Birmingham City Council Highlights 8.16.22

Here are a few of the legislative highlights from Tuesday’s Birmingham City Council meeting, in case you missed it.
 

ITEMS 1 & 2

Today the Birmingham City Council unanimously approved two separate amendments to the Arlington-West End Urban Renewal Plan and the Downtown West Urban Renewal Plan.

The City first adopted the Community Renewal Plan in 1979. Since then, 44 separate Urban Renewal Plans have been adopted citywide, which help facilitate Economic Development Projects, Housing Incentives, and more.

Adopted in 1991, the Arlington-West End Urban Renewal Project has helped shepherd growth and business development in the area through a process where privately owned properties within the designated renewal area are purchased or taken by eminent domain by a municipal redevelopment authority, razed and then reconveyed to selected developers who devote them to other uses.

Tuesday’s vote to amend the Arlington-West End Urban Renewal Plan was aimed at adding 27 acres of property, including the former Larkway Gardens Apartment site and surrounding properties. Once the site is acquired, the City will send out a Request for Proposal and a developer will be selected to bring the site back to life.

The City’s Department of Planning, Engineering and Permits study of the site concluded that there is presently a sufficient number of blight factors as required by Alabama urban renewal law for the Study Area to be declared a “blighted area.”

Council President Pro Tem Crystal Smitherman, who represents the district, said this amendment will help continue the economic growth in an area that’s needed it for some time.

“I’m really happy to see this plan moving forward because the community has been asking for mixed-use development in this corridor that is near Princeton Hospital,” Smitherman said. “I can’t wait to tell the neighborhood about this and what it means for the area. I hope it can lead to more development and more momentum in the area. I think this neighborhood needs a complete transformation and this is a big step in the right direction.”

According to city officials familiar with the plan, recruiting a developer for a mixed-use, mixed-income development on the site is paramount to efforts to further connect the neighborhood to the nearby Princeton hospital corridor.

The Larkway Garden site has been vacant since 2007 and became a gathering place for illicit activity. The Council approved demolition of the property in 2015 and it was demolished several months later in 2016. Neighborhood leaders have long been asking for something to be done with the vacant, overgrown site and Tuesday’s vote marks a major milestone for improving the neighborhood and removing this blighted property.

Earlier this year, the amendment for the Urban Renewal Plan was approved by the Arlington-West End Neighborhood Association, the Birmingham Planning Commission, the Council’s Planning and Zoning Committee and now the Council as a whole.

In addition to the Arlington-West End item, the Council also voted to extend the boundary of the Downtown West Urban Renewal District to bring in the former Adams Inn site located at 300 10th Street North. On February 4, 2009, a fire broke out in the partially vacant hotel. Once it was completely vacated later that year, the building’s windows were broken and the site was filled with litter.

In 2013, the City Council declared the site a public nuisance and approved $750,000 to demolish the building. Located near the Innovation District, an area that has seen a lot of growth and development in recent years, this redevelopment effort will further expand the footprint of one of Birmingham’s fastest growing districts.