Blue Lake area trending commercial, city manager says
The Blue Lake area of Vestavia Hills is changing.
Retail spaces at Patchwork Farms are filling up, Slice Pizza & Brew is moving in on the corner of Timberlake Drive and some single-family homes have put up “For Sale” signs. The area, City Manager Jeff Downes said, is making a shift toward more commercial uses.
“As Patchwork developed, Blue Lake Drive, which connects between Colonnade Parkway and Cahaba River Road, has seen some incremental redevelopment,” Downes said. “It has been primarily one- or two-story, residentially-styled office buildings.”
Other growth, including higher density residences and the opening of Grandview Hospital, has increased interest in the area. But with that interest comes infrastructure issues, Downes said, which must be addressed before redevelopment can occur.
To establish a plan for infrastructure, the City of Vestavia Hills worked with engineering firm Gonzales-Strength & Associates on the Blue Lake/Timberlake Infrastructure Master Plan. It includes master plans for sanitary sewer, domestic water, roadway improvements, sidewalks and storm water management.
“This master plan gives guidance every time a development opportunity arises,” Downes said.
Sanitary sewer lines are one of the first items on the priority list, Downes said.
“It [the Blue Lake area] will never develop as it needs to develop without proper sanitary sewer structure in place,” he said. Many existing structures on Timberlake Drive are homes with septic systems, and businesses or commercial buildings oftentimes require a sewer connection to be permitted.
That’s where public/private partnerships on projects will come in, Downes said. As Slice Pizza & Brew came to the area, they spoke with the city and agreed to make multiple infrastructure improvements as the new restaurant is constructed. Slice will extend its sewer from Cahaba River Road to the end of its property line on Timberlake Drive, in addition to widening Timberlake and installing more sidewalks around the property.
“Their efforts allow this master plan to move forward in its initial implementation,” Downes said.
The master plan includes sanitary sewer lines extending down Timberlake Drive, as well as extending along Pine Tree Circle and Pine Tree Drive, roads that branch off of Blue Lake Drive.
The master plan includes potential connections between Timberlake and Blue Lake, which Downes said are needed for a better flow of traffic. Timberlake is currently a road that dead ends, and potential plans include a roundabout off of Blue Lake Drive with a spindle connecting to Timberlake Drive, or a road about two thirds of the way up Timberlake Drive connecting the two streets. None of those plans are final or even in preliminary stages, he said, but rather exist as potential solutions.
Other parts of the master plan include two proposed water mains, one connecting Timberlake and Blue Lake and a second continuing along Pine Tree Drive, and several proposed sidewalks.
The city would install two phases of sidewalk along Cahaba River Road, according to the plan, and developers would construct sidewalks along Timberlake, Blue Lake and Pine Tree drives as well as Pine Tree Circle. Any new sidewalks would connect to the existing sidewalks on Blue Lake and across the street at Patchwork Farms.
Downes said as development opportunities arise, they will refer back to the master plan, adding that there is a need to be careful about infrastructure. The issues will have to be addressed as development occurs.
There will also be “some level of city scrutiny,” Downes said, as many properties still need to be rezoned to allow for commercial uses, and developers would need plans approved by the city.
“In that scrutiny, we use the [master] plan to guide decisions so that we don’t lose the opportunity to create some rational development,” he said. “We can’t just let it be a grab bag of opportunity.”
Property owners in the area recognize that the area is changing, Downes said, and that is something that can be seen by the growing number of “For Sale” signs in front of homes.
“This is a challenge for them [the property owners] to figure out how to manage their most prized asset, their home, and make sure they get the best deal they can get because they all know it is a changing dynamic over there,” he said. “It’s not going to be residential anymore.”
What the commercial future holds is not set in stone, Downes said, but he expects any future retail development to take place on the “corners” of the area — across the street from Slice and at the corner of Blue Lake and Colonnade Parkway — with other properties being a mix of commercial and office. That could change, he said, “if there is an ability to assemble lots by a major user.”
One major use could be a hotel, Downes said, adding there have been “loose conversations and anecdotes” about those opportunities.
“In a city like Vestavia Hills, that has limited development opportunities, I think the future of Blue Lake is just as important as the future of Liberty Park, as far as immediate redevelopment opportunities or development opportunities in Vestavia Hills,” Downes said.