Hoover zoning board recommends rezoning for 8 town houses off Lynngate Drive

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The Hoover Planning and Zoning Commission on Monday night recommended the Hoover City Council rezone 1.4 acres off Lynngate Drive from a preferred commercial district to a town house district to accommodate eight new town houses.

Keith Arendall of LAH Commercial Real Estate initially submitted plans for nine town houses at the corner of Lynngate Drive and Lorna Ridge Drive.

But numerous residents from the nearby Lynngate and Talheim communities opposed the rezoning at a Sept. 14 public hearing, saying other nearby town houses and apartments have caused problems for their communities, including unsightly trash and multiple cars parking on both sides of the road, creating hazardous traffic flow.

Planning Commission Chairman Mike Wood advised Arendall he might want to meet further with residents to discuss their concerns and find a way to provide more parking options other than Lynngate Drive.

Over the past month, Arendall held that meeting, removed one of the proposed town houses and added a place for three additional parking spaces.

Numerous residents remained opposed to rezoning the property for town houses. John Cucinotta said home values in Lynngate and Talheim would decrease if more town houses were added in the vicinity because people in traditional single-family homes don’t want to live in areas where homes are crowded together.

Arendall said he anticipates these town houses will sell for more than $250,000 on average, and he thinks town house zoning is a logical transition from adjacent warehouses to more traditional single-family houses.

“We’re trying to do a nice project. We don’t want to disrupt the neighborhood,” Arendall said. “We think it will be a benefit and improvement to the neighborhood.”

Rachel Nichols, an LAH real estate agent representing the current owner of the property, Shelby Concrete, said efforts have been made to sell the property with the current preferred commercial zoning but have been unsuccessful. A sewer line running through the property makes it difficult to develop the site commercially, she said.

The Planning Commission voted 4-2 to recommend the City Council approve the rezoning, with planning commissioners Jason Lovoy, Jennifer Peace, Carl West and Becky White voting in favor and Nathan Reed and City Administrator Allan Rice voting against.

The City Council is expected to consider the rezoning request on Nov. 16.

Rice informed residents that the city administration is working with the police chief on plans to prohibit parking on the portion of Lynngate Drive residents have been complaining about.

In other business, the zoning board:

  • Recommended the council allow Brock’s Gap Brewing Co. to build a two-story brewery with live indoor and outdoor entertainment at the corner of Stadium Trace Parkway and Mineral Trace, right next to the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium parking lot.
  • Recommended the council rezone 4.25 acres that contain the Hoover-Randle Home and Gardens property at 2255 Tyler Road from an R-1 single-family residential use to a special use district, with the understanding that the property only be used as an event facility with similar restrictions that were put in place before the city bought the home from the Randle family.
  • Approved preliminary plans for 59 single-family houses on 30 acres in the second phase of the Blackridge South community.
  • Approved final plans to convert one single-family residential lot at 305 Park Ave. into two residential lots.
  • Postponed consideration of preliminary plans for a 44-house subdivision on the former Smith farm property at 2429 Savoy Street until Nov. 9.
  • Postponed consideration of preliminary plans for a 4-lot commercial subdivision off Medford Drive and ATI Parkway until Nov. 9.
  • Announced plans to consider amending the city’s comprehensive plan on Nov. 9 to give more detailed plans for a proposed new connector road from Morgan Road to South Shades Crest Road, Interstate 459 and Alabama 150.