Hoover zoning board recommends approval for Trace Crossings rezoning
The Hoover Planning and Zoning Commission recommended Monday night that the Hoover City Council make numerous changes to the Trace Crossings development plan, including adding 348 acres and nearly 500 homes to the community and rezoning land across from Hoover Metropolitan Stadium for commercial development.
Trace Crossings residents for at least a year have staunchly fought additional commercial development in the middle of their community, saying it is better left along John Hawkins Parkway.
But U.S. Steel Corp. pressed ahead and, after months of negotiations, was successful in getting the city’s zoning board to give its approval for a multi-faceted rezoning effort that includes a commercial component.
The biggest sticking point with residents has centered around 110 acres along Stadium Trace Parkway across from the Hoover Met that currently are zoned for industrial use. Half of the property has restrictions on it that prevent typical retail commercial development, and half of it does not.
U.S. Steel initially sought to allow typical commercial development on all the property but later submitted amended plans to add more residential property as a buffer to existing homes.
New plan
Residents continued their opposition, so last month U.S. Steel submitted another plan for the 110 acres that has 58 acres for 100 single-family houses, 24 acres of typical commercial development (including hotels), and 28 acres of a mixed-use area that includes up to 111,000 square feet of commercial businesses and 54 townhouses or buildings that have commercial or office uses on the first floor and residential uses on the upper floors.
However, U.S. Steel agreed to prohibit auto dealerships, building material sales, domestic equipment rental, car washes, automotive service and gasoline stations. Furthermore, any neighborhood hardware stores or restaurants, cleaners or pharmacies with a drive-through would have to come back to the city for “conditional use” approval.
No buildings would be more than three stories, except a hotel or motel more than 500 feet from the boundary of the Chestnut Ridge community could be four stories. All buildings in the mixed-use residential area would have to have pitched roofs, and all mechanical equipment on roofs of the rest of the commercial property must be screened so it is not visible from Stadium Trace Parkway.
Neighborhood opposition
Many Trace Crossings residents argued at the Monday night meeting that the latest plan is worse than the last one and still doesn’t give specifics about what U.S. Steel has in mind to develop on the 24-acre “planned commercial” parcel.
Trace Crossings resident Nancy Carr said the residents don’t need and don’t want commercial development or hotels that close to them.
There are nine hotels along John Hawkins Parkway between Stadium Trace Parkway and the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel, and they have occupancy rates of 70 to 75 percent, Carr said. It’s unfair to them to even consider allowing another hotel, he said.
“Putting it smack in the middle of three schools and a residential area is unacceptable,” Carr said.
The mixed-use concept of businesses on the first floor and residences above has not been successful in The Preserve or Ross Bridge, Carr added.
Kevin Canada, a resident of the Scout Trace section of Trace Crossings, said there is not enough demand for the commercial space already in Hoover. He noted the vacant shopping center at the corner of Interstate 459 and John Hawkins Parkway that once housed a Winn-Dixie grocery store and large holes of retail space at The Grove shopping center just across the interstate.
Trace Crossings residents repeated their concerns about traffic problems. They are already having significant traffic problems, and adding commercial development in addition to the new sports complex and 1,500 houses planned in Lake Wilborn and Blackridge will only compound the problem, they said.
Signature Homes President Jonathan Belcher, who has handled negotiations for U.S. Steel, said the plans call for more turn lanes and through lanes at intersections along Stadium Trace Parkway and a traffic light at the intersection of Stadium Trace Parkway and Fleming Parkway.
Michele Cantley, another resident, said the traffic study submitted by the developer indicates that, even after the road improvements are made, residents still will have to “endure unstable, intolerable and unacceptable traffic flows.”
Not perfect, but 'an improvement' over current zoning
Hoover Councilman Mike Shaw, who also sits on the zoning board, said he understands there are serious traffic problems that need addressing, but said he doesn’t understand the opposition to the zoning changes that put more restrictions on commercial property than the current zoning that is in place.
While the current plan being considered is not perfect, it’s an improvement from what is allowed on the property now, Shaw said.
Trace Crossings resident Molly McGregor said some residents welcome the new sports complex and understand new commercial development may come with it. It just doesn’t belong in the middle of a residential community, she said.
She asked the zoning board to delay considering U.S. Steel’s request until the city completes the comprehensive planning process that is about to begin.
Trace Crossings resident Jay Siegel said voting on U.S. Steel’s request now just gives credence to a bad plan. It doesn’t make sense that U.S. Steel is trying to get more restrictions on its property, he said. “I think we’re being deceived.”
Belcher said there is no intention to deceive anyone and he believes a lot of improvements have been made to the plan since it originally was presented.
Zoning board Chairman Mike Wood said the proposed commercial portion of the development has been reduced from 110 acres to about 36 acres. He added he is glad the community got involved because it helped make the plan better, he said. To him, this is a better plan that the current zoning that is in place, he said.
Five members of the zoning board — Wood, Shaw, Jason Lovoy, City Administrator Allan Rice and Carl West — voted in favor of the rezoning. Zoning board members Sammy Harris and Jennifer Peace abstained.
The matter now goes to the Hoover City Council for consideration, likely on June 5.
Carr said she’s heartbroken to see the zoning board recommend approval for a rezoning request that so many Trace Crossings residents were so adamantly against.
“Obviously they’re not listening to the citizens,” Carr said. “There is no rush to do this when there are already 1,500 homes being built at the end of Stadium Trace. Why do we need to rush into 204 additional homes and commercial development with as much as we have going on right now? Enough is enough.”
Hoover Councilman Curt Posey was at tonight’s rezoning meeting and said he agreed with McGregor that a rezoning request of this magnitude should be delayed until a comprehensive plan for the city can be developed.
Other changes
In addition to the commercial part of the rezoning request, other parts of the Trace Crossings rezoning plan would:
- Zone 428 acres for PR-1 “planned residential” zoning, of which 158 acres would be donated to the city for park use and 51 acres converted to common area. The remaining 219 acres of PR-1 property would be developed with 441 single-family houses, 300 of which would be deducted from homes already approved for U.S. Steel on the south side of Shelby County 52 and 141 of which would be deducted from homes approved for the Blackridge community.
- Involve the subsequent annexation of 211 unincorporated acres in Shelby County into the city limits of Hoover for residential development as described above.
- Include two new connector roads to Hoover High School, one going from Hoover High to Bumpus Middle School and another going from Hoover High on the south side of Trace Crossings Elementary School and connecting with Stadium Trace Parkway.
- Provide a total of 282 acres of park space that does not exist today, including three miles of frontage along the Cahaba River.