Birmingham City Council approves North Birmingham zoning changes

The Birmingham City Council has approved an ordinance that will make major changes in zoning in North Birmingham.

And the goal – according to city officials – is to encourage positive, long-term changes in the quality of life and economic viability of a historic city neighborhood that has faced numerous environmental and health threats from industrial pollution.

The ordinance was passed by a vote of 8-0 at the council’s regular meeting for Tuesday, May 30.

Katrina Thomas of the city’s zoning department said that the zoning changes – made with extensive citizen input over the last year – are part of the “framework,” or comprehensive plan for North Birmingham.

Any heavy industrial areas that are currently unused or abandoned will be “downzoned” to light industrial, Thomas said.

This is in part an attempt to reduce the number of junk yards and other hazards in an area that has been “plagued through the years” with environmental problems, Thomas said.

The new light industrial zoning could also encourage high-tech and research firms to move into North Birmingham, take advantage of its close proximity to freeways and create job opportunities for area residents, according to Thomas.

During the public hearing, numerous North Birmingham residents complained passionately about the continuing environment hazards in the area, especially airborne pollutants from factories and other facilities.

However, most of them expressed support for the zoning changes.

Long-time resident Jimmy Coleman, who has lived in the same house for 43 years, thanked the city planning staff that worked with citizens. “Before this, we haven’t had anything done in North Birmingham,” he said.

“I call this North Birmingham 2.0, because we are going to a whole different dimension,” said Anna Brown, a lifelong resident of the neighborhood who expressed dismay over its loss of economic vitality over recent decades.

“This zoning plan will encourage other people, other business, to come to North Birmingham,” she said.

The plan “is not perfect, but it’s a step in the right direction,” Mayor William Bell told the audience.

State Representative Mary Moore, who took part in the process of crafting the plan, applauded the efforts of area residents. “The six neighborhoods of North Birmingham came together as one community,” she said.

Resident Jimmy Smith spoke in support of the plan but pleaded with the council to help change laws that, he said, “allow companies to spew this ungodly pollution in our neighborhood every day and every night.”

Council President Pro Tem Steven Hoyt suggested the creation of some sort of environmental commission to address these long-standing health hazards and said that homeowners should not be trapped in areas that are horribly polluted.

“We need to consider developing a 5-year or 30-year plan to buy out these houses near these plants,” Hoyt said.