Hoover council raises stormwater fees, addresses inoperable vehicles

The Hoover City Council tonight voted to raise stormwater fees to help provide more money to inspect stormwater systems and correct problems.

The fee for people who own residential property will rise from $5 a year to $10 a year per lot, payable along with property taxes. The fee for people who own commercial property will change from $15 per lot to half a cent per square foot of impervious surfaces on the property, including roofs and parking lots, City Engineer Rodney Long said.

However, the fee increases won’t take effect immediately.

People with property in the Shelby County part of Hoover could possibly see the fee on their next tax bill for fiscal 2019, but it’s not probable, Long said. It may take Shelby County and Hoover a while to work out a billing mechanism, so the increase may not kick in until fiscal 2020, he said.

In Jefferson County, Hoover already has missed the deadline to get the fee increase implemented for fiscal 2019, so it will definitely be fiscal 2020 before the increase takes effect there, Long said.

Under the previous fee structure, Hoover has collected about $110,000 a year, but the stormwater management program has been costing about $130,000 to $140,000 to run, he said.

New regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency require cities with stormwater management programs to do inspections of public and private detention ponds after construction to make sure they are functioning properly, and that additional program likely will cost about $100,000 the first year but decrease over time, Long said.

The new fee structure is estimated to bring in between $300,000 and $400,000, he said.

Hoover uses the money collected to hire consultants to inspect stormwater systems and contractors to correct problems.

Councilman Casey Middlebrooks tonight asked Long if this means Hoover will have about $200,000 more per year to help with stormwater issues, and Long said yes.

That being the case, Middlebrooks asked Council President Gene Smith if the council could reconsider $100,000 worth of stormwater projects the mayor brought to the council for approval in August of last year.

City officials identified stormwater problems on five pieces of private property in the Patton Chapel, Lake Crest and Quail Run communities that they said need to be fixed for the health, safety, security and welfare of the community as a whole.

But council members could not agree on whether the city should spend the public’s money on those private properties, so the issue was tabled and discretion given to Smith as to when to bring the issue back up.

Smith said he would be willing to bring the issue back up at one of the next couple of council meetings.

Councilman Curt Posey noted that there likely will be some delay before the city gets any additional revenue.

Inoperable vehicles

In other business tonight, the council approved an ordinance to make it easier to remove inoperable vehicles left parked on private property in view of the public.

In the past, the city has had to hand-deliver the property owner a notice of violation and give opportunity to remove the vehicle or make it functional. Now, if the city is unable to hand-deliver the notice, the notice may be posted on the property instead. The property owner still will have 10 days to correct the problem before the city tows the vehicle and charges the property owner for the towing service.

April Danielson, an attorney for the city, said city workers are very willing to work to find solutions for violators who are in hardship situations, such as elderly or disabled people who have trouble getting around.  

The council also tonight:

• Approved an ordinance to allow for licensing of special events on public property, such as events at Veterans Park on Valleydale Road. For such events, the organizer must pay a $100 license fee and each vendor must pay a $50 license fee, or the organizer can pay a $500 license fee and each vendor pay nothing to the city. Certified nonprofits are exempt from the organizer fee but still must apply for a license, and vendors at nonprofit events still must pay a license fee. Permission for special events can be denied if the event causes substantial traffic interruptions or hinders public safety efforts.
• Denied a proposed ordinance to provide for tent sales in the city. Tent sales currently are prohibited. Some council members said they want to both allow and establish controls for tent sales, but the ordinance presented tonight was too restrictive, allowing tent sales only twice a year per commercial property and for only five days at a time. Smith said council members will work go back to the drawing board to come up with another alternative.
• Agreed to lease 7,200 square feet at the Finley Center to the Alabama Sports Foundation for a sports performance center that offers sports training, sports medicine services, therapy and sports safety instruction and conferences.
• Approved John Sparks as the new general manager for the Hoover Metropolitan Complex to replace Monty Jones, who recently resigned.
• Agreed to hire Neel-Schaffer to provide construction engineering and inspection services for the Cahaba River greenway trailhead project along Old Montgomery Highway in Riverchase. The company will be paid $75,000, with the federal government providing 80 percent of the money and Hoover providing 20 percent, or about $15,000, said Tim Westhoven, the city’s chief operations officer.
• Agreed to pay about $4,800 to ThreatAdvice to train city employees on how to prevent phishing attacks on city computers.
• Agreed to pay Jefferson County about $10,800 to maintain the 27 outdoor warning sirens in Hoover.
• Agreed to pay $6, 545 for insurance for the drones used by the Hoover Police Department.
• Agreed to let the Church at Ross Bridge operate in the commercial district at 2101 Grand Ave. in Ross Bridge. The church has been leasing space there since 2012 but did not have proper zoning approval to operate in a commercial district.
• Agreed to let The Casual Pint sell beer and wine at 5541 Grove Blvd. in The Grove shopping center. The brewery plans to start construction in August, and buildout should take 45 to 65 days, the owner said.
• Agreed to cut the grass at 3506 Lynncrest Drive and bill the owner because the high grass and/or weeds are considered a public nuisance and declared three other properties at  3217 Georgetown Place, 2244 Pine Lane and 3575 Lornaridge Drive to be public nuisances due to overgrown grass and/or weeds.
• Recognized Hoover fire Capt. Rusty Lowe and firefighter Eddie Scott for 30 years of service with the city of Hoover.

This article was updated at 4:22 p.m. on July 17 to clarify issues related to the new ordinance requiring licenses for special events on public property. The ordinance does not apply to events organized by neighborhoods that involve only food trucks. Food trucks are regulated by a separate ordinance.