Property for controversial Cahaba Heights development purchased by BOE

The Vestavia Hills Board of Education unanimously approved an agreement to purchase property near Cahaba Heights Elementary at its Dec. 23 meeting.

The board entered conversations with BREC Development, the former property owner, in late October, said Superintendent Sheila Phillips. The developer offered to sell the nearly 2 acres of property for $1,585,546, a price the board agreed to pay at its meeting.

“We have done our due diligence on the property to ensure we are paying fair market value,” Phillips said. “Our interest in the property is for future expansion of the school district.”

While developing the property is not an immediate priority, board member Jerry Dent said the purchase opportunity is one that Vestavia Hills City Schools does not receive often.

“There has been a fair amount of public controversy on both sides, for and against,” Dent said, “but living in a land-locked community like we have, we don’t have this option come up to us — I would say very often, but more like at all — do we get this option. So to be presented with this from the developer is a very good result to us.”

Dent added there are several potential uses for the property, including a parking lot, a campus expansion or other projects that would benefit the school system.

“I’m excited about the possibilities it may allow for us at Cahaba Heights as we further consider what we are doing within the district and the services we provide,” Phillips said.

Controversy about the property erupted when a 150-unit apartment complex was proposed this summer. Community members expressed concern regarding potential crime, overpopulation of schools and increased traffic that could result from a new apartment complex.

BREC Development revised its proposal to include an 81-unit apartment complex with more retail space and other changes to bring it in line with the Cahaba Heights Village Master Plan. The planning commission recommended the proposal to the city council in September and was met with community push-back.

Community members took on the chant of “Not in our school yard” and formed the Cahaba Heights Community Foundation to preserve the area’s master plan.

Before the Board of Education chose to purchase the property, a city council vote on BREC Development’s proposed plan was delayed to late January. Phillips said there are pieces of property near the 2 acres purchased by the board already slated for development. The apartments, however, will not be built.

The nearly $1.6 million purchase will be made from the board’s general fund. Dent said the board’s surplus from last fiscal year covers most of the cost and no money will be taken from projects at other schools.

“Doing something with this land immediately isn’t going to supersede the needs that we know we have at our other schools such as West and East and the work that’s going to be done out at Liberty Park,” Phillips said.