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Council discusses vegetation ordinance violations, U.S. 31 flooding issues

by

Emily Featherston

The Vestavia Hills City Council discussed several issues and items of business Monday, including two instances of properties violating the city's weed and vegetation ordinance.

The ordinance requires property owners to maintain the grass and vegetation on their property within certain standards.

Corporal Jimmy Coleman of the Vestavia Hills Police Department is responsible for monitoring and enforcing the city's code of ordinances, including the weed and vegetation ordinance, and brought the issues to the council's attention.

Coleman explained he received complaints for both properties–which also happen to be in the same neighborhood–in May, and he went through the process of notifying the property owners by mail and then with posted notices.

The first property, located at 2600 Kingswood Road, had issues with the height and condition of bushes, Coleman said, and the property owners had begun to work on the issues as of Monday morning.

After discussion with the property owners as to their ability to finish remedying the situation, the council opted to postpone action on the matter until the Sept. 11 council meeting, with Mayor Ashley Curry strongly advising the property owners to deal with the issue promptly.

The second property in question, located at 1600 Gentilly Drive, also had issues with bushes, Coleman said, but also with at least one dead tree and other weeds.

The property is also involved in another matter making its way through the court system, he said.

Place 4 Councilor George Pierce asked if this property had come before the council before for this kind of issue, and Coleman confirmed that it had.

The council voted unanimously to proceed with the abatement process.

Before business commenced at the meeting, the council heard an update on the recent flooding along the lower corridor of U.S. 31.

City Attorney Pat Boone gave a lengthy explanation on the history of the city's involvement with property owners in the corridor and dealing with flood issues along Patton Creek.

In 1977, Boone explained, Congress enacted the National Flood Insurance Act, which opened the door for property owners to obtain flood insurance and cities to implement ordinances for flood mitigation. Boone explained that in 1980, the then city council voted unanimously not to pass an ordinance on dealing with flooding in the corridor, effectively removing the city from the NFIA provisions until two decades later. Then, in 2004, Vestavia Hills, along with the City of Hoover, was sued by several property owners for not controlling runoff that caused Patton Creek to flood, a case that eventually went to the Alabama Supreme Court. That court ruled unanimously, Boone explained, that the cities were not legally required to maintain drainage on private property, and that the instances where the city had dredged the creek did not oblige them to continue to maintain it. Boone said the court also found that the city did not put any water into the creek that wouldn't have gone in otherwise.

With this precedent in mind, and the knowledge property owners had when building in a flood plane, Boone said it was not the city's place to act unless there is direct evidence that a private issue is having a public impact.

The city was expected to release materials explaining Boone's opinion in the coming days.

Other Council Business Included:

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