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Map courtesy of city of Hoover
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The Hoover City Council has authorized the mayor to enter into an agreement to buy 2.63 acres of land along lower Lorna Road, just north of the Cahaba River.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
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The Hoover City Council has authorized the mayor to enter into an agreement to buy 2.63 acres of land along lower Lorna Road, just north of the Cahaba River.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
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The Hoover City Council has authorized the mayor to enter into an agreement to buy 2.63 acres of land along lower Lorna Road, just north of the Cahaba River.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
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The Hoover City Council has authorized the mayor to enter into an agreement to buy 2.63 acres of land along lower Lorna Road, just north of the Cahaba River.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
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The Hoover City Council has authorized the mayor to enter into an agreement to buy 2.63 acres of land along lower Lorna Road, just north of the Cahaba River.
The Hoover City Council on Monday night authorized Mayor Frank Brocato to enter a contract to pay $375,000 to buy 2.63 acres along lower Lorna Road next to the Cahaba River.
The property formerly was used by Bama Concrete but has been vacant for years, and Hoover officials say the land has great potential for redevelopment for recreational, restaurant or retail use, or some combination of those uses.
Hoover Council President John Lyda said he doesn’t foresee the city hanging onto the property, but rather selling it to a private investor who can make better use of it, perhaps as a restaurant and/or retail space with a view of the Cahaba.
Greg Knighton, the city’s economic development manager, said the property also would be well suited for recreational use, such as a canoe outfitter. It could be a good spot for river enthusiasts to get in or get out of the Cahaba, he said.
Planners in the metro area have been looking for ways to develop ecotourism along the Cahaba, and this could be a great piece of such a network, Knighton said.
It may be a stop along the way for people canoeing down the river, where they can get out and grab a bite to eat before continuing on down to the Cahaba River Park in Shelby County, he said.
“Like stringing a necklace of pearls together, this could be one of the pearls along the Cahaba, to really encourage quality use of that river and really make the most of it for citizens and visitors alike,” Knighton said.
But city officials don’t intend to be the end user of the property, he said.
“Our goal is to try and acquire it,” he said. “Commercial property along the Cahaba River in Hoover, much less anywhere else, is not very frequently on the market. When we saw that as an opportunity, we felt like it was worth pursuing.”
Lyda noted that this piece of property, which is in unincorporated Jefferson County, is one of the gateways into Riverchase, and right now it’s not a pretty sight.
“From a visual perspective, we have an opportunity to steer the future development of that and take advantage of additional land along the Cahaba River,” Lyda said. “Quite frankly, we feared having another industrial type use there. Because of it being a major gateway to Riverchase, we want it to be more appealing to the community and have a greater use for those who travel that area.”
Once the mayor signs the purchase contract, there will be a 90-day period of due diligence during which the city will do an environmental study and get an appraisal to make sure the purchase price is reasonable, Knighton said.
If the end result of those studies is favorable, the city will close on the contract and market the property to investors who have an interest in capitalizing on the river and the traffic count for that busy road, Lyda said.
The land currently has a metal storage building and trailer on it, but further analysis of the property is needed, Knighton said.
The business right next to the property is Riverchase Collision Repair, and the businesses across Lorna Road are Gardner Landscaping and Cottage Supply Co.
Just across the Cahaba River is a small city park with a half-mile walking trail that city officials envision being a trailhead for longer greenway trails along the Cahaba.
If the sale on the old Bama Concrete property goes through, the plan is to annex the land into Hoover, Knighton said.
In other business Monday night, the Hoover City Council:
- Authorized the mayor to enter an agreement with the Alabama Department of Transportation for the upgrade of a traffic signal at U.S. 31 and the entrance to the Hoover Commons shopping center.
- Agreed to pay up to $75,000 to clean out and repair a drainage pipe between 2640 Creekview Drive and 2644 Creekview Drive and up to $20,000 to clean out and repair a drainage pipe at 4846 Sulphur Springs Road. The pipes are on private property but are causing problems that impact public roads, City Engineer Chris Reeves said.
- Authorized the mayor to enter a cable television franchise agreement with Charter Communications for five years.
- Agreed to hire a company called Avenu to help perform business license audits for the city and make sure companies are paying proper amounts. The city has only one revenue auditor on staff right now and does not have the staffing to do all the audits it needs to do, Chief Financial Officer Tina Bolt said. Avenu will get to keep 50% of whatever it collects, Bolt said.
- Amended personnel policies to limit the amount of unused vacation time employees can take when retiring from 320 hours in a calendar year to 320 hours in a rolling 12-month period. This will prevent employees from taking eight weeks of leave time at the end of the year and eight more weeks of leave time at the beginning of the year, for a total of 16 weeks of leave in a row, City Administrator Allan Rice said. However, the city will increase the amount of additional unused vacation time employees can sell back to the city from 500 hours to 820 hours, allowing employees to get that pay more quickly and the city to fill positions more quickly and not pay as much overtime to other employees to fill the void, Rice said.
- Agreed to pay $16,500 a year for new RecDesk software for the Hoover Parks and Recreation Department
- Agreed to pay $3,500 a year to the Miss Hoover Foundation, which runs the Miss Hoover and Miss Hoover Outstanding Team scholarship competitions.
- Agreed to hire Amy Appleton, who recently retired from the emergency communications department and relocated out of state, to perform part-time work for the department at a cost of $30,000 per year.
- Heard from gubernatorial candidates Lindy Blanchard and Lew Burdette, Shelby County District Judge candidate Phillip Bahakel, Shelby County Circuit Judge candidates Donna Beaulieu and Jeff Brumlow and Jefferson County Bessemer Division District Judge candidate Pooja Chawla.
Editor's note: This story was updated at 1:34 a.m. on April 5 with additional actions taken by the council.
