Four Wings Estates in Camp Branch.
- Approved a resubdivision for lots in Mt Laurel. A change to the Mt Laurel master plan on July 20 redesignated the lots from multi to single-family residential, and the resubdivision created 15 lots from the existing 12.
- Approved a site plan for a neighborhood grocery and convenience store with gas pumps at Dunnavant Square.
