Hoover zoning board OKs self-storage, retail buildings near Deer Valley, U.S. 31
The Hoover Planning and Zoning Commission tonight voted in favor of a proposal to put a three-story self-storage facility and strip retail center off Alabama 150 near Ross Bridge Parkway.
The development, if approved by the Hoover City Council, would be just north of the Walgreens pharmacy.
The plan approved by the zoning board would put a 9,000-square-foot retail strip center closest to Alabama 150, but not facing the highway. A 60,000-square-foot self-storage facility with 20,000 square feet on each floor would be between the strip center and property slated for future construction by Cross Creek Church.
Developer Zac Parrish of Parrish Building Co. said he does not have a specific self-storage business lined up for the property, nor specific retail tenants.
However, with so many homes in nearby subdivisions such as Lake Cyrus, Deer Valley and Ross Bridge, there is a strong demand for a self-storage facility in that area, Parrish said.
The conceptual plan for the retail center is to have five small spaces, suitable for businesses like a specialty clothing boutique, small restaurant or dry cleaners. However, Parrish would be able to combine any of the spaces and put in any type of business allowed in a community business district, said Mike Wood, chairman of the zoning board.
Several residents of the Deer Valley community tonight expressed concerns about whether the new development would create extra traffic issues on Ross Bridge Parkway because the development will connect with Ross Bridge Parkway via a driveway to Walgreens.
Joey Miller, an engineer working for Parrish Building Co., said the primary access point for the self-storage business and new retail center would be off Alabama 150, via the existing entrance off 150 that leads to Walgreeens. That access road actually is on Parrish Building Co.’s property, he said.
While drivers also will be able to access Ross Bridge Parkway, Planning Commissioner Sammy Harris said he believes most traffic coming to the self-storage business and new retail center would use the Alabama 150 access point to get there. Miller added that a self-storage facility doesn’t generate a lot of traffic.
Residents also were curious about the building materials that would be used if the new development is approved. Parrish said the buildings would be about 85 percent brick.
Hoover City Administrator Allan Rice, who also is a member of the zoning board, said it’s important that the buildings have a nice look, particularly on the sides facing Alabama 150.
If the Hoover City Council gives approval for the development, Parrish said it probably would be six to nine months before construction could begin and eight to 10 months worth of construction time. He likely would start with the storage facility first, he said.
U.S. 31 RETAIL STRIP CENTER
The zoning board tonight also recommended the City Council approve plans for a 15,000-square-foot strip retail center along U.S. 31 in the location of the former Mexico Lindo restaurant and Mr. Transmission business that were torn down recently.
Orange Development had planned to build an indoor baseball and softball training facility there, but that is no longer the plan, said Donn Fizer, the company’s vice president of development.
Orange Development does not yet have any commitments from retail tenants, but marketing signs for the property didn’t go up until about three weeks ago, he said.
The company had to get some variances approved from Hoover’s Board of Zoning Adjustment for setbacks, landscaping and parking because of the long, narrow shape of the property, which abuts both U.S. 31 and Lorna Road.
Some of the required parking and landscaping will have to be on state right of way, but the Alabama Department of Transportation already has given conceptual approval for that, Fizer said. He understands that the state would have the right to remove that landscaping and those parking spaces if it determined at a later date it needed that land, he said.
Rice thanked Orange Development for being willing to make some substantive improvements to traffic flow in that area. The company has agreed to add a dedicated left turn lane on southbound U.S. 31 at the traffic light at Braddock Drive and to reduce the number of access points to U.S. 31 from four to two.
Councilman Mike Shaw, another member of the zoning board, said he was glad to see the conceptual rendering that Orange Development provided for the site and how hard the company has worked to develop a plan for a site with physical limitations. It should be a great improvement for an area that now “kind of looks like a war zone,” Shaw said.
Fizer said his company understands this is one of the gateways to Hoover and needs to be developed in a first-class way. Anything Orange Development has done has been top-notch and high-quality, he said.
In other business tonight, the zoning board approved:
- Final plans for 55 residential lots in Phase 4B of the Lake Wilborn subdivision in the Trace Crossings community
- A request to divide one lot owned by the city of Hoover along Jaguar Drive near Valleydale Road into two lots. The lot is now about 5 acres and contains greenhouses and storage areas, but Jefferson State Community College is interested in obtaining 2 of the acres to build a new facility for a welding or construction-related career technical program, Rice said.