Photo by Jesse Chambers
bham city council 2-6-18
The members of the Birmingham City Council on Tues., Feb. 6.
The Birmingham City Council, at their regular meeting for Tues., Feb. 6, passed a resolution of intent to further explore a plan in which the city -- along with other funding partners -- would help pay for a new 45,000-seat open-air stadium on property owned by the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex.
The vote was 7-0, with one abstention by Councilor Lashunda Scales.
According to the text of the resolution, the city will “make efforts to financially support the construction of a new multi-purpose facility… following the satisfaction of certain conditions.”
Mayor Randall Woodfin emphasized that council members, in their vote on the resolution, were not making a final decision on appropriating money to the project.
“This is a resolution of intent only,” Woodfin told the council. “I'm not asking you to sign a contract today.”
“The details have not been worked out,” said City Council President Valerie Abbott.
The city would contribute about $3 million each year for 30 years to help service the debt on the project, according to Woodfin.
The language of the resolution passed today mentioned only the stadium, but the plan presented last week by Woodfin also includes a renovation of the Legacy Arena and other improvements to the BJCC.
The price tag for all three projects will likely be about $300 million, including about $175 million for the stadium and about $123 million for the upgrades at the arena.
The other project partners would be the BJCC, Jefferson County and UAB, whose football team is expected to play at the new facility. More money would come each year from a car rental tax.
However, the city’s estimated return on investment would be $9.9 million in additional revenue per year, which would come from sales, lodging, property and occupational taxes, Woodfin said on January 31.
Woodfin also promised that 100 percent of this new revenue would go directly into a fund for neighborhood revitalization.
The city needs to upgrade the buildings at the BJCC, which were designed and built in the 1970s, so that Birmingham can once again compete with other large Southern cities for major sports events and conventions, according to Woodin and Tad Snider, BJCC executive director.
The conditions mentioned in the resolutions include some of the concerns raised by Councilor Steven Hoyt about ways to ensure that minority-owned businesses get a fair share of the work in building and managing the new or renovated facilities at the BJCC.
However, Hoyt expressed his support for the mayor’s plan. “I do support progress,” he said. “I think we have to give this mayor a chance to put his program across and support him.”
He cited Woodfin’s pledge to use the revenue from the project to help neighborhoods. “The mayor has said he will earmark those dollars to address needs in this city,” Hoyt said. “We have never had a mayor who put neighborhoods first, so I support it.”
Councilor John Hilliard argued that Birmingham cannot sit still while other cities in the region build new facilities for sports and entertainment. “We have got to generate some economic development in this city,” he said.
The stadium and other improvements will represent a $90 million investment in Druid Hills -- the neighborhood north of the BJCC where the stadium will sit -- according to Councilor Jay Roberson.
“It is a major economic shot in the arm to North Birmingham,” he said.
“It is a part of neighborhood revitalization,” Roberson said.
Woodfin said that the city needs to find new sources of revenue to make “real neighborhood revitalization” a reality.
“That money does not exist today,” Woodfin said, referring to Birmingham’s existing funding sources.
He also said -- as he did at the Jan. 31 meeting -- that funding a new stadium does not mean that he isn't committed to saving Legion Field. “We can do both,” he said.
The mayor also argued that the city has already seen a positive “ripple effect” for development after the city built Regions Field and the Birmingham CrossPlex.
“And there were naysayers on both projects,” he said.
He said the new BJCC improvements could have a similar effect and help the city’s northern neighborhoods.
However, Scales -- a strong booster of Legion Field -- was vocal in expressing her doubts about the project.
“Why build an open-air stadium when you already have one?” Scales said, referring to Legion Field. “You own it.”
“If you build this new stadium where Legion Field is, I will be your best cheerleader,” she told Woodfin. “But if you build this new stadium, you will be doing a disservice to the poor people.”
“When are we going to get to the meat and potatoes of helping people in the city?" Scales asked, referring to the many problems plaguing the city’s neighborboods.
She also complained that the city can always find the money to pay for projects downtown, as opposed to the other neighborhoods.
