Photo by Katie Turpen
A new Cahaba Heights business will receive up to $47,000 in city sales tax rebates as part of an economic development incentive agreement approved by the Vestavia Hills City Council on Oct. 25.
Miss Astrid’s Tavern is a restaurant to be located behind The Fig Tree and is part of a larger plan to improve the Cahaba Heights Entertainment District. The business will receive 50% of the sales tax revenues it generates for up to six years, or until that amount reaches $47,000.
The tavern will serve alcoholic beverages while using The Fig Tree’s kitchen. In exchange for the rebate, the property owner, Richard Edge, will improve the on-site stormwater structures and improve parking, which will serve not only that property but the entire area. Another restaurant and outdoor venue is being planned next door and is being developed by Jared Lewis at Bluwater Properties, while another two adjacent property owners will grant easements to allow for construction of a pedestrian park and amenity.
The total construction and site budget for the tavern is anticipated to be about $200,000, with an annual gross income expected to be about $368,500.
In other news, the council agreed to pay $37,500 to Catherine Brooks in a settlement of a lawsuit Brooks filed against the city and the Birmingham Water Works Board. In July 2018, Brooks was riding her bicycle on a public sidewalk adjacent to Shades Mountain Baptist Church on Columbiana Road when her bike hit a utility meter cover which was not flush with the sidewalk, causing her to fall off the bike and suffer injuries, including breaking her jaw, hand, finger and several teeth.
Riding bikes on sidewalks is against state law, and it is the responsibility of the Birmingham Water Works Board to maintain utility meters, said Cinnamon McCulley, the city’s communications director. Still, settling for $37,500, with the Water Works Board paying the same amount, was a “business decision” that keeps the city from spending more on litigation, McCulley said.
About $500,000 will be spent to renovate Fire Station #1 following council approval of a bid to Jared Building Co. The renovations will include the replacement of existing interior partitions, finishes, ceilings, doors and other components.
Specialty Turf Supply will replace the baseball fields at Wald Park at a cost of about $1.1 million, with the money coming from the city’s capital expense fund. The project was included in the fiscal 2022 budget.
The switch from grass to turf is due to an inability to maintain the grass fields as well as needed, McCulley said. The fields drain much better than the previous fields at Wald Park, but doing so means more time and work has to be done to keep the fields in playing condition, and that is not possible with current staffing levels.
The council also granted an easement to Verizon Wireless at Fire Station #1 and declared an old truck as surplus.