✕
☰

Hoover planning commission recommends plan to allow grocery in The Preserve

by

Map provided by city of Hoover

Map provided by city of Hoover

Map provided by city of Hoover

Map provided by city of Hoover

The Hoover Planning and Zoning Commission tonight recommended the City Council approve an amendment to the zoning plan for The Preserve community that will allow enough room for a grocery store in the town center.

U.S. Steel is ready to expand the commercial portion of The Preserve but needs some changes in the development plan to accommodate the types of businesses residents are requesting.

Currently, no tenant in the commercial areas can take up more than 15,000 square feet. U.S. Steel is asking that the cap be raised to 29,000 square feet to allow for a grocery that company representative Peter Allsopp said is about the size of the Piggy Wiggly in Mt Laurel or the Western Supermarket in Mountain Brook Village.

Also, the approved commercial building area totals 88,170 square feet. U.S. Steel is asking for flexibility to adjust the distribution between office and retail based on actual market demand. The addition of a grocery store to the mix pushes the amount of retail space needed higher, Allsopp said.

U.S. Steel also initially asked that its development be allowed to go within 50 feet of the boulder field in the 350-acre Moss Rock Preserve, but planning commissioners said they felt that was not enough of a buffer between developed areas and the boulder field.

Planning Commission Chairman Mike Wood said the boulder fields are unique and need more protection. U.S. Steel spokesman Billy Silver said U.S. Steel recognizes the importance of the boulder field as an amenity and agreed to leave a larger undisturbed buffer as requested by planning commissioners. A buffer line was identified on a map at the meeting, but approximate distances were not spelled out.

Map provided by city of Hoover

To accomplish all of its goals, U.S. Steel needs some of the property north of the existing town center rezoned from a PR-1 planned single-family residential zone to a planned commercial zone.

The company also wants the city to permit mixed use development with the planned commercial zone to include both detached and attached residential dwellings north of the town center and upper floor housing within the town center. Original plans showed only attached residential units there, but U.S. Steel might like to develop some of the residential units as cottages or bungalows, the company said.

The residential lots are along a road next to the Moss Rock Preserve, and will serve as a transition from the commercial area, U.S. Steel said. That area also would include on-street parking for people who use the nature park.

When The Preserve was first approved, there was significant opposition to a grocery store going in the development. People who lived in neighborhoods around The Preserve feared a large commercial area would attract more traffic through their neighborhoods to get to The Preserve town center.

However, Hoover Councilman Mike Shaw, who also sits on the zoning board, said he believes attitudes toward commercial development within neighborhoods have changed since The Preserve plans were first approved.

“I think people now see it as a positive,” Shaw said. “Everyone I’ve heard from in the Preserve is in favor of it.”

Map provided by city of Hoover

Bob Hastings, a home builder in The Preserve and resident there for 12 years, said he is very excited U.S. Steel is moving forward with the commercial part of the community.

“We would love to see the town center developed and our amenities come to fruition,” Hastings said. “We’ve been waiting a long time.”

Ken Wills, president of The Friends of Moss Rock Preserve, said he is not opposed to U.S. Steel’s revised plans, but emphasized the need to protect the boulder fields. Wills also asked city officials to make sure there is somewhere for nature park users to park during construction of the commercial and residential areas next to the park because the existing parking lot will be lost.

City Planner Mac Martin said the developer already has agreed to allow temporary parking on a site just south of the boulder fields until permanent parking areas can be completed.

The planning commisison voted 7-0 in favor of U.S. Steel’s request tonight, and now the company’s requests go to the Hoover City Council for a final vote.

In other business tonight, the planning commission voted to recommend the City Council approve a 15,000-square-foot shopping center on vacant land at the corner of Alabama 119 and Doug Baker Boulevard. It’s the same site where the City Council rejected a Valero gas station in January 2015.

Map provided by city of Hoover

Tonight, an adjacent property owner spoke in favor of the shopping center, saying he knows something will be built on the site and he believes this is much better than the gas station and convenience store previously proposed. Developer Jim Mitchell is working with him to protect his property, he said.

Mitchell said he doesn’t have any signed tenants yet, but told the planning commission he is in talks with Durbin Farms about locating a small market there.

Planning commissioners agreed to waive a requirement for a sidewalk on part of the property because the sidewalk would end at the edge of Mitchell’s property and go nowhere and there already is an existing sidewalk leading to a nearby neighborhood on the other side of Doug Baker Boulevard.

The planning commission also tonight:

Back to topbutton