Birmingham City Council roundup: Grants for police and fire, zoning change
The Birmingham City Council, at its regular meeting for Tuesday, Aug. 7, dealt primarily with routine business and disposed of most of the items as part of its consent agenda.
The council voted to amend the city’s grants fund budget for Fiscal Year 2019 and appropriate about $738,000 to the Birmingham Fire and Rescue Department to cover the salaries and benefits for 12 firefighters. The money comes from a Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant the city received. This is year two of a three-year grant, according to the text of the resolution.
Members also voted to amend the grants fund budget for Fiscal Year 2019 by transferring $197,000 from Harriman Park Recreation Center and appropriating $197,000 for renovations and upgrades at Wylam Park.
The council voted to amend the grants fund budget for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2018, and appropriated just under $349,000 to the Birmingham Police Department. This was the amount of the 2017 Justice Assistance Grant received by the department.
As part of its regular agenda, the council voted 6-3 to approve a rezoning request by an attorney, Wayman Newton, who plans to open a law office in the Druid Hills neighborhood.
Newton — through his company, Waynew Global Holdings LLC — sought to rezone the properties at 1301 and 1303 20th St. N. from R-3, Single Family District, to MU-L, Mixed Use Low District.
Newton said that one of the properties is a single-family home that has been in his family for about 60 years, and he intends to renovate it for his law office while keeping the structure’s residential character.
The proposal was not recommended by either the Council’s Planning & Zoning Committee or by the Zoning Advisory Committee of the Birmingham Planning Commission.
The Druid Hills Neighborhood Association, at its meeting in February, voted not to recommend the proposal.
Mayor Randall Woodfin spoke in support of Newton’s proposal.
Several members, including Lashunda Scales and John Hilliard, argued that depressed neighborhoods like Druid Hills badly need young entrepreneurs like Newton to invest and establish businesses.