Council approves rezoning of school board property, cell tower at SHAC
The rezoning of property now belonging to the Vestavia Hills Board of Education was approved at the Oct. 14 Vestavia Hills City Council meeting.
The property, located at 2647 Gresham Drive, was purchased by the board and annexed into the city to be used as a parking lot for the new Vestavia Hills Elementary Dolly Ridge school. After some public comment at an earlier planning and zoning commission meeting, the request was passed with the condition that should the school ever sell the property, it would revert to Vestavia Hills E-2, which is the city’s compatible zoning for estate residential zoning. The property was rezoned from Jefferson County E-1 (estate residential) to Vestavia Hills Institutional.
The council also approved an ordinance giving conditional use approval to AT&T to construct a 125-foot “stealth” cell tower at the soccer fields at the Sicard Hollow Athletic Complex. The tower will replace an existing light pole at the fields. While AT&T tried to co-locate on a nearby flagpole used by T-Mobile, it was not feasible, a company representative told the council.
In his report to the council, City Manager Jeff Downes said the city has received its first application for a new pole to house small-cell technology, which will pave the way for the future 5G voice and data network. The request came from AT&T, and the new pole, which must be reviewed and approved by the city, would be constructed at the lower end of U.S. 31.
Downes also said Moody’s reaffirmed the city’s AAA credit rating, the highest possible rating.
Council member Kimberly Cook said there is a new contest among cities in Jefferson County to see who can lower their contamination in recyclables the most. The contest will last for six months, and the city which lowers their average monthly contamination percentage the most will choose a charity the other cities will donate to, Cook said.
The council also passed an amendment to an existing ordinance pertaining to property at 3100 Blue Lake Drive. The amendment removes a condition requiring a four-way stop sign near the property, as well a condition limiting the property to one story. The property owner plans to build two stories on the property. The amendment also removes a mandated shared parking agreement, as it is no longer needed.
As required by the Rebuild Alabama Act, which instituted the state’s new gas tax, the city council also approved a plan showing how they would use the new revenues generated from the tax, estimated to be just more than $146,000. The money will be used to help fund the city’s existing street repaving and improvement work, Downes said. The plan can be found at https://vhal.org/community/city-projects/.
In other business, the council:
- Approved an alcohol license for the AMC movie theatre at the Vestavia Hills City Center, which is under new ownership as part of AMC’s purchase of Carmike Cinemas.
- Approved a resolution reappointing Jeff Slaton to the design review committee.
- Announced upcoming vacancies on both the library board and parks and recreation board. Applications can be found online and are due by Nov. 4.
On first read, the council introduced an ordinance rezoning 2961 Green Valley Road from VH R-5 (multifamily housing) to VH R-9 (planned residential district). The ordinance was set to be discussed Oct. 14, but was moved back to the Oct. 28 meeting at the request of the petitioner. Magnum Properties is planning to build luxury townhomes on the property.