Hoover council approves changes to Trace Crossings development plan

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The Hoover City Council in a four-hour meeting Monday night approved changes to the Trace Crossings development plan that adds 339 acres and 515 home sites to the community.

The amended plan includes the annexation of 211 acres of unincorporated property south of the Hoover Metropolitan Complex, but all 515 home sites on that land and other parcels are being transferred from other future developments, meaning no net increase in future home sites for the city.

Signature Homes transferred 100 acres and 141 home sites from the adjoining Blackridge development to Trace Crossings, and U.S. Steel transferred 374 home sites from land it plans to develop later on the south side of Shelby County 52 known as Trigger Creek.

That means there will be 1,009 home sites in Blackridge instead of 1,150, and U.S. Steel will be limited to 1,944 homes on the Trigger Creek property instead of 2,318, city officials said.

The council chambers at the Hoover Municipal Center was nearly full Monday night. There was vigorous discussion about Trace Crossings.

Numerous residents strongly objected to additional commercial zoning along Stadium Trace Parkway, but landowner U.S. Steel and Signature Homes captured a win with the City Council after making some concessions on restrictions for 24 acres that will include commercial development.

U.S. Steel agreed to restore a compromise plan for a strip of detached single-family homes between the Chestnut Trace sector of Trace Crossings and commercial development.

U.S. Steel also canceled any plans for live-work buildings with businesses on the first floor and residences above, and agreed to prohibit gasoline stations, convenience stores and stand-alone fast-food restaurants on the commercial land across from Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.

Opposition

Trace Crossings resident Donald Barley told the council that the amendment proposed by U.S. Steel and Signature Homes should be denied until the negative issues associated with it can be addressed.

Trace Crossings residents clearly don’t want a hotel in the middle of their community, nor a “cutesy little village” with coffee shops and hair salons, Barley said. Also, traffic already is a nightmare, and the addition of more homes will only compound the problem without the city finding an additional way out of Trace Crossings, he said.

Chestnut Trace resident Nancy Carr said she appreciated efforts by Signature Homes President Jonathan Belcher to reach a compromise but said the rezoning should be delayed until the city can develop a comprehensive master plan. Everyone agrees the current industrial zoning in Trace Crossings is not appropriate, but the city should take the time to figure out the correct way to zone it, Carr said. Waiting 10 months to get a comprehensive master plan for the city is nothing when the property has sat undeveloped for decades, she said.

“We are rushing into this like this is the only parcel of land left in America today,” she said.

Trace Crossings resident Molly McGregor told city officials not to let U.S. Steel control how Hoover looks. “Do not be held hostage by U.S. Steel,” she said. “You have the right to plan … Make this plan better. If you can restrict gas stations, you can restrict hotels.”

Support

Some residents spoke in favor of the plan.

Ky Gregory said he has lived in Hoover all but about two years of his life and sees the Trace Crossings revisions as progress for the city. “If we don’t move forward, we get left behind,” he said.

John Parker, president of the Hoover Softball Association, said when he travels to sports tournaments, he always pays more to stay as close as possible to the competition site. Putting a hotel close to the city’s new sports complex is needed, he said.

“Change is good. Change is scary. Change is inevitable. Change is a way of life,” Parker said. “We have to change. We have to make adjustments to our plan.”

Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato said he appreciates all the input from developers, city staff, residents, school officials and the City Council and said city officials have been very thoughtful in negotiating the plan that was brought to the council.

“The zoning is incorrect there. It’s not an industrial piece of property,” Brocato said. “We want to be very deliberate and very thoughtful and provide an outstanding development in that area.”

Brocato said there has been a lot of give and take over the last seven months and there’s nothing else that can be done in terms of planning to make this plan better.

Impact on schools

Councilman Curt Posey asked Hoover schools Superintendent Kathy Murphy if the school system can handle the additional homes proposed for Trace Crossings.

Murphy said school officials expect the 515 homes being added to Trace Crossings will add an estimated 211 students, including 93 elementary, 49 middle and 69 high school students.

Trace Crossings Elementary now is at 49 percent capacity and will be at 75 percent capacity if a federal judge approves a plan to redraw attendance zones. There should be enough room at Trace Crossings Elementary to handle the additional students for the new homes coming to Trace Crossings, she said.

Students expected for homes further south would go to South Shades Crest Elementary and Brock’s Gap Intermediate School, and school officials purposefully left room for growth at those two schools in their school rezoning plan, Murphy said.

Hoover High School is now 90 percent full and would be 89 percent full if the rezoning plan is approved, she said. However, once all of the Trace Crossings, Blackridge and Trigger Creek property is built out, Hoover High would be at 110 of capacity, she said.

That’s why school officials already are talking with architects about either building a third high school or adding onto Hoover High, she said. The school system will need the city’s cooperation in coming up with a way to pay for such capital improvements, she said.

However, the need for that expansion or third high school will depend on the speed of new housing development, Murphy said.

Belcher said Signature Homes is willing to pay a $3,000 front-door fee for all homes in Blackridge and all the home sites being transferred from Blackridge and Trigger Creek to Trace Crossings, and Brocato said the city has committed that all of that front-door fee will go to the school system.

Traffic and hotels

Council President Gene Smith said most of the opposition he has heard about the Trace Crossings amendment boils down to two things: traffic and hotels.

He believes the city is committed to finding a solution to the traffic problems, and he also believes the city may still be able to negotiate an alternate location for a hotel — perhaps on the same side of Stadium Trace Parkway as the Hoover Met or the opposite side of the stadium and Finley Center, away from existing residents, he said.

Smith said the amendment approved Monday night should provide some good amenities for the city’s new sports complex and doesn’t add any new home sites to the city as a whole.

The council voted 5-2 on several portions of the rezoning plan, with opposition coming from Councilmen John Greene and Curt Posey.

Greene said the overwhelming majority of Trace Crossings residents who contacted him were not in favor of the agreement and he takes their concerns very seriously. “They expect me to represent them,” he said.

He shares their concerns about traffic, commercial development in Trace Crossings and the impact of development on schools and city services, he said.

Greene said he did not vote in the voice vote that gave approval for the overall amendment.

While Greene and Posey voted no on several portions of the rezoning plan, both said they did not vote on the voice vote that gave approval for the overall amendment. Posey said he was still opposed to the amendment and probably should have voted against it, but he considered his lack of a vote as an abstention. He said he didn’t see the point in voting no when five council members obviously were in favor of it.

Posey said his opposition was due to his concern about the lack of traffic solution for Trace Crossings. “You’ve got to have a way out,” he said.

Billy Silver, an executive for U.S. Steel in Alabama, said he’s glad to get the Trace Crossings amendment approved. “It’s a great thing for the city,” he said.

In the long run, the changes approved Monday night will result in a much better development than what would have come with the previous zoning and development plan, Silver said.

There is interest in putting a hotel in Trace Crossings, but nothing is solid, he said. His company will continue working to find a solution that he believes nearby residents will find workable, he said.

U.S. Steel is responsible for the existing commercial development in Trace Crossings and will continue to use covenants and rules to protect the integrity of future commercial development and its impact on residents there, he said.

The council plans to vote on the official annexation of the 211 acres that would be added to the city just south of the Hoover Met at its June 19 meeting. The council also at that time will consider the annexation of 31 acres that would be added to the Blackridge development. Those additional acres would not add any new home sites for the Blackridge community as a whole, Belcher said. Blackridge still would have 1,009 home sites, just spread out over more land, he said.

This article was updated at 10:36 a.m. on June 6 after Counciilman Curt Posey said he misunderstood a question about his vote on the overall Trace Crossings amendment.