Road projects move forward at council meeting
Steps for roadwork on the Galleria Boulevard, Hugh Daniel Drive, South Shades Crest Road and Eden Ridge Drive/Shades Run Circle moved forward at the July 21 City Council meeting.
While these will move forward, teh council voted to reject the Southland Drive widening project at the meeting. The voting for this project had been postponed at the last meeting when the mayor had concerns about the budget. The project was originally budgeted for $415,000 but in actuality was about $590,000.
For the realignment of Highway 150 at Galleria Boulevard, the council approved the suggested a standard resolution and the decision to install and maintain traffic control signals per Alabama Department of Transportation's recommendation.
Relocations for utility companies were also proposed at the meeting at no cost to the city itself. Approved projects were:
- An agreement with Alabama Power in regards to intersection improvements on South Shades Crest Road and Eden Ridge Drive/Shades Run Circle.
- An agreement with AT&T concerning lane improvements on Highway 150 at Galleria Boulevard.
- An agreement with Alabama Gas Corporation about the resurfacing of Hugh Daniel Drive.
Performance bond settled
A bad performance bond was settled at the meeting.
When the City of Hoover discovered that a $75,000 bond with a developer was no good, the city council voted to settle the bond by requiring the developer pay half of what they owed.
In 2009, a contractor and developer involved with Heatherwood 7th Sector subdivision went bankrupt after completing everything except the seal coat, or the top layer of asphalt, to the street. This seal coat was part of performance bond.
A performance bond is like insurance saying a certain company will make the performance, in this case to construct a roadway. The City of Hoover requires those before the subdivision could start selling lots.
“As we started investigating this performance bond to cash the bond and to finish the improvements, we found that the bond is actually no good,” said Tim Westhoven, assistant executive director of the City of Hoover. “The developer had never been paying any of the premiums, so the bond was never any good.”
The attorney started negotiating with the bonding company. Because the bonding company had their name on the document, they decided to negotiate instead of totally washing their hands of it. They negotiated they would pay up to half of it.
Also at the meeting
- The bid for the construction of Fire Station No. 10 was approved. It was the lowest bid for construction. Construction should begin in about four weeks and should be complete in about 10 months.
- Birmingham Water Works was authorized to install fire hydrants at four locations within the Shoppes of Hoover development.
- ABC’s application for MNM Hoover, LLC to allow off-premise beer sales and wine at and wine at Everyday Quick Stop, 2997 Lorna Road, was approved.
- Mr. Jeff Pepe’s, representing Hoover Investment Partners, LLC, proposal for a shopping center in The Shoppes of Hoover at 5190 Medford Drive was approved.
- The council approved Keith Nicholas’s request to sell retail liquor at El Gringo Mexican Restaurant at 748 Shades Mountain Plaza. The property is owned by Shades Mountain Plaza, LLC.
- On the second reading of this resolution, the council voted to approve a rezone of a recently annexed property, 1752 Deo Dara Drive. The property was rezoned from Jefferson County R-1 to Hoover E-2 Single Family Estate.