Photo by Erin Nelson.
Mud covered roads and parking lots in the Olde Towne shopping plaza and Park South Plaza on Tuesday, July 20, 2021. Heavy rain on Monday caused major flooding in the shopping centers on Montgomery Highway. Photo by Erin Nelson.
Work is now underway to study deficiencies of drainage basins and stormwater infrastructure in the city of Vestavia Hills, with hopes to address some of those problems in the future.
The Vestavia Hills City Council voted to pay Schoel Engineering $79,500 to create a stormwater master plan, which will consist of taking inventory of the existing stormwater system, identifying problems within that system and providing recommendations on how to improve it. The study will focus on two drainage basins east of U.S. 31 and south of Shades Crest Road, that “seem to be problematic,” said the city’s communications director, Cinnamon McCulley.
Discussion of the possibility of creating the plan started well before the major rain event on July 19, McCulley said, but that event left several businesses damaged and led to questions from area residents and business owners of what the city could and would do to alleviate the problems.
While the city cannot spend public dollars to improve private property, City Manager Jeff Downes said Schoel will work to identify ways in which to improve public infrastructure.
A representative from Schoel said in five to six weeks (from July 26), they felt they would be able to return to the council with a list of problem areas and preliminary ideas for improvement.
In other business, the council:
- Amended the ordinance authorizing the city to join the Cahaba Solid Waste Authority, as the cities of Homewood and Clanton have now joined, bringing the total number of municipalities in the authority to seven.
- Approved a conditional use application for a home occupation at 4950 Reynolds Lane.
- Accepted a roughly $9,200 quote from Mobile Communications America to relocate and repair the broken tornado siren at Vestavia Hills Elementary Cahaba Heights.
