City Council denies appeal for storage facility near Vulcan

The Birmingham City Council, at its regular meeting for Tuesday, Oct. 15, voted unanimously to pass an ordinance to create a new non-smoking Health District on Birmingham’s Southside, including the UAB campus. The ordinance will prohibit smoking on city sidewalks and streets, as well as other outdoor public places. 

The ordinance was requested by Children’s of Alabama, Cooper Green Mercy Health Services, Jefferson County Department of Health, Southern Research, UAB, UAB Medicine and Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

According to the representatives of some of those organizations that addressed the council, the ordinance would help eliminate the risk from second-hand smoke for students, staff, patients and other campus visitors to the UAB campus. 

The ordinance is an amendment to an existing city ordinance passed in 2012 and does not currently include vaping products.

UAB has had a non-smoking policy in place since 2015, but the institution began to champion the idea of a health district to promote health and wellness, including tobacco cessation, clean air and walkability, according to a news release from the Council.

Self-storage facility

After a lengthy discussion, a divided Council voted to deny an appeal from Morningstar Storage to complete its construction of a self-storage and commercial office building at 1905 Richard Arrington Jr. Blvd. near Vulcan Park and Museum. 

The appeal was necessary because the Council, in July, voted to institute a temporary moratorium on the building of any new storage facilities in the city. Site work for the project has been underway since earlier this summer.

Councilor Hunter Williams made a motion to deny the appeal, and his motion passed 5-2 with two abstentions.

Voting in support were Williams, City Council President Valerie Abbott, Council President Pro Tem William Parker and councilors Wardine Alexander and Darrell O’Quinn. Voting no were councilors Clinton Woods and John Hilliard. Abstaining were councilors Crystal Smitherman and Steven Hoyt.

The Council first took up the appeal in a public hearing on Aug. 27 before deferring it to Oct. 8. However, Morningstar representatives were unable to attend Council on Oct. 8, so the item was deferred one more week.

Attorney Michael Brown, who appeared on behalf of Morningstar, said that the company has spent $2.7 million on the project, has already obtained permits from the city and is developing a site that has been vacant for about 30 years. 

Brown said the developers believe that their project “fits very well” with the pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly greenway the city plans to create on Arrington near Vulcan. He also said that the facility will not generate a lot of vehicular traffic and that Morningstar intends to create a 110-foot buffer between the rear of the facility and the nearby Redmont Park neighborhood.

His words did little to change the strong opposition of many area residents, several of whom spoke to the Council today. Much of the opposition from residents and some Council members stemmed from a concern that a storage facility is not the best use for a parcel that is so close to Vulcan — a major tourist attraction and a gateway to the city.

Rezoning 

The Birmingham City approved two changes in zoning requested by developer T. Michael Gibson.

Members agreed to change the zoning from M-1, Light Industrial District, to MU-D, Mixed-Use Downtown District, for a property at 300 18th St. S. owned by Wells Fargo Bank. According to city staffer Tim Gambrell, the developer seeks to demolish an existing structure and build a new mixed-use structure with ground-floor retail and restaurants and apartments on the upper floors. The apartments will be marketed primarily to graduate students and residents at UAB and Childrens of Alabama hospital. There is no onsite parking in Gibson’s plan and none is required under the zoning, according to Gambrell. Abbott expressed concern about the lack of onsite parking. “This area is extremely congested,” she said. Gibson said that he would seek to purchase or lease space for parking off site.  The rezoning was recommended by the Z.A.C. Zoning Advisory Committee and the Council’s Planning and Zoning Committee. Approval of the request was also recommended by the Five Points Neighborhood Association by a vote of 7-0, according to Gambrell.

Members also approved Gibson’s request to change the zoning from M-1, Light Industrial District, to MU-D, Mixed-Use Downtown District, for a 4.1-acre site at 2212 First Ave. S. According to Gambrell, the developer will carry out an adaptive reuse of an existing two-story building and build a new three-story structure on the site, as well. He will create a mixed-use project with onsite parking for a portion of the apartment residents. The item was recommended by the Zoning Advisory Committee and the Council’s Planning and Zoning Committee. The Southside Neighborhood Association voted 4-0 to recommend approval of the rezoning, according to Gambrell.

Consent agenda

The Council passed numerous items as part of its consent agenda, including the following items:

A resolution approving a project agreement between the city and Birmingham Promise Inc. The city will provide $2 million per year for five years to Birmingham Promise Inc., which will implement a program to increase post-secondary opportunities and increase economic prosperity for graduates of Birmingham city schools and develop a pipeline of talent for regional employers.

A resolution approving an agreement between the city and the Southwestern Athletic Conference. The SWAC will host not less than three of its championship tournaments in Birmingham from 2019 through 2023, including its men’s and women’s track & field championships, men’s and women's basketball championships and one additional tournament. The City will pay SWAC an amount not to exceed $150,000.00 for 2020 and 2021, $175,000 for 2022 and $200,000.00 for 2023 and 2024 as an incentive for the conference to host these events in the city. The item was recommended by the mayor and the Council’s Budget and Finance Committee.

A resolution authorizing the city to make use of grant monies from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance. Using these funds, the city will implement programs through program partners that will reduce recidivism and homelessness by increasing Permanent Supportive Housing through a financing mechanism entitled Pay for Success. This mechanism would combine a housing subsidy with intensive supportive services that helps a subset of the reentry population that experiences long-term homelessness and cycles in and out of jails, shelters and psychiatric and detoxification centers. The maximum Grant award is $2,180,267 with no matching funds from the city, and the term of the grant shall not exceed 54 months.