Humane Society to 'move forward' with Titusville plan despite possible land sale

The Greater Birmingham Humane Society has planned for nearly two years to consolidate its three Birmingham-area facilities into a single new $30 million campus on a former industrial site in Titusville.

However, the organization’s grand vision for the 27-acre brownfield site -- formerly the home of Trinity Steel -- may not come to pass.

The Jefferson County Economic and Industrial Development Authority voted in 2017 to give the land to the GBHS.

But this week, Jefferson County Commissioner David Carrington said that the county has received a letter of intent from a unnamed information technology company that would like to buy the land for more than $3 million.

There has been no formal county announcement, but Carrington confirmed the offer in an email to Iron City Ink and in an interview with WVTM-TV.

According to Carrington, this means that the GBHS will need to make other plans. “The Commission is committed to working with the Humane Society to identify an alternate location,” he said in the email.

Allison Black Cornelius, the GBHS CEO, said that her organization was “in complete shock” after hearing this news from Carrington but that they are not giving up on the Titusville site.

“We are going to move forward,” she told Iron City Ink. “It ain’t over yet.”

“We are operating under an agreement,” she said. “We have spent a lot of time and money working this project.”

The Jefferson County Economic and Industrial Development Authority (JCEIDA), the Jefferson County Commission and the Birmingham City Council all voted in 2017 to give the land to the GBHS.

However, Carrington told WVTM that the gift from the county was contingent upon the Birmingham City Council working out zoning issues for the property, which has not occurred.

In June 2017, the council -- on the same day it passed a resolution supporting the GBHS relocation -- also voted to change the zoning of the parcel to residential as part of the Titusville Framework Plan, which is one of the community master plans the city has been creating recently with citizen input.

“We’re trying to build a community where people want to come back and live,” said John Harris, president of the North Titusville Neighborhood Association, who supported the rezoning, according to Weld.

This meant the GBHS would need to pursue another zoning change in order to move forward.

Cornelius said the organization immediately met with city zoning staff to discuss the implications of the change.

However, she said Mayor William Bell’s staff later urged the GBHS to wait until after the Birmingham municipal election -- which climaxed in an October runoff -- before pursuing the rezoning.

Cornelius said that the organization will now seek that zoning change with the Birmingham City Council, among other steps.

And the county will need to pursue a rezoning even if the IT company moves to the site, according to Cornelius.

The GBHS wants to build what it calls its “Campus of Compassion” at the site, bringing together its currently scattered functions -- the adoption and education center, the animal care and control division and its Alabama shelter veterinarians.

The organization has handled animal control for the county for three years, according to Cornelius.

And she believes that the GBHS project is not just an animal facility but an attractive mixed-use development that will be good for the neighborhood.

The site will include a large events space that will be affordable for local organizations and perhaps a walking trail that could potentially link to the Vulcan Trail, she said.

The GBHS has also attracted interest from a coffee company, a large retailer and a microbrewery, according to Cornelius.

“This is the last parcel [in Titusville] that if you don't do it right, you are going to forever predict what is going to happen right past it,” she said. “You have a view of the city that is gorgeous, and you are going to put a warehouse on it?”

She said she recently attended a meeting with Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, Jefferson County Commissioner Joe Knight and others to discuss the matter.

“I left that meeting feeling very good,” she said. “I felt like I had met a mayor who had listened to what we were planning for the property.”

Woodfin is “currently working with the Jefferson County Commission in reviewing options for the property (and) hopes to have a recommendation for the council soon,” according to a prepared statement from the city.

The mayor is “a huge supporter” of the GBHS and is “committed to supporting their long-term success,” the statement says.

Cornelius said the money the GBHS has spent on the Titusville project was raised strictly for its capital campaign.

“The money we have spent on this project is not money regular donors give to us for our animals,” she said.