Hoover council approves revised plan for PetSuites Resort on John Hawkins Parkway

The Hoover City Council tonight unanimously approved a proposal to build a PetSuites Resort for up to 182 animals on John Hawkins Parkway.

The decision was a reversal of a previous decision in November to reject the pet resort and was made after the company agreed to eliminate the most objectionable part of the previous proposal and make additional alterations to its plan.

When the PetSuites Resort plan first came to the council, the biggest objection was that neighbors were concerned about being able to hear barking dogs.

The revised plan presented tonight eliminated an outdoor play area for dogs and added more soundproofing to the walls of the 14,240-square-foot pet boarding facility, which is set to be built on 2 acres between the CVS at Shades Crest Road and the office building holding a UAB medical clinic.

Charlie Beavers, an attorney for PetSuites Resort, said a noise study from a PetSuites Resort in Georgia showed no barking dogs could be heard from outside the facility when the dogs were inside. The dogs were heard only when they came outside to play in groups or take restroom breaks, he said.

But now, all pets at the facility will be kept indoor at all times, Beavers said.

Eliminating the outdoor play area also will allow PetSuites to move the building about 40 feet closer to John Hawkins Parkway and that much farther away from residents on Pine Rock Lane, Beavers said.

The building relocation also will allow the company to add more magnolia trees behind the building, improving the sound and visual buffers for neighbors even more, said Jon Rasmussen, an engineer with Gonzalez Strength & Associates.

PetSuites also agreed to numerous other conditions, including:

• Outside construction will be limited to between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
• Garbage pickup times will be restricted to between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m.
• The walls of the outdoor garbage container shall be constructed of the same materials as the main building, and the container will be located toward the front of the parking lot instead of closer to residents on Pine Rock Lane.
• Delivery and pickup of pets will be limited to between 6:30 a.m. and 8 p.m.
• A 6-foot-tall wooden fence will be built next to the existing fence between the development and adjacent residential lots on Pine Rock Lane.
• Outdoor lights along the rear of the PetSuites building and lights in the rearmost island in the parking lot shall go out by 10 p.m., except for safety lighting attached to the rear of the building, which shall be directed downward.

The developer of the PetSuites property agreed to enter legal covenants with owners of single-family residential property on Pine Rock Lane to never allow outside play areas, outside kennels or other outdoor activity by dogs.

Beavers said the end result of all the changes is a better plan than was what originally presented.

Chris Shows, a resident on Pine Rock Lane, said enough changes were made in the plan that residents now support it. She also thanked city officials for their support in getting a better plan created. “It helped a lot to have somebody to support us, to answer our questions,” she said.

Councilman John Lyda thanked the representatives for PetSuites for working diligently with the council, city staff and residents to achieve a workable solution.

Councilman Mike Shaw said the revised plan is both pro-business and good for the community. Shaw also noted that it’s actually a common practice in some areas of the country, such as Las Vegas and downtown New York City, not to have outdoor play areas at pet boarding facilities.

In other business tonight, the City Council approved a revised site plan for The Crossings at Hoover senior living facility planned at the corner of U.S. 31 and Parkway Lake Drive in Riverchase.

The facility will have 200 beds, including 92 independent living beds, 72 assisted living beds and 36 memory care beds, said Cole Williams, an engineer with Goodwyn Mills & Cawood working with the property owner.

The number of beds is staying the same since it was approved in February of last year, but S&K Investments, the owner of the property, wants to change the layout a little bit, Williams said.

The company wants to eliminate part of the planned single-story part of the complex and slightly expand the four-story part of the complex to reduce the building footprint and allow for smoother traffic flow, he said.