Hoover council agrees to combine projects to widen Valleydale Road, Alabama 261

The Hoover City Council on Monday night authorized the mayor to enter an agreement with Shelby County and Pelham to combine two road projects on Valleydale Road and Alabama 261.

The city for years has had a project in the works to widen Valleydale Road between the Hoover Public Safety Center and Riverchase Parkway East. Meanwhile, a separate and bigger project by the state was being planned to widen Alabama 261 on the other side of U.S. 31 all the way to Bearden Road.

Hoover’s project somehow got further along in the planning process, but it doesn’t make sense to do Hoover’s project without the other one because traffic headed west on Valleydale would just bottleneck at U.S. 31 if the road isn’t widened on the other side, said Tim Westhoven, Hoover’s chief operations officer.

The new agreement approved by the Hoover City Council Monday night allocates money to combine the two road projects and have engineers put the two sets of designs into one congruent package, Westhoven said.

The total cost to combine the designs is $474,000, with Hoover, Pelham and Shelby County each paying $158,000. The Alabama Department of Transportation will do the survey work, Westhoven said. The Shelby County Commission and Pelham City Council already have approved the agreement, he said.

Funding for construction has not been completely ironed out, but the plan is for the state to pick up 50 percent of the cost, Westhoven said. Federal funding would be sought for the remaining half, with Shelby County, Hoover, Pelham and Helena splitting 20 percent of that half of the project, he said.

Hoover should not have to pay any more money than the $1.4 million it already had allocated for its original project, Westhoven said.

Hoover Council President Gene Smith asked Westhoven how many Hoover residents live along Alabama 261. Westhoven said he is not aware of any Hoover residents living directly along Alabama 261. However, many Hoover residents use that route as a back door into Riverchase and would benefit from the improved traffic flow, he said.

However, road construction likely is years away, Westhoven said. Right-of-way acquisition likely won't start for 12 to 18 months, he said. Then, utility relocation and construction will follow.

MORE VALLEYDALE ROAD WIDENING

The Hoover City Council also on Monday night approved an amended utility and construction agreement for a separate project to widen Valleydale Road to five lanes between Caldwell Mill Road and Inverness Center Drive — a 3.5-mile project that has been in the works since 1999.

The city has been acquiring rights of way for that project since 2015 and has about 5 to 10 percent of the parcels left to acquire, City Engineer Rodney Long said. The current estimated schedule would start construction in 2022, but “that’s ambitious,” Long said.

The Hoover council also on Monday:

• Approved a sales tax rebate for a nearly 15,000-square-foot retail development planned at 1539 Montgomery Highway. See here for more details on that rebate agreement.
• Made numerous changes to the 2020 budget, including taking out $450,000 for projects to modify traffic signals on U.S. 31 at Patton Chapel Road and the Hoover Commons shopping center and upgrade traffic signals on Riverchase Parkway East, and adding $100,000 for additional payments to the Santek garbage hauler and $100,000 for various drainage projects.
• Voted 3-2 to extend a moratorium against vape shops, pawn shops, check cashing stores and businesses that issue car title loans or payday loans and advances. The moratorium, approved a year ago, was extended for another year or until the city adopts new zoning regulations regarding such businesses. Smith joined Councilmen Casey Middlebrooks and Curt Posey in approving the moratorium, while Councilmen John Lyda and Mike Shaw voted against the measure.
• Rezoned 273 acres along Interstate 459 between Preserve Parkway and the Patton Creek shopping center to a new zoning category called a Planned Development District. The land for decades was zoned for apartments but in 2016 was rezoned mostly for commercial use against the property owners’ wishes, prompting a lawsuit. Future plans for the property are still unknown, but Meade Whitaker Jr., one of the property owners, spoke in favor of the new zoning classification.
• Denied a license for Cielo Mexican Grille to sell alcoholic beverages at a new restaurant planned at 2760 John Hawkins Parkway. Police Chief Nick Derzis opposed the license but gave no public explanation as to why.
• Approved a license for Casa Fiesta Grill to sell alcoholic beverages at 110 Inverness Plaza and a license for B&B Bartending to sell alcoholic beverages at the Pig Iron BBQ Challenge fundraiser at the Hoover RV Park on Oct. 24.
• Reappointed Ben Lord and Rickey Phillips to the Hoover Parks and Recreation Board for an additional five years.
• Disposed of three city vehicles involved in wrecks. Two were totaled, and the third is to be auctioned, City Treasurer and Purchasing Director Ben Powell said.
• Renewed an agreement with Argonaut Insurance Co. for casualty stop loss insurance. This agreement included a 36 percent increase in premiums, due partly to increased city land holdings, increased numbers of city employees and vehicles, increased city expenditures and general increases in the marketplace, a representative for the company said.
• Declared a vacant house at 2335 Deerwood Road to be a public nuisance due to high weeds and/or grass. This is the third time the city has found this property to be a public nuisance.
• Accepted the donation of a 73-acre mountain bike park in Trace Crossings to the city from Signature Homes and approved an agreement that would allow the city to build a fire station on the property (a backup option if the city’s first choice of land doesn’t work out).
• Completed the annexation of 11.7 acres that have been added to the Blackridge development, with no increase in the total number of homes allowed in Blackridge.
• Gave approval for The Crafters House at 3417 Old Columbiana Road to offer craft classes with accessory beer and wine sales.
• Gave approval for The Episcopal Church of the Holy Apostles to offer weekday care of infants ages 6 weeks to 12 months, with a maximum of eight children at any time. Approval was required because the church is on property zoned for office use.
• Rezoned recently annexed single-family homes at 2869 Georgetown Drive and 1856 Buttercup Drive from Jefferson County R-1 single-family zoning to Hoover R-1 single-family zoning.