Residents of Liberty Park expressed feelings of skepticism and concern at a town hall meeting regarding The Bray Town Center development project at city hall on Monday night.
Several attendees of the meeting protested Liberty Park Joint Venture’s latest project, The Bray Town Center - a proposed 700-acre development that, if approved, will feature a total of 1,882 residential units, restaurants, a luxury hotel, specialty retail and general business.
Jeff Downes, city manager for the city of Vestavia Hills, showed residents a video of a presentation given by John Gunderson, president of Daniel Communities, the company in charge of construction on LPJV’s behalf, at a City Council work session on Jan. 24. Residents later gave their input both in-person and via Zoom.
Christy Savage, a Liberty Park resident, said she moved to the community for its natural surroundings, quiet atmosphere and the values of the community. The potential for shopping malls and new apartments as well as other efforts to expand Liberty Park, she said, goes against her reasons for moving there.
“What I see every morning before I exit my community is a bar right across the street and that’s concerning to me,” Savage said. “I don’t mind growth but I ask the question ‘why did we choose to live in that area?’ I didn’t choose to live in that area to have that huge development in my backyard. My concern is that the way we’re heading is like what other municipalities have fallen victim to like Hoover and their strip malls.”
Another Vestavia resident, Marc Schaefer, said he doesn’t live in Liberty Park but believes the new development will affect other residents in Vestavia and is also skeptical of the plans.
“It’s a really nice presentation…and it's full of ‘oh wow,’” Schaefer said. “The issue is when you look at those pictures you look at greenery, you look at pathways and parks and go ‘that’s really cool’ but is that part of what we’re really going to get? Because even though I live on this side of Vestavia, I understand that no matter where you put people, it affects us all.”
Schaefer said he’s also concerned the hotels and increase in residents will make the community crowded. “I’ve driven through Liberty Park in the morning, [this] can’t be the best way. It’s not easy to get out of there, even at night sometimes. If you dump that many more people in there….”
Christy Savage’s husband, Lauren, said the city’s priority are the apartments because of their profitability.
“This is really about apartments and no one wants to say that,” Lauren said. “The first thing we’re going to get is a bunch of apartments. It’s going to make Daniel a bunch of money. It’s not going to help my kids and it’s not going to help their schools…I think we need to be straight up.”
