Photo courtesy of City of Vestavia Hills.
This rendering shows various development on the Patchwork Farms property categorized by color. The red area indicates retail, the blue area represents office, yellow and orange represent residential, green represents parks, and gray is existing fitness.
During tonight's meeting, the City Council approved a a conceptual Master Development Plan for Patchwork Farms. Doug Neil, vice president of development at Daniel Corporation, presented the plan. Throughout the presentation, Neil emphasized a pedestrian-friendly area offering a variety of mixed-use development. He discussed multiple aspects including an 8 1/2 acre nature park and 275 residential units.
"I'm floored by this whole process," said Councilman Steve Ammons following the presentation. "To ask the question of when are we going to start seeing rooftops and to hear that it could happen in two and a half to three years is just incredible."
Patchwork Farms is located between Cahaba River and Caldwell Mill Roads off U.S. 280. Just under a year ago, Vestavia Hills held a three-day planning charrette, a type of collaborative session to design a solution, for the 87-acre site purchased by the City in 2007 for $11 million.
Downes recently said the projected fiscal benefits of the project, including sale of the property, sales tax, property tax and other related fees, including building permits, amount to $23 million, benefiting both the city and the Board of Education over the next five years.
The Board of Education will meet next week to discuss the presentation. Click here to access the master plan.
Also during the meeting, the council accepted a bid for street repair and resurfacing from Dunn Construction. This past summer, the council approved an aggressive paving project throughout the city from Good Hope Construction. However, due to timing issues, the city has terminated this contract.
Downes said Dunn has agreed to move rapidly and their contract will expire on July 2015.
In other news, the council:
- Approved a resolution vacating the right-of-way known as Eastwood.
- Approved a resolution accepting a bid for a police motorcycle.
- Approved a resolution approving disclosure controls and procedures.
- Approved a resolution to name the street Ridge Dell Circle.
- Approved a resolution to name the street Vesthaven Circle.
The next City Council meeting will be Nov. 24 at 5 p.m. at City Hall.
