Hoover zoning board recommends putting 273 acres along I-459 in holding zone
The Hoover Planning and Zoning Commission on Monday night recommended the City Council change the zoning for a controversial 273-acre group of properties along Interstate 459.
But future plans for the property still are unknown.
The land stretches along I-459 between the Patton Creek shopping center and Preserve Parkway.
For decades, the land for was zoned for apartment use, but after landowners entered into a contract to sell their property to a development company called Hoover-Hidden Valley LLC to put apartments on it, the Hoover City Council in April 2016 rezoned the property for mostly commercial use, saying the land was no longer suitable for apartments.
The landowners protested the rezoning and two of them — Meade Whitaker Jr. and his sister, Frances Schoonover — filed a federal lawsuit against the city in April 2018, claiming the city violated their property rights and intentionally interfered in their contract with the apartment developer. That lawsuit is still pending.
On Monday night, the zoning board voted 8-0 to grant the property owner’s request to put the 273 acres into a newly created zoning category called a planned development district.
The planned development district is designed to essentially be a holding zone for property for which property owners don’t yet have a fully developed plan.
On one hand, this gives the developer some flexibility instead of being locked into a specific zoning use, said Hoover Councilman Mike Shaw, who is the council’s representative on the zoning board.
On the other hand, the property owner cannot develop the property without coming back to the city for approval of specific plans, he said. Nearby property owners will be notified when those plans come to the zoning board and will have a chance to review the plans and comment before decisions are made.
Former Hoover Council President Bob Austin wanted to know if apartments would be allowed in a planned development district, and City Administrator Allan Rice explained that this new district is unlike any district the city has had before. It doesn’t specify what can or can’t be built on property but essentially puts plans on hold until more specific plans can be developed and considered for approval by the city in the future.
Residents from the Lakeview and Paradise Acres communities off John Hawkins Parkway said they were concerned about potential runoff from any development into their Paradise Lake. They also had concerns about whether there were any plans to try to access the 273 acres from the roads that go through their communities.
Rice said it’s too early to address those types of questions because no specific plans have been submitted yet, but those issues could be considered when plans come forth.
The zoning board’s recommendation Monday night to put the 273 acres in a planned development district now goes to the Hoover City Council for a final decision.
Whitaker, one of the property owners who sued the city last year, was present Monday night and said he could not comment about whether putting his land in a planned development district would impact the lawsuit.
Other property owners requesting the change included Schoonover, U.S. Steel, William Paul Glass and Sherry Barrington.
In other business Monday night, the zoning board:
- Approved a resurvey of property in the Inverness Corners shopping center to divide 9.35 acres into an 8.55-acre parcel and a .8-acre parcel. The purpose is to allow for the construction of a 6,000-square-foot drive-through restaurant on a .8-acre parcel in the Inverness Corners parking lot, along Valleydale Road, Assistant City Engineer Chris Reeves said. The property owner did not name the restaurant, he said.
- Approved the division of 6 acres in the Hoover Court shopping center into a 5.4-acre parcel and a .62-acre parcel. The purpose is to allow for the construction of an LAH real estate office on .62 acres in the Hoover Court parking lot, along Braddock Drive.
- Approved final plans for 38 residential lots in phase two of the Blackridge subdivision at the end of Stadium Trace Parkway.
- Recommended the City Council allow The Crafters House at 3417 Old Columbiana Road to offer craft classes with accessory beer and wine sales. Classes allowed would include woodworking, ceramics, jewelry art, painting, paper arts and needle arts. Classes not allowed would include welding, commercial screen printing, and building, staining or painting furniture, except for a two-hour class for repurposing furniture once a month on Saturdays.
- Recommended the City Council allow The Episcopal Church of the Holy Apostles at 424 Emery Drive to open a weekday nursery for infants ages 6 weeks to 12 months, with a maximum of eight children at any time. City approval is required because the property is zoned for planned office use.
- Recommended the City Council rezone two recently annexed houses at 2869 Georgetown Drive and 1856 Buttercup Drive from Jefferson County R-1 residential zoning to Hoover R-1 single-family residential zoning.