Reshaping U.S. 31 piece by piece

Vestavia Hills was built on what lies between its two temples on U.S. 31. After 60 years of growth on the corridor, the sloped stretch of signal-heavy highway has become a sizable chunk of the City’s identity.

And for many, that’s a problem.

“Basically, if you drive down U.S. 31 right now, the development that you see – and I’m not going to call it bad development – is the development everybody was doing 30 years ago,” Vestavia Hills Economic Developer Fred Baughman said. “You put a store at the back of the property, asphalted everything in front of it and away you go.”

The development pattern created a retail sector that survives but doesn’t thrive. Because sales tax is monumentally important to a city’s growth and development, the US-31 Corridor Redevelopment Plan was created to reinvent this seemingly listless piece of the area’s livelihood.

But it won’t be quick, and it won’t be easy.

The Plan, approved by the City of Vestavia Hills last year, began in 2011 as a study by Market Street, a firm from Atlanta. The company launched a survey of Vestavia Hills residents and businesses about their city in order to create an economic development plan, said Phillip Amthor, a planner with the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham (RPCGB). What Market Street found wasn’t surprising.

“Everyone knew part of what was going to be said was that Highway 31 needed to be redeveloped,” he said. “So, (the City) went ahead and hired us to come up with a plan.”

The City secured a $100,000 grant to fund the RPCGB project, and by October 2011, the team was taking data collected by Market Street and designing a long-term proposal for the corridor that incorporated what residents said they wanted to see with methods to make it economically feasible.

“Highway 31 is surrounded by residential areas, and those people want to be able to walk to good places to eat, drink and be entertained. And they want it all to be family-friendly,” Amthor said. “So what we proposed is a regulatory environment and incentives for the city to adopt that would build that kind of place.

RPCGB came back to the city within a year with a more than 100-page, 15-year plan. It’s highlighted by dense, mixed-use development featuring retail, restaurants and housing on U.S. 31 from Interstate 65 north to Vestavia Plaza, which currently contains Red Lobster and U-Haul among other businesses. And it all starts with implementing a form-based code.

Form-based codes are one of three main strategies presented by RPCGB, and arguably the most important. They replace the City’s current land-use and zoning regulations and will “introduce the possibility for new uses, activities and building densities,” according to the Plan.

“We’re setting the rules essentially so we can get higher quality development because the development that’s currently there is underperforming,” Vestavia Hills City Planner Conrad Garrison said. “It would be foolish to redo the same thing. Even though it’s been successful the past 60 years, its time has passed.”

Garrison and Baughman were both hired by the City of Vestavia Hills in 2012 after it received RPCGB’s proposal. While both are strapped with numerous other duties in the city as the U.S. 31 Plan is enacted, their next moves will define the direction of the corridor.

Garrison said he expects to spend the next nine to 12 months developing this code alongside the RPCGB, and he hopes businesses understand this code doesn’t mean the City will force its hand.

“We’re trying to get the pieces in place so when one of these properties (along U.S. 31) is ready for redevelopment, there’s not going to be any kind of holdup on the City’s end to get stuff ready,” Garrison said. “The city doesn’t intend to force any of these property owners to redevelop tomorrow.

“Our intent is to say, ‘When you’re totally not satisfied as the property owner with what you have on your site and you’re ready to do something about it, we’re willing to talk to you. Here are the things we have available for you.’”

What’s available will fall under Baughman’s area of expertise.

In order for the City to put the plan in motion, Amthor said it must first show the business community it’s committed to growth in  this manner. The first step of that process was completed last year when the City Council accepted the plan. Next comes enticing the business community to join the team, and as an economic developer, that means providing incentives.

Baughman recently designed a five-year sales tax rebate program for new businesses in Vestavia Hills. For the first year, 50 percent of sales tax collected will be returned to the business. That’s followed by 40 percent for the second year, and down to 10 percent for the fifth. New retail and restaurants coming into the City who are seeking these incentives can work with the City to develop under the new code.

Baughman said the goal is not only to attract businesses, but also to retain and satisfy those that currently support the City.

“Property owners are the key to success of this because we have no legal authority to walk in and say, ‘We’re going to take your property, and we’re going to develop it a different way.’ They have to see the economic vitality of redevelopment and doing it differently.”

Garrison said the City is looking at implementing the plan “parcel-by-parcel,” in order to develop a strategy that guarantees success.

“This isn’t – and can’t be – a one-size-fits-all plan,” he said.

Although residents can’t anticipate visible changes this month, they can expect the City to be working behind the scenes to implement the initial stages that will bring change. Amthor said those who wish to help should contact their City Council members and support the code’s development and making it mandatory once complete. He added that finding a visionary developer from the private sector is critical, and encouraging the Council to reach out is just as important.

“This is where we need leadership that’s willing to take a risk,” Amthor said. “If U.S. 31 continues in its current condition, it will have a declining tax base, and it’s going to affect residential property values at some point.”

Recommended for redevelopment

The US-31 Corridor Redevelopment Plan drafted by the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham examines eight commercial areas of U.S. 31 and recommends that four be redeveloped into mixed-use, walkable and community-oriented developments. These are:

Vestavia Plaza Shopping Center

Size – 5 acres

Occupancy – 49 percent

Annual Sales (2010) – $4.65 million

Assessed Value – $420,000

Olde Towne Shopping Center

Size – 6 acres

Occupancy – 86 percent

Annual Sales (2010) – $4.57 million

Assessed Value – $819,000

Park South Shopping Center

Size – 4 acres

Occupancy – 66 percent

Annual Sales (2010) – $6 million

Assessed Value – $800,000

Patton Creek Crossing

Disconnected from and without any spatial and functional relationship to each other, these properties make up a hodgepodge of businesses, signs and forms that together create an incoherent and unattractive gateway to Vestavia Hills along lower U.S. 31.

The majority of properties are highly underutilized – single-story buildings occupying a small portion of its parcels and generating low property and sales tax revenues. The challenges facing redevelopment and expansion are assembling the parcels of different shapes and sizes from numerous individual property owners, the constraints of the floodplain, and the limited space due to steep grade changes on some parcels.

No Recommended changes

Properties recommended to be left alone and encourage future plans for redevelopment, increased density and mixed uses are:

Vestavia Hills City Center

Size – 29 acres

Occupancy – 81 percent

Annual Sales (2010) – $54.2 million

Assessed Value – $5.26 million

Walmart Neighborhood Market

Size – 7 acres

Occupancy – 100 percent

Annual Sales (2010) – $18 million

Assessed Value – $1 million

Vestridge Commons

Size – 5 acres

Occupancy – 100 percent

Annual Sales (2010) – $5.85 million

Assessed Value – $510,000

Mountain Top Office Park

Size – 19 acres

Occupancy (Combined) – 89 percent

Assessed Value (Combined) – $3 million

What do you think?

We want to hear your thoughts on the U.S. 31 redevelopment plan. Email rebecca@vestaviavoice.com or leave us a comment on vestaviavoice.com or our Facebook page.