City assists Salvation Army in expanding its Center of Hope
The Birmingham City Council, at its regular meeting for Tuesday, May 8, voted to assist the Salvation Army in the expansion of its Center of Hope headquarters, which is located at 2015 26th Ave. N., near Finley Boulevard.
The council voted 7-0 to approve the vacation of 19,986 square feet of city-owned property on 25th Court North parallel to and between 25th Avenue North and 26th Avenue North and perpendicular to and between 19th Street North and 20th Street North so as to allow for the expansion.
The Center of Hope is a $25 million, 4.1-acre campus that opened in October 2017 and houses the Salvation Army’s administrative offices and emergency relief services.
The organization has previously been located in the same location on 11th Avenue North for 50 years.
The vacation was recommended by the Subdivision Committee of the Birmingham Planning Commission.
The Council’s Public Improvements Committee -- chaired by Councilor Sheila Tyson -- did not make a recommendation.
The organization said it wanted to restore and use the historic facility, a complex of 1930s-vintage buildings built by the American Cast Iron Pipe Company.
OTHER BUSINESS
As part of its consent agenda, the Council approved numerous other items, including the following:
-- The city will pay Jefferson State Community College $60,000 under a one-year agreement in which the school will develop job training programs, apprenticeships, basic skills and educational enrichment programs and services for unemployed and underemployed Birmingham residents.
-- Members voted to approve a lump sum agreement with the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham in the amount of just under $550,000, with a local match of about $110,000, for the City of Birmingham City Center Framework Plan.
-- The Council also approved a lump sum agreement with the RPCGB in the amount of $250,000, with a local match is $50,000, for the Built Environment & Health Expansion Project (Shape Bham): A Building Communities Project. Shape Bham is an initiative that brings together academics and city planners to create health report cards for the city’s neighborhoods and to “integrate health and equity into the Birmingham City planning process,” according to a November 2017 project description available at shapebham.com.