City Council - Regular Meeting

See you. See you.

Good morning, Birmingham. Today is Tuesday, August 25th, 2026. The time is now 936 a.m. I call to order the meeting of the Birmingham City Council. Today's invocation will be led by Reverend Dr. Victor S. Lewis, Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of Fairfield. And our Pledge of Allegiance will be led by Councilor Hunter Williams. Is Pastor Lewis with us this morning? Hi, good morning. Come on, come on up, sir. If you all are willing and able, please stand and join us.

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears who have brought us this far, we thank you, Lord, for being our God, our sustainer. Before we ask you for anything, we want to thank you for being our everything. For without you, God, we can't do nothing, but with you all things are possible. So now, God, we come to you today with humble hearts, recognizing that every good and perfect gift comes from you. We thank you, Lord, for the opportunity of seeing this day that you have made, and we shall rejoice and be glad in it. We pray, Lord, for our community. We pray, God, for comfort. We pray for peace. We pray for prosperity. We ask you, Lord, for your favor to rest, rule, and abide henceforth, now and forevermore. We pray for Birmingham City Council, the mayor, the city official, police officers, first responders, community leaders. educators, clergy, and all who work for the welfare of our community. Grant, Lord, wisdom beyond our understanding, for you told us that if we need anything, all we have to do is go to you, and you will give it to us graciously. Now, God, your word remind us, blessed are the peacemakers, for we shall inherit the earth and be children of God. Now, Lord, we pray that your peace will bless this place. Fill us, O God, with your power and with your presence. God, give healing and justice and compassion and peace. Let the work be done in this chamber today to contribute for a safer and a better Birmingham. Lord, let the words of our mouth and let the meditation of our heart, let it be acceptable in our sight. O God, you are our strength and redeemer. It is in your holy, righteous, and majestic name that we do pray. Let every heart say amen.

Amen.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you very much, Reverend Lewis, for that very thoughtful prayer. And thank you, Councilor Williams, for leading us in the pledge. Good morning, Mr. Clerk. Good morning. If you'll call the roll, please.

Council Member Gunn.

Good morning.

Good morning, sir. Council Member O'Quinn. Good morning. Council Member Smith. Good morning. Council Member Smitherman. Good morning. Good morning. Council Member Vassa.

Good morning.

Good morning. Council Member Williams. Good morning. Good morning. Council Member Woods. Good morning. Good morning. Council President Pro Tem Tate. Council President Alexander.

Good morning, President. At this time, Councilors, the minutes are not ready from the meetings of June 2nd, 2026 through August 18th, 2026. At this time, we'll have communications from Mayor Whitman. Good morning, Mayor.

Madam President, good morning to you. Good morning to the entire Council. Good to see you all. Good morning to the general public, those in the chamber, as well as those watching online. Good to see everyone. Madam President and Council, just two quick notes. One is centered around the LEAD Early program. The deadline to participate or fill out your application is approaching. LEAD Early is seeking individuals who are passionate about strengthening early education throughout our city. As part of this seven-month cohort, participants will connect with fellow advocates dive into key issues, and help champion meaningful solutions that support children and families from birth to age five in our city. We are encouraging those who want to learn more and or participate in the program to apply today at birminghamal.gov slash dys slash lead early. Again, that's birminghamal.gov. I apologize. birminghamal.gov slash dys Applications are due by 5 p.m. this Wednesday. The city is set to host a meeting for the brownfield assessment for the North Birmingham communities. The city of Birmingham is inviting North Birmingham residents to help shape the future of underused and abandoned properties through a new brownfield program. This program is focused on identifying redevelopment opportunities and supporting revitalization in the area related to those same brownfields. This brownfields community meeting is set to take place Tuesday, September 29th at 5.30 p.m. at the North Birmingham Library. That address is 2501 31st Avenue North. Residents at this meeting will have the opportunity to not only learn about the program, but meet the project team, ask questions, and share their priorities for the future of said brownfields in the North Birmingham area. Madam President and Council, that concludes the Mayor's Report.

Thank you, Mayor Woodson. We'll all take note of those announcements and those events that are coming up. At this time, Councilors, I'd like to ask for unanimous consent that we will revert from the agenda and allow the following presentations. our first presentation, and we're going to go a little out of order. If we could start with councilor Crystal Smitherman district six, she has a presentation for a Birmingham crush ready a baseball team. Thank you.

Madam president with the parents and the students from the 15 year baseball team, please come to the front. Awesome. Mayor with them. I also heard they're big fans of you. If you could take a picture with them afterwards. Good afternoon. Well, good morning, colleagues. I would like to recognize their names are called, well, their team name is called Birmingham Crush Ready 15U. Recently, they were the 2026 USSSA World Series champions. Let's give them a round of applause. And what's even more outstanding that they were undefeated is the fact that they were outscoring their opponents with an incredible 64-6, which is really impressive in baseball as well. So it represents the team's second World Series championship in just three years, which is very impressive. And this comes during their final season together as a team. These young men have grown together, competed together, and built lasting friendships and memories throughout their time on and off the field. To finish their journey together as the World Series champions is an incredible accomplishment and truly special way to close out this chapter. Not only did they win the World Series, but they were the only all-black team competing in the tournament as well. And that says a lot, especially coming from the mayor's black male initiative. These are the type of young men that we want to make sure we mentor as they grow up. It represents more than wins and statistics. They demonstrate the value of hard work, discipline, teamwork, perseverance, and believing in what is possible. So I would like to honor them, not only as athletes, but student athletes, because they do well in school. So if, coach, if you want to say a few words. Hey, how you doing? I didn't know you were the coach. If you want to say a few words, you can now.

Good morning, Council. My name is Justin McMillan, and I'm the head coach of Birmingham Fresh Ready. I've had this team since they were five, and now we're 15, so we're officially done. And I want to thank Councilwoman Smitherman and all you guys for the support and the recognition. And I want to tell them that I'm proud of them, and thank you.

Thank you. And thank you to the parents. Ms. Brown, thank you for that. Even though I'm not a parent, I think the majority of the council, if they have kids in some type of way, just the sacrifice that you gave, traveling with the team, just pouring in to feed them. So I want to tell the parents thank you for that as well. If the players that are present, if you guys will state your name, your age, your grade, and what school you go to, and what position you play.

My name is Tamario Kendrick. I play second base and pitcher and I attend Fulton Hill High School. My name is Christian Storer. I go to Ramsey Avenue High School. I'm 16. I play left field and right field. My name is Marion Lloyd. I attend Bessam City High School. I'm 16 and I play catcher. My name is Jacob Works. I play first and third base and I go to Parker High School.

Well, thank you very much. And that concludes my presentation.

Well, thank you all before you go away. Thank you, Councilor Smith, for bringing this group for the honor and the accolades. Just so excited for you young men and the coach. I know I haven't gone through Little League with my son. And parents, I want to talk to you all. You know, we start early in the morning. Then when they finally get to that last leg of it, we're able to sleep in a little bit more and do other things. So I want to thank you all, too, for your support. And again, young men, just very proud of the work you're doing. And thank you, and thank you, coach.

Mayor, do you mind if they take a picture? Mayor, can they take a picture with you outside? Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor. This presentation, and we'll go at this time, Councilor O'Quinn and I have a presentation regarding train folk and technology that they're bringing to the city of Birmingham. So I'm going to let Dr. O'Quinn lead us off with this and introduce our presentation. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam President. I believe we have Colin Alexander from our BDOT department to introduce our guests this morning.

Good morning, councillors. MY NAME IS COLIN ALEXANDER AND I SERVE AS THE PROGRAM MANAGER IN BDOT. FOR ABOUT THE LAST YEAR I'VE HAD THE PRIVILEGE OF WORKING WITH COUNSELOR ALEXANDER AND COUNSELOR O'QUINN MANAGING AN ARPA FUNDED PILOT PROJECT WITH A COMPANY CALLED TRAINFO. TRAINFO IS A TRANSPORTATION TECHNOLOGY COMPANY OUT OF CANADA THAT SPECIALIZES IN SENSORS AT TRAIN CROSSINGS THAT CAN DETECT WHEN A TRAIN IS AT A CROSSING. and then help redirect drivers so they're not stuck at a crossing through dynamic messaging boards, integration with map apps, as well as through 911 dispatch. So without further ado, I'd like to bring up Neil and Brian from the TrainFo team, and they're gonna go over a quick PowerPoint with you guys to update you on where our pilot is at this point.

Good morning. Good morning, everybody. Oh, I guess I'll stay a little further back here. Yeah, we have your presentation up. Okay, perfect. Yeah, they are. Yeah, good morning. My name is Neil Trniewski. I'm one of the co-founders of Trainfo. And actually, I'm in the middle of relocating my family from Canada to the U.S. So we're, all four of us and our two dogs, we're on the track right now, relocating to Canada, or relocating to the U.S., staying up in the office down here with how successful things have been going. And so I'll talk through the project here that we've been doing with the city of Birmingham. And you can go to the next slide there. We're focused on the four primary crossings that lead into the Norfolk Southern Yard. These crossings get about almost 40 trains per day is what's being reported from the FRA. And significant vehicle impacts as you see on the slide there. Next slide. This corridor here is a very important corridor for Norfolk Southern. It connects the southern ports into a distribution yard for the north. If you look at the annual ports from Norfolk Southern, this is one of the top five busiest corridors in North America, and we expect it to maintain the activity, which is great for the economic prosperity of the region. But again, it comes with some byproducts that need to be addressed. Next slide. And so we came in with our solution. We have this deployed in now 27 states across the country. We're seeing consistent benefits. And when we went through our analysis to evaluate what can we do with vehicles, we saw as an example here at the 24th crossing, 24th Street crossing, that there were locations, there were great separations we can move vehicles to. And through our estimations, we believe that we'd be able to reduce the vehicle delays fairly significantly. And so you see on the map there, we've got a roadside sign there to the north, giving traveler information to the motorists to be able to help them make the choice to reroute to the Jefferson Avenue crossing and move around that way. Next slide. And so what you're seeing on that slide there now is results from the before and the after. We've now had the signs in place and active for motorists for a number of months. We're seeing about a 25% reduction in the number of vehicles impacted. And we're seeing about a 23% reduction in the amount of delay being experienced by vehicles, which we would say is a fairly significant win, especially considering we're only addressing one movement toward the crossing. So again, it's working as expected. And we can jump to the next slide. On top of that, we bring a whole suite of tools for your planning agencies to be able to use to evaluate what's happening at the crossings, what the traffic impacts, what's the impact of first responders, that we across the country use these tools with consulting firms and planning groups to be able to make more informed decisions on how to strategize infrastructure around crossings. These tools are now available in the region for you to use. And we can jump to the next slide. Yeah, and that's basically it. But so far, the project is an absolute win. It's been great working with Councillor Quinn, with Colin throughout to those points. We are looking at more integrations, and what I mean by integrations is now that we're producing data at these locations, we can push it to your dispatch software for your first responders to avoid activity. We can feed it into your transit systems. And it's actually also, with our now partnership with Google Maps, it's being fed into there as well for public consumption. Thank you.

Awesome. So, yeah, I just wanted to emphasize that last point that you mentioned with the integration with the navigation apps. This is something, you know, typically when I get in my car in the morning to get somewhere, you know, I know where I'm going. I don't typically turn on a navigation app. However, for the folks that live in this area that encounter those train crossing blockages frequently. I would encourage them to get in the habit of doing that because with this technology, it can help them navigate around those block crossings. I know we have the dynamic messaging signage there close to the intersections, but with the navigation app, it could route them to where They don't even have to necessarily see that dynamic messaging signage or even know that the train crossing is blocked. The navigation app will just take them around it automatically. So just want to encourage residents to do that. Give a little bit of background on this project. I have had a chronic situation in my district over on the east side in the Harris Homes community where back in the 60s, the housing authorities thought it was a good idea to build a public housing community between two sets of railroad tracks that's only accessed by one street. So we've been working... a long time to try and resolve that situation and have an active project looking at creating grade separation there. So once we were successful there, you know, I know that this is a big issue for all of the city of Birmingham. I learned recently that there's more out of the 67 counties in Alabama, Jefferson County has the most rail miles. And therefore, you know, with us being the largest city or the largest largest, most populated county in the state. We also have, you know, the most at-grade rail crossings too. So long story short, train, rail crossing blockages are, have been something that the population in this area has had to deal with for A century.

Forever, yeah.

Yeah. So a few years ago, this has been on my mind the entire time that I've been on the council. And a few years ago, I learned through National League of Cities that this was an emerging technology that could help mitigate that issue. AT AN ATTAINABLE PRICE, BECAUSE GRADE SEPARATIONS, YOU KNOW, ARE TENS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, IF NOT MORE, AND COUNSELOR ALEXANDER AND MYSELF WERE ABLE TO PARTNER ON THIS PROJECT USING SOME OF THE ARPA FUNDS THAT WE WERE ALLOCATED. fund a five-year pilot project at a fraction of that cost. And with there being so many rail crossings in the city, we felt it was important to establish proof of principle to potentially bring this elsewhere in the city. Really proud to be able to bring a feasible, cost-effective solution. In an ideal world, we would have grade separations everywhere. But in reality, that would cost billions, many billions of dollars to be able to do. And it's not going to... happen in our lifetime, if at all. So this is the next best solution. So really super happy to see this. You know, for those who go through these crossings, you may notice the dynamic messaging signage. You're probably not going to see the sensor unless you really know what you're looking for. quite literally just a small box on a post, but is able to accomplish this and also connect to our real-time crime center. So there's some additional benefit beyond just telling people when the train crossing is blocked. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Again, I just want to reiterate I'm very proud of the collaboration with Dr. O'Quinn to bring this technology to at least these four train tracks. This is a way of life for people that live in District 7 and District 6 and also in District 5, but mainly District 6 and 7 where we deal with block trains on a daily basis. It's a part of our lives. And so I'm very proud to have used these ARPA dollars to bring this type of solution to these residents and to each of us. Nothing, nothing, nothing frustrates you more than trying to drive to work, to school, to a doctor's appointment, and then you have to encounter one of these block trains. We feel sometimes they only block on our side of town, but I know there are other blockages. So I want to start off by thanking you, Dr. O'Quinn, for using, he's very humble about what he's done here, his work on the National League of Cities with the Transportation and Infrastructure committees to have seen the foresight to have this opportunity for us. I want to thank Mayor Woodfin and the Department of Transportation for bringing this opportunity to us and mainly to you all for having this type of technology. I'm going to reiterate to our residents, now we've got this navigation tool integrated into the system and I'm like you, I get in my car often, we always know where we're going to go. But now, if we could remember to start using this tool, I think it would help us. I know you're here this week. You're going to be visiting those different crossings. And so again, we're just excited for this opportunity and for our residents. And I want to thank everyone. And let's utilize it. Let's make it work. And again, this is a pilot project. And we hope that this can minimize some of the frustration and some of the lack of safety. We never want anyone to try to make a decision to beat these trains or you see it's blocked, and then you get yourself all worked up and trying to find a solution and a reroute. So thank you all. Thank you so much. Thank you very much.

Madam President, can I just ask you this? Well, I really want to commend both of you all. I really do appreciate both of you, honestly, from – just both of your leadership, and especially as Councilor Quinn being the chair of transportation, just the way you all have helped me whenever I've had a crossing blockage. I literally text me like, y'all, it's blocked again. And then Councilor Quinn be like, here's the number. How can we help you? And I think that's the power of teamwork with the nine of us. And even though it's a federal issue, which I think Councilor Quinn talked about, just seeing that even on the local level you all are being proactive because it does affect the quality of life and our kids as well because a lot of kids will crawl under the trains to get over it or you see people trying to race past to beat the train and they end up getting killed. So I want to thank you both for this and hopefully we can continue past the pilot program.

Thank you very much. Thank you. Our next presentation, our final presentation, will be made by Councilor Sonia Smith, District 8, and she has accommodation for someone very special to all of us.

All right, well, good morning, and we'll ask the family of Deacon White to come forward, please, so they can join us. And while they come, Deacon White, as I'm sure we know, is the father of one of our beloved pastors here at True Love in Birmingham. And it was my honor this weekend to be with True Love as they celebrated their 25th anniversary. So Deacon White actually is the father to six, which is great, but also the grandfather to 28 children, the great-grandfather to 34, and great-great-grandfather to three. So it is with great honor that I have this resolution today that I can present to the family of Deacon White as he is turning 100 years old on September 2nd. Okay, so I'll read the resolution in part. So where is it as custom of this legislative body to take note and publicly acknowledge individuals who have distinguished themselves through their exemplary roles of service to the community and the city of Birmingham. the Council of the City of Birmingham is justly proud to recognize and commend them for the impact they have made in the city. Deacon Freddie Lee White, Sr. is one such individual. It is with immense pleasure that we pause today to honor Deacon White of True Love Church, of which he is a founding member. And whereas Deacon White was born September 2, 1926, he received his education from the Birmingham City School System, Booker T. Washington Business College, and Birmingham Baptist Bible College. And whereas Deacon White served valiantly in World War II and worked diligently for U.S. Steel for four decades, he was a devoted member of 23rd Street Baptist Church and is currently a member and deacon of True Love Church. So now, therefore, it be resolved that the Council of the City of Birmingham, with Mayor Randall L. Woodfin concurring, pauses to celebrate Deacon Freddie Lee White Sr. for his unwavering service to God and the community. We thank him for his countless contributions over these decades and wish him all the best going forward. And if I can make a motion for unanimous consent, please.

All in favor, let it be known by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, say nay. And a motion on the resolution.

Second.

All in favor, let it be known by saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed, say nay.

Thank you. Thank you. And so I will have, I guess, a member of the family and Mayor Woodfin to speak for Deacon White.

On behalf of the White family, I'm Freddie White, Jr. On behalf of the White family, I'd like to thank the council and the councilwoman for this particular honor. My father is greatly appreciative of this. And you only could see his face when he heard it.

I'll just finish off and say, Dad would have been just up here beaming, beaming. He would love to be here this morning, but with his health, we thought it best for him not to come. But he would just say to all that it was God that has kept him. And if you ask him anything, he'd say, God got me. So don't worry about nothing. God got him.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Council, good morning again to you, to Councilors Smith and to Deacon White's family. On behalf of a grateful city, your pops has reached triple OG status. It's pretty cool. Perhaps as we think about his service to our country, serving in World War II as we think about his service to his church. There's probably nothing more important to him than being a father, a grandfather, a great-grandfather plus. And so happy birthday to Deacon. Let us know where the party is next week because we plan to crash it.

Saturday.

Saturday? Y'all, stop playing. We want the address. But in all seriousness, have a good time and happy birthday to him. This is well-deserved. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Smith and Mayor Whitman. I want to thank the White family. I am so excited to see all of you here today. It means a lot to me to know how your family and how your father have made such an impact to our city. And the reason I have tears this morning is because I've known them as a family for so many years. And I'm really just very honored to have known Deacon White and I knew the other Freddie Lee before he had gray hair. So we've known each other for quite some time. So Deb is my birthday twin, so we have the same birthday. I've always just feel honored to have known each of you and to have loved your father and to really honor him today and so excited for his birthday that's coming up. So please wish him well, and I hope you all have a great celebration. Thank you. All right, thank you, counselors. Now we'll return back to our agenda. And before we consider the consent agenda, I'd like to read the following statement. All items designated as consent are routine and non-controversial and will be approved by one motion. All items on the consent agenda will be announced by reading the item numbers only. No separate discussion of these items will be permitted unless a council member or the mayor requests the item to be removed from the consent agenda. Additionally, a citizen interested in addressing the council with respect to an item on the consent agenda which is designated for public hearing, that's with a lower case ph, may request the item be removed from the consent agenda to hold the hearing on the item. Any items removed from the consent agenda will revert to its normal place on the agenda order of business. For remaining matters, all matters of permanent operation, they're indicated with a capital P, will be read and all public hearings will be announced. Mr. Clerk, if you will read to us the items that are to be considered for consent.

Yes, ma'am. The consent agenda for today starts on page three with item seven. Page four, we have items eight, nine and 10 on item eight. We're going to change the funding source for District five to zero three one. underscore 205 underscore 04250 underscore 542001. And we pick back up with the consent agenda on page five, items 11, 12, and 13. Page six, items 14, 15, and 16 are on consent. On item 16, we're going to amend it to change the total amount to $10,500. We're going to add from District 8, $500. And that G.O. code is 001 underscore 0004280 underscore 542001. And the consent agenda continues on page 7, items 17, 18, and 19. Page 8, items 20, 21, 22, And 22 and 23. I think there might be some discussion on removing 22 for a two-week delay. Page 9, we have items 24, 26, 27, 28, and 29 on consent. Page 10, we have items 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, and 36 on consent. Page 11, we have items 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, and 43 on consent. Page 12, items 44, 45, 46, 47, and 48 are on consent. Please withdraw item number 49 from the agenda. Page 13, items 50, 51, and 52 are on consent. Page 14, items 53, 54, 55, and 56 are on consent. Page 15... Items 57, 58, 59, and 60 are on consent. Page 16. Items 61, 62, 63, 64, and 65 are on consent. And we have two addendum items.

All right. Thank you. Counselors. Are there any items you'd like to have added or removed? And I believe we also have two addendum items. Any items that you'd like to have added or removed?

Thank you, Madam president. I'd like to remove item number 20 please.

That's item number 20.

And then I'm not going to ask for a withdrawal, but just want to make a comment on items 51, 53 and 54. These involve infrastructure repair work for District 3. Item 51 is Claremont Connector Trails. We're excited about that project. Item 53 is the Caldwell Park Drainage. And item 54 is District 3 sidewalks. So I just want to make mention of that effort. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Councillor Smitherman?

Yes. Can we add items 66 and 67 to consent?

Yes, counselors, there is a request to add items 66 and 67 on the addendum to consent. Counselors, I would like to ask that we pull item number 22 on page 8 from consent. Yes.

Madam President. Related to item 22, the administration requests a two-week delay.

Thank you. All right, so item 22 on page 8, there's a request for a two-week delay. Do we have to vote on that? Okay, let me get to it. All right, thank you. So we pulled that one. We'll consider that when we come to that item. Any other questions?

Madam President, also for item 22, there was no recommendation from the Budget and Finance, I believe. Yes.

Is that correct? We'll note that. And there also yesterday was a no recommendation from the Budget and Finance Committee. And you'll understand why when we get to it. All right. Thank you. Any other items? All right, at this time, councillors will take a motion and a second for approval of the items to be considered for consent. So moved. Thank you.

Councillor Williams. Aye. Council Member Woods. Oh, he's out. Council President Tim Tate. Aye. Council President Elizabeth.

Aye.

All right. That vote should be up.

All right. Thank you, counselors. And to the public, those items that will be considered for consent have been approved. And so if you're here for any item that was listed as consent, it has been approved. And now we'll go on to the other items that were pulled will revert to its normal place on the agenda. and we'll now continue with the rest of our agenda. Counselors, I would like to ask if we could go a little out of order of the printed agenda and if we could start with item 20 on page 8.

Mr.

Clerk.

Item 20. Item 20.

Yes, sir.

A resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into a right-of-way encroachment license agreement whereby it's commercial... Tenant LLC is allowed to install one blade sign for the purpose of a fence, a new sidewalk cinema location. The sign will project from the exterior of the building located at 1821 2nd Avenue, North Birmingham. Motion, please.

All right, thank you, councillors. This was an item that was being considered for consent, and it revolves around a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into a right-of-way agreement with commercial tenant. It was asked to be removed, I believe, to allow for an extension. Are there any questions about the item other than that? All right, Mr. Clerk, we'll go ahead and have the vote, please.

Voting should be open.

And I'm a yes.

Council Member Vassa. Abstain.

Abstain.

Abstain. Okay. Oh, yeah. Okay. I got you. The vote should be up.

All right. Thank you. Item 20 passes with that one abstention. Next item.

Item 1.

How about item 22?

22? Okay. Yes, sir. Item 22, a resolution authorizing the mayor to accept the unconditional donation to the city of Birmingham of one 2015 Ford Explorer from the Birmingham Emergency Communications District. The vehicle will be provided to the Birmingham Equipment Management Department. The quality of the vehicle has been verified as usable by the city personnel for this purpose. The city will accept the donation to promote the health and welfare of the city. The mayor is authorized to accept assistance to help facilitate the acceptance of the vehicle to the city of Birmingham. Motion, please. So moved.

Thank you.

All right, thank you. Counselors, this item did come up yesterday during budget and finance, and Mayor Whitford, I'll just allow you to restate what the item was, and then we'll go with the delay if that's your request. Go ahead, Counselor.

No, this is just a request for the two-week delay. That's it.

So we just want to delay it. Yes, sir. All right, thank you. So the request is for a two-week delay. So what we'll be voting on is to delay this to allow some other action to take place just to be sure that we're in alignment with the 9-1-1 commission. Motion.

So we need another motion. Second.

Okay. Voting should be open. All right, that vote should be up.

All right, thank you. So we've approved that item for a two-week delay. Now I believe we can go back to the agenda. I believe we had a two-week delay for item 20. I thought we had an appointment. What is the number? Okay, we'll go to item 25.

Item 25? Yes, sir. Okay. A resolution pointing one member to the land bank authority of the city of Birmingham as director five at the recommendation of the mayor said term to expire October the 2nd, 2029. All right.

Thank you. At this time, we do have an appointment by mayor Whitman for the land bank authority of the city of Birmingham.

Madam president and council, um, Tracy Bennett with our office of public affairs. It's supposed to share that information, but I'll share it with you. Thank you. Nevermind.

Good morning. Good morning. Tracy Bennett. I serve as a senior administrator boards and agencies.

Um, this appointment is for Dr. Lonnie hand in the third for a term expiring on October 2nd, 2029. Thank you.

Any questions regarding this appointment? Thank you very much. We're ready for the vote.

Council Member Smith, that vote should be up.

All right, thank you. So we've made this appointment to the Land Back Authority. Thank you, Mayor Whitman, for bringing this appointment to us, and we wish well on the reappointment. Next item, thank you.

Would you like to go to one? Would you like to go to item one?

Yes, sir.

Okay.

Thank you.

Item one. An ordinance to amend the zoning district map of the city of Birmingham. Test number ZAC 2026-08003 to change zone district boundaries from D3 single family district to QD4 qualified medium density residential district filed by our investment group LLC. The property owner and applicant for property generally located at 5900 Avenue M. Situated in Section 18, Quarter Section 2, Township 18, Range 3 West, Birmingham 35228, in order to allow a duplex that had been converted without necessary permits or approval in the hearing of our interested parties. Motion, please.

All right. Thank you. At this time, counselors, we have an ordinance to amend the zoning district map of the city of Birmingham, and we'll turn this over to our planning and zoning committee. Dr. O'Quinn will conduct the public hearing.

Thank you, Dr. O'Quinn.

Thank you, Madam President. At this time, we'll hear from our planning staff.

Good morning. My name is Kim Spurl. I serve as the City Zoning Administrator. The item before you is ZAC 2026-08003. This property is located in the Green Acres Neighborhood Association at 5900 Avenue M. The request before you is to change the zoning from D3, which is our single family residential district, to D4, which is our medium density residential district. The property owner purchased an existing duplex that had been configured to that without zoning approval and without building permits. So he's requesting to rezone the property to make that duplex a legal use. The duplex is approximately 2,700 square feet. One unit contains three bedrooms and two bathrooms, while the second unit contains two bedrooms and one bathroom. The parking for both units is accessed from Court M behind the current building. This property is approximately 0.3 acres. To the north of this property is zoned D4, which is the medium density district. To the south and east of this property, it's zoned D3, single family. And to the west, it's zone C2 general commercial. The city's adopted long-range land use plan does identify this property as residential low. If approved by the council, the owner will have to obtain all necessary permits for the conversion of the property from single family into a duplex use. And also, if the property is approved by the council to be rezoned, if there's any enlargement to the structure, or if there's any enlargement to the parking area, the subject property will have to comply with all the provisions of the landscape ordinance for the D4 section. There were no comments from our stormwater or Department of Transportation staff. This property is located in our western framework plan area, so they have already been through their citywide rezoning process. On May 19th of this year, the applicant did present his request before the Green Acres Neighborhood Association, where they voted eight to zero to support his request. On June 2nd of this year, the applicant attended the Zoning Advisory Committee meeting, where they voted three to one to recommend approval of the rezoning request with two Q conditions. And those Q conditions are number one, that the only uses that shall be permitted are a single family detached dwelling or a duplex. And number two, that all required permits shall be obtained for the conversion of a dwelling from single family to a duplex. On its regularly scheduled meeting on June 23rd, 2026, the Planning and Zoning Committee reviewed this request and they voted three to zero to recommend the rezoning with the same two Q conditions. The applicant is here and he'll be happy to answer any questions. And that concludes our staff report.

Thank you. Can we hear from the applicant, please? As you... come to the lectern. Could you start by just telling us the background on this? Remembering back to the Planning and Zoning Committee during our discussion, you purchased the property and were unaware that it HAD BEEN CONVERTED TO A DUPLEX. THE POWER METER HAD BEEN PULLED AND YOU WERE TRYING TO GET POWER TO THE PROPERTY.

YES.

AND THAT'S WHEN YOU BECAME AWARE THAT THE PROPERTY EXACTLY.

RIGHT. RIGHT.

OKAY. But you, as I remember, you don't have any intentions of altering the structure or expanding it, or you just want to continue using it as is, as a duplex. Is that right? Yes, sir. Okay. Any additional information you want to provide?

No, I'm just, you know, get a right way to, you know, fix this problem. That way we don't have a future problem with if something happened, like, you know, power or plumbing. So all I'm trying to do is just put a separate meter. That way one side can have their own meter and then side B can have their own meter. And that's all I'm trying to do. I'm not doing any more construction or anything. I'm just going to leave it the way it is right now.

All right. Does the council have any questions for the applicant?

Sure. And sorry, I'm late to the game on this, so I'm just trying to follow. So this gentleman purchased a property, and he was not aware that the property was a duplex when he purchased it? He was aware he was purchasing it as is, as a duplex. As a duplex, but he was not aware that the zoning, I guess, was not... So I guess it had been previously illegally changed into a duplex owner.

Yeah. So, uh, I guess the, the power had been pulled, um, from the structure. And so in the process of trying to restore power to the building and have two, two separate meters, um, he was made aware that, you know, It wasn't actually zoned for a duplex. So he's trying to correct that situation. And as Ms. Spurl pointed out, he will have to, if the council approves, get all of the permitting in place for the conversions that were done.

Yes, sir, that's correct. That is one of the recommended key conditions. He would have to get permits, building permits for the conversion as well as electrical permits for the power.

Any additional questions? All right. So this is a public hearing. If there are any members of the public who wish to speak for or against, we would like to hear from you now. Are there any members of the public that would like to comment? Seeing none, there are no additional questions or comments. I think we're ready for the vote.

All right. Thank you very much. If there are no other questions, thank you, sir. We're ready for the vote.

That vote should be up.

All right, thank you. That item passes. Thank you very much, and thank you, Dr. O'Quinn, for leading us in that public hearing. Mr. Clerk, I would like to go to our permanent operation items. So if you go to item three, please.

Item three, an ordinance authorizing the mayor to execute a right of way, I'm sorry, a right of entry and interlocal cooperation agreement pursuant to act 1969-916 of the Acts of Alabama between the City of Birmingham and the Birmingham Board of Education. I know Mr. Boyle will grant right of access to allow the city to provide enhancements and upgrades to 20 existing elementary and middle school athletic courts, as well as new construction at 14 elementary and middle schools in the city of Birmingham. The city will bear the administration and expenses of the project. Improvements will become the property of the board upon completion of the project. The term of the agreement, she'll not exceed two years. And this is an item of permanent operation, as mentioned. And we need UC to pass it today. Council Member Gunn. Council Member O'Quinn. Council Member Smith. Aye. Council Member Smith. Aye. Council Member Vassa. Aye. Council Member Williams.

Aye.

Council Member Woods.

Aye.

President Pro Tem Tate. Aye. Council President Alexander. Aye. Motion on the item, please. So moved. Second. Item is before you.

All right. Thank you, Councilors. This is an ordinance authorizing the mayor to execute a right-of-way entry and interlocal cooperation agreement. And it's been recommended by the mayor and the Budget and Finance Committee.

Any questions about this particular item?

Do you need any discussion about it? Okay. At this time, we're ready for the vote.

Voting should be open.

All right. Thank you. Counselors. Item number three passes. Item four, please.

Item four in order to provide for an interlocal agreement and authorize the Birmingham police department to enter into a multidisciplinary team on behalf of the city of Birmingham and the local municipalities, counties, and state agencies. This item also is an item of permanent operation that you see passing today.

So moved. Second.

Council Member Gunn.

Aye.

Council Member O'Quinn.

Aye.

Council Member Smith. Aye. Council Member Smitherman. Aye. Council Member Vassa.

Aye.

Council Member Williams. Aye. Council Member Woods.

Aye.

Council President Pro Tem Tate. Aye. Council President Alexander. Aye. Motion, please. So moved. Second.

All right, thank you, counselors. This is an ordinance to provide an interlocal agreement and authorize the Birmingham Police Department to enter into a multidisciplinary team on behalf of the city of Birmingham and other local municipalities, counties, and state. This was submitted by the city attorney and is recommended by budget and finance. Do we need discussion on this item? All right, at this time, we're ready to entertain the vote.

That vote should be up. That's unanimous.

All right, thank you. Item number four passes. Item five, please.

Item five, an ordinance approving and authorizing the mayor to execute a contract for the sale of real estate between the city of Birmingham and Skinhead Properties, number 653, LLC, under which the city will... sell approximately 11 acres of land located at the 620 Republic Street in the Daniel Payne Industrial Park properties for a purchase price of $45,000 per acre for an estimated total purchase price of $495,000 with the property to be used for the development of 50,000 square foot office and warehouse facility. And this item also is an item of permanent operation that you see to pass it today.

Second.

Council Member Gunn. Aye. Council Member McQuinn.

Aye.

Council Member Smith. Aye. Council Member Smitherman.

Aye.

Council Member Vassa.

Aye.

Council Member Williams.

Aye.

Council Member Woods. Aye. Council President Pro Tem Tate. Aye. Council President Alexander. Aye. Motion on the item. Second. Second.

All right.

Thank you, Councilors. This is an ordinance authorizing the mayor to execute a contract for the sale of real estate, and this is property... that's located in the Daniel Payne Industrial Park. If we could have members to come forward, they'd like the discussion on this item and they have some questions. Counselor Tate, did you have some questions?

Thank you, Madam President. Just an overview of what is going to transpire at this location.

Good morning, counselors. Good morning. Mr. Walker Williams with Sconell Properties is coming out. I'm sorry, I didn't hear your question.

I see that it is going to be purchased for office and warehouse facility. What is it going to be? Like a business? What is it going to be?

Go ahead. Good morning, counselors. My name is Walker Williams. I'm a development manager with Scannell Properties. It would be a warehouse-type facility. It could have a number of different uses. It could be cold storage, logistics, distribution, dry storage, a number of different things that's inside a warehouse. But it would be a Class A warehouse, concrete walls, nice facility. It's the same type of facility we built at 419 Republic across the street.

Okay. Any future plans to, like jobs or any company coming in that you're aware of?

We don't have any company right now that's interested, but we think that once we can have a site plan, get it marketed, we think that there are some companies that would be interested because the vacancy is fairly low, and we think we can attract some business to the area.

Okay, thank you. All right, thank you. Any other questions? Thank you so much. We're ready for the vote. Yes, sir.

To add language, well, to strike language from the actual ordinance. If you have the ordinance before you, I think you should have a revised copy passed out from my office. The last stanza, be it further ordained, should be stricken from the ordinance itself, that whole stanza.

All right, thank you. Counselors, we did have a copy of the striked out version for our review. All right, thank you, sir. We're ready for the vote.

Voting should be open.

Okay, thank you. Item number five passes. Item number six, please.

Item six. An ordinance authorizing the mayor upon receipt of payment in the amount of $8,123 to execute a quick claim deed Sheila J. Mitchell and Leticia D. Carroll for sale of property legally described as part of the southwest quarter, northwest quarter of Section 2, Township 18, South Range 3 West, situated in Jefferson County, Alabama, and located at 321 Iota Avenue, Birmingham, Alabama, 35205, which was acquired by the city upon foreclosure of municipal improvement liens in accordance with Section 3-1-4C, the General Code of the City of Birmingham. This is also an item of permanent operation. I need you to see the passage today. So moved. Second. Second. Council Member Gunn. Aye. Council Member McQueen. Aye. Council Member Smith. Aye. Council Member Smitherman.

Aye.

Council Member Vassa.

Aye.

Council Member Williams.

Aye.

Council Member Woods.

Aye.

Council President Pro Tem Tate. Aye. Council President Alexander. Aye. Motion, please.

So moved. Second.

Item is before you.

All right. Thank you, counselors. This is an ordinance authorizing the mayor to receive a payment to execute a quick claim deed. Any questions regarding this item? We're ready for the vote.

Voting should be open. Council Member Abasa. That vote should be open.

All right. Thank you. Item number six passes. This time we'll go back to item number two, Mr. Clerk.

Okay, item two. An ordinance to amend the zoning district map of the city of Birmingham. Case number ZAC 2026-808004 to change zone district boundaries from MUM mixed-use medium district to QMU-H qualified mixed-use high district filed by Arlington Redevelopment LLC. The property owner and C. Randall Maynard, Maynard Nexus, the applicant for property generally located at 1240 22nd Street South, situated in the Section 6, Quarter Section 2 Township 18, Range 2 West, Birmingham 35205, in order to construct a mixed-use building consisting of residential and hospitality components. The hearing of our parties. Motion, please. So moved.

All right. Thank you, counselors. This is an ordinance to amend the zoning district map of the city of Birmingham to change some district zoning boundaries to allow for a redevelopment. At this time, I'll turn this public hearing over to a counselor. Counselor Quinn, you're going to do this? All right. Counselor Quinn, thank you.

All right. Ms. Burrell?

Good morning again. My name is Kim Sproul. I serve as the city zoning administrator. The case before you is ZAC 2026-08004. This property is located in the Redmont Park neighborhood. The property is located at 1240 22nd Street South. The application before you is a request to rezone from our mixed-use medium district to mixed-use high district in order to construct a mixed-use building that will have residential and hospitality components. The proposed building will have a gross building area of approximately 124,000 square feet that will be accessed primarily from 22nd Street South And due to acute condition, the height restriction is now 115 feet. If you'll recall, you did see this case back in May before the city council when there was a request to rezone the property to mixed use medium. And that was approved by the city council on May 5th of this year. The plan has not changed from that original case back in May. The property is .81 acres, and it's currently MUM, mixed-use medium. Property to the north is qualified office and institutional district. And to the south, it is office and institutional district. To the east and west of this property, it's zoned R6, which is multiple dwelling district. The long-range land use plan for this area does identify this property as mixed-use medium. There are no comments from the landscape division of the Department of Planning, Engineering, and Permits. The stormwater team noted that with all new construction, all of the usual stormwater permits will apply for this development. There are no comments from the Department of Transportation regarding this rezoning request. This property is located in the southern framework plan area. So their rezoning has not taken place yet. So that is why the applicant requested mixed use medium earlier and they're now requesting mixed use high. The Redmont Park Neighborhood Association met at its regularly scheduled meeting on October 28th of 2025 to review the request to rezone to mixed use high. And they voted 30 to 0 to not recommend approval. Because this property is in close proximity to the Highland Park Neighborhood Association, the applicant did go to their Neighborhood Association meeting as well on November 11, 2025, and the Highland Park Neighborhood Association voted 29-0 to also not recommend approval of this rezoning request. The Zoning Advisory Committee met on July 7th, 2026, and they voted to not recommend this rezoning request to the City Council. There was one vote to recommend approval and three votes to not recommend approval. On July 14th of this year, the Planning and Zoning Committee met to review this rezoning request, and they voted three to one to recommend approval of the request with queue conditions. And those Q conditions are, number one, that uses are limited to those in MUH excluding the following. And I'm going to read them real quick so they'll be entered into the record. So these uses would not be allowed. A garage sale, yard sale, adult care center, family day night care home, family group day night care home, college or university, internment columbarium, place of worship, rummage sale, business school, elementary or middle school, high school, medical cannabis dispensary, medical cannabis processor, a medical cannabis secure transporter, medical cannabis state testing laboratory, a medical lab, science lab, veterinarian clinic, animal boarding facility, animal daycare, appliance repair, automobile sales, donation box, donation center, drive-in or drive-through, electronics repair, funeral home, furniture store, home improvement center, mobile grocery store, nursery, title loan or pawn shop, upholstery shop printing and publishing radio tv studio broadcast satellite microwave or two-way cellular antenna microwave or two-way cellular tower brew pub micro brewery heavy equipment sales and service specialized manufacturing apiary market stand indoor urban farm, heliport, railroad station, utility substation, a reservoir for a water tank, ground mounted solar panel, water sewer pumping station, recycling collection center, adult establishment, amphitheater, arena, indoor and outdoor amusement, convention center, a country club, golf or swim, greenway, park, or stadium. And then the second Q condition recommended by the Planning and Zoning Committee was any existing or future structures on the property shall not exceed 115 feet in height. And that concludes the staff report.

All right. Question before. So under the existing mixed-use medium zoning, What is the height limitation on structures?

So the applicant has a variance that was approved by the Zoning Board of Adjustment that is good until the exact wording for the variance is that they can go up to 80 feet in height on that site right now as long as all permits are obtained by July 11, 2027, and all certificate certificates of occupancy are obtained by July 11th, 2029.

Okay.

All right. Thank you. Uh, any questions for staff from the council? Council of awesome.

Thank you. Councilor Quinn. So two questions actually really just one main question for staff. Um, DIRECTOR, I JUST HEARD YOU MENTION THAT THE LONG-RANGE LAND USE PLAN INVOLVES MIXED USE MEDIUM FOR THIS PARCEL. CAN YOU TALK US THROUGH WHY THE COUNCIL SHOULD DEPART FROM THE EXISTING PLAN?

So this is the long-range land use plan that was just recently adopted in the southern area framework plan. We like to include the adopted land use so that the council can see, especially since we've just completed all the framework plans, the process that we've gone through with the communities to get to that new land use plan. It's something that the council should consider when they are considering changing the zoning of properties, whether or not the rezoning request is consistent with the land use plan.

Thank you. And is this request consistent with the land use plan?

So mixed use medium is a different designation than the current request to rezone to mixed use high.

Thank you. The current plan has a max cap of 65 feet. Is that correct?

IN MIXED USE MEDIUM, YES, SIR, THAT'S CORRECT.

AND CAN YOU REMIND ME WHAT THE MAX CAP FOR THE MIXED USE HIGH IS?

125.

SO THAT WOULD BE A JUMP FROM 65 FEET TO 125 FEET.

THAT'S CORRECT.

ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU.

YES, SIR. ALL RIGHT. COUNSELOR SMITH.

So are there any other buildings in the area that are higher than the 65 feet that is being maximum that is out there?

So the building across the street, the Soroti building, is very close to that. I think it might go a little bit over. I don't have the exact height. Actually, there was a lawsuit when the sector plan went through back in the 90s that involved that building. and the height, but that is the, in the vicinity, that is the tallest building across the street, the office building.

Okay. I think we'll have some additional information that speaks to that, too.

All right.

Thank you. Well, any other questions for staff? I think so. All right. So the applicant is present. We'll hear from the applicant.

All right. Yep. Good morning still. Thank you for taking the time and just the deliberation here. I know we've been before you a couple of times on this property, and so I'm going to try to divide my presentation into kind of two parts. So first, Randall Minor, 1901 6th Avenue North, land use attorney at Maynard Nexen representing the applicant. The applicant is Arlington Redevelopment, LLC. We have a couple of representatives of that LLC sitting on the front row, so there'll be opportunity if you've got questions about the development team. We've got a packet that we put together that has kind of the high level of things, if I can pass it. Thank you. And I'm not going to be offended if you guys kind of go through that while I'm talking. Like I said, I'm going to give a high level. And the purpose of the packet is really just to summarize things. So the property is on the south side of 22nd Street South. It is bounded to the west by the Red Mountain Expressway. So that's an important point from a design standpoint and from an overall zoning standpoint. The expressway separates this neighborhood, the Redmont Park neighborhood, from the Five Points South neighborhood, 22nd Street South. separates this neighborhood redmont park from island park so because of the adjacency we had to go to two neighborhood meetings and you know when you go to those neighborhood meetings like we always do we meet before the meetings with representatives of the neighborhood and then we usually meet multiple times and so i kind of lost count on the number of times we've been to these both these neighborhoods but it's definitely been a lot there's been a lot of dialogue about this um The high level thing on the zoning appropriateness, because I think that is really the question. At the end of the day, what we are trying to do is do a contextual development, meaning that we are trying to take what is a development site, a very good location in a very good part of the city. but is on the edge, literally the edge, of multiple neighborhoods. We've designed the building so that it is as close as possible, as close as it can be to the expressway. Why do we do that? For a couple reasons. One, we know what the neighborhood is. And I say we know. The development team developed the sorority office buildings. the 222 Arlington building, the townhome community on the other side of the sorority office building. This is not somebody that doesn't understand the neighborhood at all. This is a local developer that is trying to do an appropriate development here. The adjacent property to the east is a low story, maybe three stories, apartment building, multifamily building. It is a historic building. There's a historic district that is there. Between our property and that historic building is a parking facility. It's a two-level parking facility from 22nd Street South. It appears as though it's just kind of a surface parking lot, but it's actually a structured parking facility. As part of the development plan, we're trying to preserve that open space between those two buildings. So in theory, an 80-foot building, which is what's permitted under the existing zoning approvals, could be built, but the 80-foot building could go right to the lot line of the historic building. So what we've tried to do is accommodate the historic building, provide a setback, but also take advantage of the fact that there's a significant drop in slope on this property. So the 22nd Street South elevation is significantly higher than the alley. So in designing the building, they literally have taken the building as far away from the neighborhood as you can get, so it is as close to the expressway as possible. And utilizing the fact that there's the dropping grade, they put as much of the back of the house for the hotel, parking, etc., all part of the development cost. They've done that. The other thing that's interesting about how they've done this development plan is it creates the opportunity if you're going to have residential here. Obviously, most people typically do not want to have their bedrooms right next to an expressway. And so by the development plan, by pushing it as close as possible to 280, doing the back of the house on the lower levels, that means that once you get to the residential floors above, you are high enough to where you've kind of attenuated some of the noise from the expressway. So that's the holistic plan. So we've met with the neighborhood a number of times, as I mentioned. The original plan that we worked out with some of the neighborhood members, and it's really hard with a large group of people to kind of come to a consensus, right? But the original plan was because there was a concern that this would set a precedent for changing mixed-use high. That would set a precedent so that it would kind of go up Arlington Avenue so that eventually all of this community would be zoned mixed-use high. So listening to that, we said, look, we're just trying to build a really nice building, and I'll show you a picture of it in a minute. We're just trying to build a nice building. We're okay. We don't want to create a whole problem for your neighborhood. And I'm kind of paraphrasing what the development team said. So what we'll do is we'll apply for mixed-use medium, and then we will separately apply for a height variance from the zoning board of adjustments. So that's what we did. So when we were before you a few months ago, that was for mixed-use medium because we were trying to honor the request of the neighborhood. Two things happened. One, the queue conditions that we had, we also told the neighborhood that we were going to do, they were not included in the mixed-use medium zoning, so it currently has no queue conditions. And then the second thing is when we went to the Zoning Board of Adjustment, we were unsuccessful. And I don't want to relitigate that, but that is the reason why we're here. We're trying to build a building with a site plan that we're committed to and what we think is going to be a nice building. The last page of the handout that I gave you has some of the economic impacts for this project. So I'm going to update it. And the information there is pretty... I think it's pretty good, but I think once we update it, some of the project changes that have been made since March when I first did this, it'll be even better. But what we did was when we kind of look at these from an economic impact standpoint, all I'm doing on this is taking publicly available information. So I'm looking at what is out there, what you guys, the city of Birmingham does in terms of the public bond market. There's information about property taxes and sales taxes and lodging taxes and all the bond documents, the disclosure documents that the city puts out. So we take that information, that kind of where the city gets its money from, we take that information and then we take information from the project team you know, on what is it going to cost to construct. And then we make some conservative estimates about, all right, when this property is done, when it's completed, it's going to have an assessed value of X. And based on that assessed value, it's going to generate this much property tax, you know, et cetera. And then we have some tools available to kind of look at lodging tax estimates. And all this stuff is kind of coordinated with the development team. So this is, that last slide is a 20-year look on this. So it's 78.3 million in total tax revenue. That's three levels of tax in Alabama. So you've got state, county, local, obviously. For the city of Birmingham, that number is 36 million. And you can see I've kind of had it broken down. The point of this is to say that this is a, I probably spent the most time from a pre-development standpoint of all the projects I've worked on in this project, in terms of people looking very carefully at how do we design the building, how do we make it efficient, if people are concerned about setting a precedent for 125 feet, how do we alleviate that concern. One of the mechanical things, I'm oversimplifying it, also maybe saying too much, but just to give you an idea of kind of how this came about, um, there was a proposal for a residential building, right? A hundred percent residential building, how you finance condominium buildings, especially in Birmingham is different than you ha how you finance a hotel building. And so one of the things that when, when the development team became aware that there was a possibility that there was going to be a mixed use zoning instead of the former residential zoning, that gave them the opportunity to say, okay, well we can build the same type of project that we wanted, but now we can have a different plan of finance because a hotel financing is a different type of financing. And so they've got it now all in a single building so that you basically have the hotel paying some costs that help the condo and the condo paying some costs that help the hotel. So all together you have, a very viable project. And so one of the things that we tried to do from the very beginning was we knew 125 feet is going to scare people. Because 125 feet, it's hard for people to imagine what that is. So to give you an example, according to Wikipedia, so don't believe everything you see on the internet, but the building we're in today is 135 feet. So City Hall is 135 feet, according to the internet. We're talking about 20 feet less than City Hall. Now some people might say, that's a tall building. I would say, let's build more of these, especially when we're talking about this kind of caliber project. So that's the zoning context. We are here because we want to build the exact building that we're showing you guys. And I say exact. I mean, obviously, I'm not the architect. So there's details that need to be worked out. But we want to build the site plan that is in the application package. And we want to build to a height of 115 feet. and we're applying for zoning with acute conditions that give us kind of a tailored fit for how we build that building. Some technical notes. on the neighborhood votes. And again, I've been fortunately involved in a lot of rezoning cases in both of these neighborhoods. And it is not unusual to get a zero vote. It's happened before for me. But I will say that and we'll hear from people from Redmont kind of on both sides of the issue, but the level of opposition here seems less than I've had on other Redmont projects, and that's my personal opinion, and other people might disagree, and you're welcome to disagree. But usually when there's a project in these neighborhoods in particular that people are extremely frustrated about, you would have 100 people in the room. And I hadn't looked behind recently, but I don't think there's 100 people behind me. When we went to Redmont, the way they did the vote was it was, you know, they'll be here to kind of explain it, but they kind of voted as a package. And I think, you know, at the end of the day, I'm not saying that we would have gotten, one vote you know i'm just but i'm just making the point that um that it is easier to vote no than it is to say hey let's compromise and let's meet and we've tried to meet multiple times and we have met multiple times and not once has somebody said all right could you make it 105 feet or can you make it 110 feet or even could you make it 115 feet We offered up 115 feet because we heard consistently that people were concerned about Meeks Utah coming up the hill. So we said, all right, what makes sense for us? What is the minimum that we can do, you know, in terms of an ask, but also allows us to deliver the product? And so that was 115 feet. Again, no one from the neighborhood asked us. That was not part of any conversation that we had. And I would request that when people speak in opposition to the project, that you ask them, all right, well, what height would be too high? Because at the end of the day, to have a viable project, and that's the goal, to have a sustainable project that all of us will be proud of, to have a viable project, what height would you be comfortable with? And no one ever answered that question. So I'll pause with that. I'm sure there'll be other things. And I've got other materials. And like I said, we've got representatives of the development team here as well to answer any questions you guys might have.

finish from the council.

Thank you, Councilor O'Quinn. Attorney, do you normally disregard neighborhood input or is this just a special case?

No, what I do is I try to look at zoning from a very high level and what I think is best for the city. And even though my clients have maybe, sometimes they have aspirations that are maybe not best for the city, high level, but how I practice is I look at a project, and I think, all right, how do we get the project done? If we're dealing with people that don't want to negotiate, that's fine. You know, you can't always convince people for things. But I would submit that when you go to the neighborhood, especially a neighborhood like Redmont Park where there's so many people that are active in, you know, Birmingham civic community, that not everybody goes to neighborhood meetings. And so there are a lot of people that I've talked to at Redmont Park that are all for this project. We've gotten a lot of emails from people that are very in favor of the project. So I would say my first thing is I look at zoning high level. And then also, you know, being somebody that's very active in Birmingham, I talk to other people. I don't just rely on the neighborhood.

Thank you. Attorney, do you live in a house? Currently, yes. Would you like a 125-foot hotel next to your home?

I lived in New York City for a while, and I was actually anticipating this question. Obviously, Birmingham is not New York City, but I think one of the things that I like about cities is that it's not cookie-cutter. You can go on streets and see buildings at different heights. You can see different architectural styles. It really... you know, getting emotional because we're talking about 115 foot building. You know, I got involved in zoning to do more in Birmingham and that we have to fight for 115 foot building. It's very disappointing.

Attorney, thank you. I lived in New York City for a little while as well. And you may know that residents in New York City also are often opposed to high rises. Yeah, I was a zoning attorney in New York too, so I'm very aware. So you may be familiar with that. I'm counting 59 no's with the two neighborhoods and zero yes's at the neighborhood level conversations. When we add the zoning advisory committee figures, that figure jumps to 62 against and one for. That is very rare. And I've only been in this position now for about a year. I've been involved in public service for a while. And it is rare to find so many bodies and advisories, committees that are on the same page. In this case, we have an entire committee. Highland Park Neighborhood Association, an entire Redmont Park Neighborhood Association that are opposed not to the development of this parcel, just to be clear, but the height request above and beyond what is currently zoned.

I don't mean to interrupt you, but what height did they say they wanted?

Mixed-use medium is 60, and as I understand, there was an agreement made, sort of a negotiation and compromise that was made a few years ago where in the neighborhood said yes to about 80 feet. So there was a negotiation as part of that. As I understand now, there is a case before us to consider an additional 45 feet to that. It is no surprise to anyone hearing my voice that I represent District 3, and it is, in my opinion, incumbent upon us as counselors to represent the voice of our constituents. And as I see the vote, again, the tally is 59 to 0. There is no ambiguity in terms of how residents feel about this, in terms of their proximity next to the height of this structure. My next question is related to the heightened scale. And this is a genuine question. This is not about got you. But what prevents this project from being successful within the mixed use medium zoning at 65 feet?

Yeah, I'll let the development team answer that. But let me just say two things first. One is, and again, I've been involved in a lot of zoning matters. I think one of the votes we had for one of our projects was 90 something to three. That's when I say, when Redmont is against something, it's not 30 people. It's 100 people. And no offense to the 30 that are voted, or the 62, whatever the number is, if you add up everything. I think at the end of the day, this is a situation where, as a city, we should be able to build buildings where appropriate, especially where there's design considerations to move it away from the historic buildings. But David, if you want to talk about just particularly why you guys want this and then why an 80-foot condo building doesn't work or an 80-foot mixed-use building doesn't work.

Mayor, Madam President, members of the city council, staff, first, thank you for your service. I'm David Silverstein. I am president of the Five Stone Group. Many of you know me. I don't think I've had the pleasure to meet you, Councilor Gunn. Nice to see you. Let me first answer a couple questions you made, Councilor Bassa. There has been an ongoing effort to reach an accord on this project with your neighborhoods. And when we filed the request to go to mixed use high, we were approached by three representatives of the two neighborhoods with the following request. We're worried that if we continue with our mixed use high request that there may be a creeping of mixed use high up Arlington if it was granted. I disagreed with that because I think planning and zoning and this council will take into consideration what goes up Arlington if there's a rezoning request. I have for 30 years in this city tried to work with the various neighborhoods that we've developed. The request was the following. Will you consider to change your mixed use high zoning request to a mixed use medium And we will come and support your application for a variance to take you to 125. We will come and support your request to take the variance to 125. Now, one person showed up in support of that request from your neighborhoods after I had been giving assurances that that would occur. Otherwise, I would have never change the request from mixed use high to mixed use medium, I would have been before this body several months ago. But in deference to the request, and I know the residents, many and most of them are friends of mine. So I responded by saying, okay, that's the context in which we are here today. Why we are seeking this request. We have voluntarily requested suggested that the height would not be what mixed-use high would provide at 125. I've listened, we've listened, we've reduced it to 115. We have an opportunity to bring to this city a special development, one that's not otherwise here. It's a high-end boutique luxury hotel with 80 keys and between 10 and 15 condominiums on the upper floors. It's unlike anything that's here. Is it going to be as impactful as the summit that we develop? No, nothing can be like that, but it will be special. Our sister cities of Nashville and Atlanta and Charlotte have these types of projects. We have looked extensively, extensively to the sight lines created by this building. In your packet, you will see photographs where this building is superimposed onto the corridor of Red Mountain Expressway and the neighborhood. If you'll take a moment and look at those sight lines, this building is consistent with all of the other buildings in close proximity. Many years ago we raised a red balloon because our thought was to do this project at 150 feet. The balloon flew. No sight lines of residential homes were impacted negatively. At 150 feet, 115 feet, the project is in proper scale. I ask that you consider my track record. I'm not from Topeka, Kansas. Nothing against Topeka, Kansas, but I have come before this city and this mayor and previous mayors to do development here. I take pride in what we've done, the proper scale, the proper architecture, the proper landscaping, taking into account traffic flows, And I ask that you consider who stands before you today. We've met with James Fowler, the traffic engineer, and we have discussed improvements along Arlington that need to be made. Regardless of whether my project goes forward, we have suggested certain improvements to Arlington for the benefit of your community and the Five Points South community. It's called the Gateway Plan. It's in your packet. You drive up Arlington right now, it looks terrible when you get to the underpass of the freeway. On our own accord, we have been landscaping it, and you're not gonna get Aldot to cut the weeds under the expressway, you're just not. But we've just finished a redevelopment of 2222 in your community in Redmont, which I think turned out nicely. Those tenants demand that we give them a safe place to come to work and walk, walkable cities. It takes projects, in my opinion, like this to make these off-site improvements, the Gateway Project. We're also showing in your package an improvement to Highland Avenue exit as you come off the Red Mountain Expressway. You do it, we all do it every day. We're coming towards town, we get off on Highland Avenue. If you keep going straight, you dump out right in front of Bottega. It's like a ski jump. It's like a ski jump. Traffic doesn't slow down. We are working with the city of Birmingham in improving the flow of traffic where that exit ramp hits 22nd Street. It will slow traffic down. My point is simply this. We've taken great care, great care, to listen to your residents, listen to the city planners, and our desire is to build a project architecturally. I describe it as understated elegance. There's nothing here like it. We can add $30 million plus to the revenue stream to the city with this project. These residents, and you know where I live, hold me accountable. Hold me accountable like I've been held accountable with all my other developments. And I just say to you, and I echo Randall, I mean, it is painful to try to do these types of projects in this city every now and then. Residents have the right to express their opinions But we have the right to come forward with a development that will be additive to the city and to the community And I submit to you this this project will be just that I'll be happy to answer questions that that for the questions council of also you may have because it is your district and I respect what you're asking and

Thank you, Mr. Silverstein. It's, you know, it seems like these conversations have already been had and that there was a negotiation to 80 feet that is still viable based on a permit application by July 27th, just July 2027. It seems to me that is a reasonable negotiation. That said, I know we still have a public hearing before us. And so I'll yield back to the chair.

Thank you. Other questions from the council for the applicant? Council Williams?

So, Mr. Silverstein, I'm looking at the packet that was provided, and you mentioned improvements both in the Arlington corridor as well as what you described as the ski jump, which was pretty apt. I always kind of speed up so I can get that air sometimes, but Is there a plan to fund that or would that be encompassed with you guys? Are you all looking for the city's assistance with that?

I'm sorry, I'm not hearing you well, Hunter.

The Arlington Road improvements and the ski jump exit of the interstate, is there a plan? Are you all saying that you all would fund those improvements yourself or is there an ask of the city on that or an ask of the state?

It's to be determined. We've got to first determine, excuse me, we have to first determine Is it approved? And we're going through the Regional Planning Commission has a role to play in all this. James Fowler in the Department of Transportation has a role to play. I'm not sure, quite frankly. But I will say this. It's a major improvement, and we ought to be talking about it as part of this project. Okay. Thank you.

I have a question. So have you all, we have the site plan in our package, and I'm just curious, what's the distance from the structure that you're proposing to the physical structure of the expressway?

I should know it. Give me a second. Brother, do you know the distance? Let me say this, it's as close as it can get up to the right-of-way of the expressway. So it's 40 feet maybe, 35, 40, am I right?

So the David Silverstein, Five Stone Group, the western edge of the building would be located roughly 150 feet from the expressway, and about 80 feet of that is the Aldot right-of-way that's currently undeveloped.

Okay. And there's no structures or anything between the proposed building and the actual expressway, right?

There would be a surface parking lot that would not even be visible from the expressway because of the change in the topography.

Okay. All right. Other questions for the applicants?

Give me one more minute, if I might, because I think it's another important feature that Randall touched on. Under the mixed-use zoning classification, whether you go mixed-use high or mixed-use medium, it allows the development of the entire site. I'm sure we all have seen the new development on the old Western property, the Western grocery store right at the top of 22nd Street. Mixed use. And that building is built up to the property lines. There is no greenscape. No space in between that building and the property lines of their property.

Do we have a site plan in here, brother?

No, for ours. If you look at the application, and Randall touched on it, we're only using... Here is, may I come up there for a second? I mean, I'm here, can I?

We can see it.

Okay. Yeah. This is the property, okay? We could build all the way to the property lines. That means take up all of this property, leaving no space, no space in between buildings. That's not the way you ought to develop this site. In my opinion, it ought to be more vertical, leaving... Required that we build that much parking and there's nobody parking on the top level of that deck Okay, y'all have we have changed we've been the city have changed our parking codes To not force that much parking to be built. We have a lease for 50 spaces on the top deck there So it'll take some pressure off the building. My point is simply this We could build it we could build the entire site and That's not what we should do in your neighborhood. We should be building exactly a vertical construction like this that marries up with the other pictures that you have in your presentation of other buildings along that corridor. So my last request, and I don't know, Madam President, if you will grant this, but For the longest time, I have looked to guidance from a gentleman named Don Cosper. When we first began working on this project in 2018, not knowing exactly what it was gonna turn out to be, not knowing exactly that COVID was coming, I met with Don because he has given a lot of years of service to the city and to the Redmont community. I think each of you received a letter from Don in your packet. He cannot be here, but he asked would I be given the permission to read this into the record. That's totally obviously your call and I want to do what you, I know we're going a long time and there are others that will make comments.

I believe the council, like you said, has received that letter directly.

I just want to make sure. Don has pointed out in his letter, served this neighborhood for many, many years. Many years. He served the city on design review committee for many years. He is a well-respected architect in this community. Personally, I take great pride in being able to get Don's support. Seldom would you get that from an urban architect like Don unless he truly, truly believed it. So I think that's reflective of where we are with this project.

I would like if you would speak to Councillor Smith's question about heights of buildings in the surrounding area. That's one of the slides in the packet that you've included. Sure.

Well, the best, you know, they say a picture is worth a thousand words, okay? If you look on this page, the site, it says site appropriate from MUH, okay? If you turn to that page, you'll see in the foreground that we have put into the picture as if Tremont was built right here. And you'll see in that picture how it relates to the Crescent, which is immediately adjacent. You'll see how it relates to Arlington Crest, which is a condominium building up the hill on Arlington. You flip over, there are four other pictures in an effort to give you the sense of the scale of Tremont as it relates to the other properties. Picture one right here, Counselor, shows Tremont next to the Crescent. The bottom picture is looking really kind of south on the Red Mountain Expressway. You see the Tremont right here, Counselor Smith. The bottom picture on the right shows Tremont And the top picture also has Tremont superimposed. I submit to you, it's all in keeping with the scale. All in keeping with the scale. Yes, Red Mountain Expressway is a buffer. But there is commercial along both sides of Red Mountain Expressway. And what the residents may not be able to see when Tremont is built is the Chevron gas station on the corner of Highland. Quite frankly, it'll help block the view of the expressway. It'll help block the view of the expressway, but it's not blocking their view at all of our beautiful downtown vista.

To answer Councillor Smith's question a bit more directly, if you look at the page here that has a table with the images, you can identify certain properties and buildings primarily located within the Highland Park neighborhood, and the table shows the approximate building height of each of those locations as well as the relative distance from Red Mountain Expressway. Again, our property, we're asking for 115 feet, and of the properties identified, it is one, if not the closest, to Red Mountain Expressway, with other buildings between 110 and 120 feet located much further into the neighborhood than the location of this site. Okay.

I know I've talked a lot. I deeply appreciate your attention. It's an important project, and the residents do have a say, and I appreciate that. There are some here to Speak against and I think there's some here to speak in favor, but thank you very much Mayor good to see you Okay At this time we're gonna open our public hearing.

So if you're here to make a comment to this that We'll open the public hearing. Each speaker will have three minutes to offer their comments. The time will be displayed on the screens behind us. Please state your name and address when you're making your comments, please. Thank you. First speaker.

Thanks. Good morning. My name is Lee Zell, 2815 Argyle Road. I'm the president of the Redmont Park Neighborhood Association on his behalf. I appear here this morning. Trying to think of the best way to phrase this. What I've heard in a very extensive presentation from the developer this morning has little or nothing to do with the considerations that this council should take into account when deciding about a zoning change. What's important is, is this a zoning change that's consistent with the existing plan, and doesn't provide any public benefit, as opposed to a benefit to the developer, as opposed to tax revenue for the city. Those are not considerations that the law says you ought to follow when considering a zoning change. I need to take issue, I'd hoped I wouldn't have to, with a couple of things that the developers said. The problem that our neighborhood has here is anything that is mixed use high. That is high intensity, high traffic zoning. That's not what this neighborhood is about. It's pretty clear that it's not what this neighborhood is about. To suggest as my friend Mr. Miner has suggested, that our neighborhood hasn't been receptive to some sort of compromise, flies in the face of the fact that years ago, our neighborhood agreed to an 80 foot restriction, 15 feet above what medium use high provides for. So to suggest that we're not willing to compromise is simply to throw something into this mix here that's inappropriate. It's just as inappropriate for the developer to suggest that neighborhood representatives like me agreed that if this property could be zoned mixed-use medium with a 60-foot variance, that we would somehow deliver the neighborhood to that. I'm not in the business of herding cats, but I'm not in a position, no neighborhood officer is in a position to deliver that sort of result. And when you think about it, it's not logical. If the concern here is that mixed-use high. There's no difference between that and mixed-use medium with a 60-foot variance because the next developer that comes along will simply say, well, you know, you allowed a mixed-use medium with a 60-foot variance for the Tremont. What's wrong with, why can't I do that? Again, the appeal seems to me here to be this is good for the city because it increases the city's tax base, but that's not an appropriate zoning consideration. Every planner who has looked at this site has said mixed-use medium is the appropriate way to proceed here. The developer has acknowledged that with this no difference in kind between mixed-use medium with a 60-foot variance and mixed-use high. Again, we're concerned that this property, if it's allowed to develop, simply opens the door for more development up Arlington Avenue in the same vein. We urge that the council follow what the planners, what the administrators, and what the regulators have suggested. Don't be swayed by promises of revenue under circumstances in which you are turning your back on the very zoning regulation that we're paying people to develop. Thank you.

All right. Thank you.

Next speaker, please. Paul Godbey. I'm at 920 24th Street South. I'm president of Southside Neighborhood Association. My concern is partly what he said about this development because one time I had a friend that lived at the apartment building that's next door to the property that's back in 1980. So I go up there and visit him. And the only way to really get into the neighborhood is to go up Arlington Avenue and around 23rd Street. or 22nd Street to get into there. At that time, there was no real direct access. The neighborhood was historically a residential area, not a commercial one. So that's the way it was designed. So currently, I see in the development a series of choke points on the traffic here, particularly on the entrance. Right here is too narrow. I haven't seen his gateway plan, but I can tell you right now getting large trucks up there are going to be very difficult on a regular basis. I would also have to point out that we have a whole series of empty retail spaces here. These are all restaurants that are turnkey ready that you can move into here and they were just closed recently so they're ready to go. Why do we need to build another restaurant? We also have a whole glut of empty office space available. These were just taken yesterday, in case you can't tell. So why do we need to build more empty office space? If these are available, what makes you think people are going to rent their place? And we also have a whole glut of empty retail space that's easily accessible, rather than by people trying to drive up into a very hard and difficult place to go to. There also have been several stalled projects to have happened here recently, too, particularly with the Woodwork building here on 20th Street. It had three restaurants in it that all failed, and now the current owner has not heard of any plans that they're doing. It's just sitting there empty. If all these places are currently empty and available, why would they think that they can get anybody to take their space? So, I think this plan is just totally not worth it, period. So, thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please. Yes, please.

My name is Kathy Adams. I live at 2431 Aberdeen Road. I have lived in Red Mountain for 47 years. and I've been vice president of the neighborhood for 27 years. We're not telling Mr. Silverstein he can't develop this property. We're just asking him to develop it within the boundaries, to play by the rules like we all have to do. The southern area framework, the city spent so much time and so much money, and we're just going to slap it in the face? I mean, it's there. It's the long-range plan. And the economic development, there are empty parcels of land all over South side, all over downtown Birmingham that would love to have this project. But we are a single family neighborhood that Red Mountain expressway divides commercial Holland from neighborhood Redmont. Uh, this hotel condo, will be within 700 feet of 50 homes, single family homes. The one sight line Mr. Silverstein has refused to produce was what it's gonna look like for the 80 plus homes that are at the top of the mountain. We've asked him repeatedly for that, it's not forthcoming. The framework to me is the most important thing. Why did we go to the trouble to get the framework if we're not going to live within it? He can build his property somewhere else and be very successful with it, but we had more people attend a neighborhood meeting than I have seen in 27 years. The development plan was presented in an over two-hour session, and people simply got hungry, went home to fix dinner. There is tremendous opposition to this. It's not a few people. It's a lot. Thank you for thinking about us.

All right. Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Hi, my name is Mary Helen Crowe. I live at 3221 Cliff Road. I just want you to know, we keep hearing about we're going to have all these condos and visitors coming to a fancy hotel. My husband and I moved back from Hoover and bought a historic house and spent many thousands of our own money to live here because we like Birmingham. We want to live in this neighborhood. came here because it's walkable, it's livable, people love it. We don't need to have buildings built in our historic neighborhood that are not in keeping with our historic neighborhood. 115 feet, 125 foot building is not in keeping with our historic neighborhood. The city in conjunction with neighborhoods has spent two years on the southern framework and this area was designated mixed use medium. We have talked numerous times with this developer to try to come to some agreement. We come to agreement and yet he comes back every time asking for something more. He even went to have a lawsuit to force it to come back to try to get this approval. If our neighborhood, everybody in my neighborhood can't come down here to the city council meeting. I represent 25 or 30 people. So if you take that into account, that's a lot of people who are not very happy with this. All the leading up Arlington Avenue, he says it won't lead to, but when the southern framework was developed, it was to prevent spot zoning, to set a uniform zoning standard for all these neighborhoods now for future development, not so that people can come back and ask for spot zoning for whatever they want for their own financial benefit, not for the design of the city and the neighborhoods where people come to live. and invest their money and their time in their neighborhood. That is not what this is supposed to be, an exception for whoever comes and brings you some nice pictures. Across the street, there are no commercial buildings like that in our neighborhood. Within 700 feet of that, there are 50 single-family residences on that side. When you go over across the street, it's commercial. If he wants to build his 125-foot-tall building, build it in a commercial and office space area. That's further down Highland Avenue. This is not a commercial and office space area. for a 125-foot building. If Birmingham had wanted that, they would have been there 100 years ago. You know? That's not what's there. It's a residential neighborhood. We're not opposed to a smaller building. Mountain Brook has the Grand Bohemian. It's a luxury thing. It's four stories tall. They don't seem to be having any financial problems. I don't know why this couldn't follow the same rules. Instead of financial benefit for a few... to the detriment of two different neighborhoods have voted numerous times against this. This would be a really bad precedent to set and a shameful example for everybody else that wants to come into any neighborhood in Birmingham and violate every zoning thing because we're special. Nobody is special. That's why we spent two years to develop the southern framework so that we have a uniform plan for everybody that knows what the rules are and knows what they've got. It's unfair to your residents who move here, love their neighborhoods, to let somebody else come in and build something that will be here long after all of us, every single one of us, are gone. It will still be there marring our landscape and our historic neighborhood. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

My name is Jeff Porterfield. I live at 1217 23rd Street South. I'm less than two blocks from this development site. I live in a complex called Maiden Heights, and I think I represent the sentiment of a majority of the residents there. It's only an 11-unit complex. project but Again, we're less than two blocks from the site and I'm here to respectfully oppose the term on requests for a height variance The zoning standards in place for Highland Park Neighborhood are there to protect the character of the neighborhood? 115 foot tall building is not in the character of the Highland Park neighborhood it does not conform with the current zoning standards in place and And other considerations would be the impact on the neighbors and the residents on the development site including but not limited to traffic parking privacy noise and obstruction of use of the projects are currently in place I'm not opposed to the development of the property but I would like to see it done within the existing zoning standards and I thought the original 28-unit luxury condo project would be an asset to the neighborhood. I just think a 115-foot tall building does not fit in the neighborhood. Therefore, I respectfully request that the city deny the variance for the height. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Good morning. Thank you for your time. I'm Michael Keel. I'm a member of a couple of boards, Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center Board. I'm chairman. I live on Lanark Road, and I'm pro-development. I'm pro-city. I'm a big respecter of David Silverstein and everything he's done for this city. We just ask that you maintain the height variance where it is today. and develop the property in that fashion, and we support it. So I think everybody else has spoken about the impact better than I could, and I respect their comments and agree with most of them. So just like you to know that there is support and there is agreement on developing this site. We'd just like to keep it in line with the current limits. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Good morning. Good morning. I'm here as a Highland Park resident, 31 years in my historic home. I live at 1232 29th Street South. I participate in the Highland Park Neighborhood Association. I'm also on their beautification committee. We keep talking about changing the name of that, but that's what we call it. So anyway, I'm here in opposition to the development. I know that I've spoken to a few people about that. I think more of our neighborhood would be here if it wasn't at this time of day. I think we have showed up. to several meetings with the developer in numbers. I've been at most of those meetings. I was at the ZAC meeting. I was also at the Planning and Zoning Committee meeting. I try to stay involved and informed. Our opposition has been long standing. When we first met with the developer in 2019, I think, It was huge turnouts at those early meetings. So I am basically, as this building is being proposed at the compromise of 115 feet, it will still dwarf the residential areas around it. It doesn't belong 115 feet. Footbuilding doesn't belong on that site. We all most of us agree on that and I am so I'm asking the council to respect the neighborhoods opposition and The current mixed-use medium zoning as designated in the southern area framework We've all put a lot of work into that. We've had multiple meetings with the neighborhoods meetings with the neighborhood leadership It's still kind of going on, but we support the mixed-use medium. And we did compromise when he asked how high. We said, okay, we support 80 feet. But, no, we never agreed to 125 feet, so that was just incorrect. So I hope you will consider that this – that all the work that's gone into the southern area framework plan, which has gone through multiple iterations, this would be plain and simple, bad spot zoning. Back to the bad old days. So I ask that you oppose this rezoning request. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

I'm John Barnacastle, 2044 20th Avenue South. Most of you know me. My wife can't be here or she would be. I'm not going to rehash because I agree with everything so far that these people have said in opposition. What I would like to just, I guess, beat on is they've put a lot of effort, the planning and zoning have put a lot of effort into the southern area. rezoning plan. This area is zoned mixed-use medium. We had a meeting a couple weeks ago. Boris Bark was there. A lot of things were said. They have postponed bringing it to the council because there are some reservations. They hear what the neighborhoods, what the people say. I hope you do too. The second thing is if They talk about spot zoning. If this is granted, what's to stop it? Another same thing. I mean, you have the plan. You have, you know, what is designed, what the planning and zoning is. So I just hope that you guys take all of that into consideration. One note that you don't want to hear from me, if it had been mixed-use medium in our neighborhood, we wouldn't have a car wash at the end of our street.

Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Good morning.

Good morning.

It's good to see you all. and it's good to see the deliberation. The reason I'm here today is some of the residents asked me to come because this project has been going on so long that I remember when it started about five years ago. My request for you is to respect the residents rather than the money. David Silverstein I consider to be a friend. He's a fine person. But he's the developer and he lives in Mountain Brook where they don't do these things to their residents, ever. Respect for the residents is important. Most of the houses and apartments that are nearby are two and three stories. Imagine looking at a building that's 80 feet taller than your dwelling. You look out the window and what do you see? a gigantic hotel. There's no pleasure in that, especially if you move to the neighborhood for the ambiance, which would no longer be there. So my request is, I planned what I was gonna say today and I totally changed everything because I just wanna ask you to respect the residents who have been involved in these framework plans, attended all those meetings so that there would be a framework for development in their neighborhood and in all of your neighborhoods, and that should be respected. Mixed-use medium is reasonable. Mixed-use high is insane. So thank you for considering the residents. And it's good to see you again.

Good to see you, former Councillor Abbott. Next speaker, please.

Good afternoon. My name's Margie Ingram, and I own property at 2336 20th Avenue South in Birmingham. And I'm here to speak in favor of the development and the rezoning for you to consider the DQMH. For 40 years, my company has been dedicated in Birmingham, multifamily, as well as Highland Park and Arlington and downtown and surrounding communities. We have successfully guided the marketing and sales of landmark residential communities in this immediate area. We did the marketing and sales for Arlington Crest. We did the marketing and sales for Park Tower. the Capri, Maiden Heights, and 2600 Highland, and that's just a few that we did. But we've seen firsthand how thoughtfully planned and high-caliber residential projects enrich the architectural fabric and vitality of historical neighborhoods. There are probably a thousand people who live in those buildings, and you don't see any of them here today because they would not have a place to live if developers had not got these. And I don't think that there was any, I don't remember any protest like we've heard today from any of those buildings. But the luxury condo market in the area has probably right now no new products since we sold out Maiden Heights. So this solution provides a limited number of luxury condos and amenities. that have yet to ever be offered in Birmingham, Alabama. And like David, I feel like that it's time for Birmingham to have something that every other major city has. We believe that this proposed development represents a natural and balanced evolution for the Redmont and Highland Park area, seamlessly pairings premium condominium living with an upscale boutique hospitality experience Developments of this caliber attract long-term investment, expand the local tax base, and support area businesses, all while providing refined living options for residents who cherish the neighborhood's distinctive charm and walkability. Based on our historical perspective and proven track records, We're confident this development will serve as a lasting asset to the community, the city of Birmingham, and the residents who call it home. And I appreciate your consideration. Thank you for letting me speak.

All right. Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Good afternoon. Thank you for your time and your consideration today. My name is Jay Friedman. I'm an environmental lawyer. I represent communities burdened by pollution, also develop real estate, and I happen to own the Sycamore Manor Apartments next door that shares a property line with the development. Before I go any farther, I'd like to say that I support the people, I support the development, but I am here to ask for equal protection under the law. Our properties share a boundary line. They share the same frontage on 22nd Street. We share the same alley access. We share the same access to our ski bump. We are served by the same utilities, same neighborhood infrastructure. We're on the same block and are served by the same neighborhood community. In short, the Sycamore Manor Apartments and the Tremont Development are part of the same land use environment. Parcel specific zoning is not intended to confer a project specific or site specific benefit unless it can be tied to the public good. I don't think I've heard that argument made today beyond jobs and I think there are many legitimate land use reasons for this up zone. I'm here today to ask that they're identified clearly in the public record so that I may rely on them because any legitimate land use rationale does not stop at the property line. Thank you for your time today. All right.

Just be clear, Mr. Friedman, are you speaking in favor or in opposition to the, the rezoning request?

Yeah. And I'm not, I leave that to y'all's good judgment in that that's not my argument to make here today. Um, I am speaking as a neighboring property owner, and I support the development, and whether or not mixed-use high is appropriate, I leave to you. But whatever the rationale and the justification for it is, I'd like to have that clearly in the public record.

Okay, thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Hi. Good afternoon, I guess. I'm Michael Randman. I live in Redmont. I know the developer for years. I think the fact that, I think Margie said it best, bringing a real high-end, high-quality development is just gonna add dimension to the neighborhood. I don't think it's out of scale. I think that it'll clear up some of the sketchier areas around the property, actually make it safer for everybody. And so I'm for it, and I live in the neighborhood. Thank you.

Thank you. Any additional speakers that want to make comments? All right. Any additional comments from the applicant? Counselor Gunn, did you have a question?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My question is centered around the development. I want to know from the developer, what's driving demand to get the variance?

I'll tee it up. It all kind of relates. Originally, this was 100% residential development because it was residential zoning. That's all you could do. So the ability to do residential and commercial hospitality is what is driving this dynamic. So putting those both together, as I explained earlier, is what makes this viable. And you asked a great question in terms of, we didn't even get to this part, about the operational plan. So Dave, if you don't mind just talking about your hotel operator the restaurant operator, how all of that is integrated into the condominium building?

Well, it's like a Rubik's Cube. You have to pull together the pieces of the puzzle to make sure that, A, it makes sense from a development pro forma standpoint, recognizing there's only so much that can be built on the site to accommodate parking, But in order to bring the type of hospitality that we want to bring, the 80 key is sort of a number that the performer demands. And if we want to bring residential, the upper three floors have to have the height. And the development plan utilizes the site in a way in which, as I mentioned earlier, doesn't build out to the property lines. You have space in between the Sycamore and our building. Whereas if you broaden the base of the building to the property lines, I think that's the wrong scale of project. I don't want the building that is built on the old western supermarket site to be on this site. The other buildings along the corridor have that vertical height. 115 is in keeping, as I said, with all the other structures that buffer the Red Mountain Expressway as you go down to where Bottega is. So we're not suggesting a height that's out of character. But it's needed to make the economic vitality of the project successful.

I WANTED TO ANSWER, YOU ASKED ABOUT THE DEMAND. IF YOU LOOK AT THE GRAND BOHEMIAN IN MOUNTAIN BROOK AND THE VALLEY HOTEL IN HOMEWOOD, THEIR OCCUPANCY RATES IN 2025 EXCEEDED 80%. IF YOU LOOK AT THE HOTELS IN THE CITY OF BIRMINGHAM, THEIR OCCUPANCY RATES ARE BETWEEN 55 AND 65%. I view that as, you know, there is certainly a demand for this type of caliber hotel within the city limits that are otherwise people are choosing to go into Homewood or go into the city of Mountain Brook. Just wanted to make that point.

Sure. Would the development still be successful at a mixed-use medium?

I'm sorry, at what?

Would the development still be successful at a mixed-use medium?

No. No. Even with the 80-foot... It would be a totally different, probably couldn't bring the hospitality. Just the overall project loses its substance without this.

This is the last thing up which wanted to add I mean I thought this has been a very good discussion And you know I heard a lot about land use justifications for a deviation You know this is you know there's a lot of talk about this being mixed use high But the reality is what we have applied for what you guys are considering considering is qualified mixed use I so it's not a blanket mixed use high that could apply to any property owner. We've identified specific conditions, our proximity to the expressway, our desire to provide a setback from the existing historic structure, all of the other connected pieces that we talked through through our presentation. That's part of the land use justification for a qualified mixed use high. This is not mixed use high as qualified mixed use high. I feel very comfortable with that from a zoning standpoint and just high level just to talk about spot zoning because that's been referenced. One of the things that a good plan does is it adapts. So just like when this framework was going through As the city has been looking at different things that have happened, there were car washes, there were self-storage, and now there are data centers. That's a topic. And the city, the plans didn't really contemplate data centers. And so as we've gone through, those things have been adopted and adjusted. So when you have a plan, it's really just a framework, a framework for how you evaluate opportunities when they become available. What we're presenting today, what staff has known about this whole time, it wasn't like it was a surprise that we were going to develop this site. But in the context of developing a framework for how you apply high level without queue conditions and zoning, you have to do it on an abstract level. You can't say site by site that this site is going to be randomly mixed use high and this site is going to randomly be mixed-use medium. Actually, when we were going through this, when we first looked at it, it was mixed-use high for the site. That was part of the excitement that we had. Obviously, that changed as it went through. The point that I'm making is that that's really just a framework for evaluating how, when an applicant comes with a specific development plan based on unique conditions for their site, how you apply that framework. Our contention has been This is a unique site to do a mixed-use development with condominium, with hospitality. You've got an identified operator, an experienced developer with a development plan to do both. And you heard him testify today that he can't do both at less than 115 feet. So that is a justification for 115 feet. Obviously, you can make your own decision about whether you think that's adequate or not. But we're comfortable with what we've presented today and the discussion and the back and forth and the good questions that you guys have asked.

Okay.

Sir, would you like to make a comment as part of the public hearing? I would. Okay. Please come to the mic, state your name and address. You'll have three minutes.

I won't take three minutes. We've been here quite long enough. I'm Tom Adams. I live on Aberdeen Road in the Redmont neighborhood. And I would like for you to think... when you get ready to vote about two things. One is we have a framework plan that the city has spent multiple years trying to develop and why would the city council immediately turn around and spot zone one spot in Redmont when the city has spent the time and effort to produce the plan. It's called the framework. Second is, would you want to live just down the street from a 125-foot structure where you're in the shadow of a giant building in your single-family dwelling?

Thank you. Anyone else? All right, so we're going to officially close the public hearing. I do have a question for the Office of the City Attorney. So, Attorney King, maybe you can speak to this, or perhaps somebody else, one of the assistant city attorneys. In certain instances, when the council is deliberating on an action, there are criteria that the state laws sets out that the council has to meet one or more of those criteria to justify the council's decision. In this instance, Is the council constrained by state law in any way to adhere to the land use plan or otherwise? Is there any constraints on the council, any legal requirements that we have to meet in order to make a decision one way or the other.

I'll let attorney Bernard elaborate, but generally the council has to consider all of the testimony and evidence that has been presented today. It's a totality of everything, but attorney Bernard can come up and speak specifically to the land use.

Good morning. Julie Bernard. I'm a servant in the Office of City Attorney as Assistant City Attorney. I apologize. I'm getting over something. I think I understand that you're asking are there any specific standards or qualifications that the council has to meet in considering it?

Let me clarify. You know, in other circumstances, the applicants have the capacity to appeal the council's decision and that decision can, um, be supported or overruled in other jurisdictions. So, you know, I am wondering in this instance, if, you know, whatever direction this body, um, decides to go, uh, what are, you know, what happens next? And is there, you know, again, certain criteria that the council has to meet in order to support its decision?

Okay. Um, I'm going to qualify what I'm going to say because I would have to look, I'm speaking, from memory and not looking specifically at everything except for Ms. Burrell is providing me some wording from our ordinance. I will say it's a legislative decision of the council. Zoning is legislatively vested in the council. The overarching framework for zoning is under state law is generally you adopt a comprehensive plan, you have land use plans, and you drill down to what the specific zoning is for an area. The general thing is that the council not be arbitrary and capricious in making its decision. So that whole overarching structure is there hearing the plans of a development hearing from the public, all of those, as attorney King said, you need to take in that whole thing. Um, the, um, uh, I was looking at what, um, Ms. Pearl just provided me and the, um, There is a provision here that she handed to me that talks about the minimum requirements in interpreting and implying the provisions of the ordinance. They shall be held to be the minimum requirements for promotion of public health, safety, convenience, comfort, morals, and general welfare. There are, I'm not sure, let's see, I think this is, talks more about the, the minimum standards of interpreting the ordinance and applying height and setbacks and things like that. But again, just based on my knowledge, from, you know, there's not a specific, like I know you're referring to the alcohol licensing standard. There are certain criteria that the council must consider and decide if they meet. There is not that specific listing of things that the council must consider, but that overarching, again, to use a word that we use specifically here, but use it generally, the framework, of having a comprehensive plan and, you know, deciding what's the best orderly layout of the city is best in the council. But, you know, the decision can't be arbitrary and capricious.

So, in honing in on that, would there need to be entered into the record some rationale for supporting a decision one way or the other? Like, you know, in the form of a motion, would that motion also need to include, you know, the factors that were considered that led to the making of that motion?

I would say that it is always my preference that the council state on the record why they are making a decision, especially when it's one that's left to their discretion. That is, I think, would be the preference of the city attorney to not be trying to interpret for a court what the council really intended to do.

Okay, thank you. That answers my question. All right, Madam President, our public hearing is concluded. I'll turn it back over to you.

Thank you, Dr. O'Quinn, for conducting our public hearing. I want to thank the developers as well as the administration for presenting the case regarding this request. And I want to personally thank the residents who have shown up today and voiced your concern as well as I think we've received a lot of information by email as well. So thank you. I know that took into account CONSIDERATION FOR THIS ITEM TODAY. COUNSELORS, WE'LL HAVE THIS LAST TIME. ANY ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS OR ARE YOU READY FOR THE VOTE? I'M SORRY. I APOLOGIZE.

THANK YOU, MADAM PRESIDENT. I THOUGHT I WOULD MAKE A FEW CLOSING REMARKS. I WANT TO THANK THE RESIDENTS FOR SHOWING UP. I ALSO WANT TO THANK MR. SILVERSTEIN. I KNOW THERE'S BEEN A LOT OF DEVELOPMENT THAT YOU'VE DONE FOR THE CITY OF BIRMINGHAM AND THAT DOES NOT GO UNNOTICED. SO THANK YOU FOR THAT. I ALSO JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE CLEAR ABOUT WHAT THIS VOTE IS FOR. And one of the residents said it best, this is not against the redevelopment of the property. It is not against investment in Birmingham. It is about height. It is about height change. It is currently, as we know, zoned for mixed-use medium as part of the southern framework rezone planning and long-use plan. And a lot of work has gone into that, and so we know that that is an important piece Of this puzzle. Secondly, we know we have neighborhood consensus. It is hard to find that in this day and age. But in this case, we have two neighborhood associations and the zoning advisory committee, all of which are resident oriented and aligned around this issue. The third thing, and I'm going to applaud the council. The council, I think, has a good history of being on the same page about not wanting to spot zones. We've had a few requests this year, at least that I've been involved, that involved requests for rezoning, and they were not approved from a spot zoning standpoint. Those were important principles then, and I believe they are still important principles today. Our job as counselors, as we know, is to make hard decisions. They're not easy. In support of residents, and the question remains for me is how on earth we can say that that we are doing that by allowing this property to be zoned up to mixed use high. So it seems to me that there is already a compromise on the table. Residents have mentioned it and our developer has mentioned it as well, that five years ago a compromise was reached at 80 feet max height for the property. And for that reason, I would support the project with a maximum cap of 80 feet. So I'd like to make a motion to that end. If I did that properly.

Okay, there is no second. I don't hear a second for that. Is there a second?

So that's a motion. Just to be clear, I want to make sure I'm clear. It's a motion to max the... to have a max capacity of 80 feet for this development. So just to review, mixed use medium max cap is 65 feet. Mixed use high is 125 feet. And the agreement that Residence has made with developers five years ago was a max cap of 80 feet. So I'd like to make a motion for a max cap of 80 feet.

I just want to make sure I understand the motion. So the current zoning is mixed-use medium. Under the ZAB's decision, they've allowed a variance for 80 feet. So are you suggesting that we... PROVE THE REZONING REQUEST BUT RESTRICT THE HEIGHT TO 80 FEET? YES. SO THE MOTION WOULD BE TO I'M JUST MAKING SURE I'M NOT TRYING TO PUT WORDS IN YOUR MOUTH. TO APPROVE THE CHANGE IN ZONING TO MIXED USE HIGH WITH A RESTRICTION OF 80 FEET.

I THINK IT WOULD BE A Q-M-U-M with a max cap of 80. Okay. Okay.

At this point, we need a second because now we're asking questions regarding an item that has not been, a motion that has not been approved. So is there a second? Okay. So that your motion, request for that motion did not receive a second.

Okay.

So at this time we're ready to consider the item that is before us unless there are any additional. Yes. Let me ask a question since his motion has died. Could we have done that? I just want to make sure we would need to get, I don't know if that would be an advice from the city attorney or from our planning zoning division because at this point now we're changing the scope of what's being presented to us. Yes, Madam Attorney.

So that motion is no longer on the floor. If it could have been done, it would have to be re-advertised in another hearing. Okay, gotcha. Okay, thank you.

Thank you for that clarity on that because I think that was the important part. It would have to be re-advertised because now we're changing the scope of what we've been advertised as what we would be considering today.

Okay, thank you.

This time then, we're ready. Yes, Dr. Oakland.

Yes, so I just wanted to come back to the comments that Attorney Bernard made and, you know, speak to the council not being arbitrary and capricious in this decision and providing some rationale for the decision so the decision, you know that the choice between before us is a Request for qualified mixed-use high A change in zoning for mixed-use medium to qualified mixed-use high with a height restriction of 115 feet and the all of the uses that are allowed under mixed use high that would be excluded under the List that that was provided at the beginning of this presentation So In you know hearing from the residents I Would have to say that most of the majority of the residents are even stated that they weren't uh opposed to the development of the property even for the intended use um so um i think the you know the question is not about whether or not this could be a hotel and condominium um and at this location i didn't hear anybody you know, state that they didn't want a hotel there, that it didn't, you know, fit with the character of the neighborhood or, you know, the condominiums that would be included in that. It really comes down to a question of 35 feet. So, you know, I'm taking from that that, This is, you know, the actual use of the property is not what's at the issue here. It's really about the height. And I think the, you know, developer has gone to some extent to provide, you know, renderings of the property of the building, you know, in context from different views, perhaps not all of the different views that are possible. But, you know, the fact that this is literally right up against the Red Mountain Expressway where you have several thousand vehicles that pass by every hour, it's immediately adjacent to an office building, you know, that's – PRETTY INTENSE USE AS WELL, EVEN THOUGH IT'S SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT ZONING CATEGORY. The fact that this project will provide jobs, it's an amenity that's not currently available in the city of Birmingham. I think those are all reasons for the council to consider supporting this rezoning application. Thank you, and that concludes my comments.

Thank you, Dr. O'Quinn. At this time, we'll call for the vote. Alright, thank you. Item number two passes. Thank you all very much. Are there any other items left on the agenda? I believe we've exhausted everything. Alright, at this time, Councilors, we'll entertain any updates that you have from your various districts. Councilor Smith, would you like to start us off this afternoon?

Sounds good. Alright, so first...

If we could go ahead and allow us to continue, we have a little, you can take that outside. Thank you. Go ahead, council.

Okay, thank you. So first I want to say thank you to all of the volunteers and city partners that helped us with our town hall last week at Sardis Missionary Baptist Church. Really appreciate our city hall police officers, council staff, government affairs, and department leaders who made themselves available. to meet with constituents. We had great, a good number of volunteers, incredible volunteers from the Sigma Beta Club, the Princeton Academy Ambassadors, and the Young Democrats, as well as our neighborhood associations. The Parks and Recreation Department is still conducting a citywide community survey. Please visit BHMParks2035 to complete that survey. And we announce it every week because it's important, and we want you to have a say in what is happening in our area parks. Bush Hills Neighborhood Association is meeting today at 6.30 at the Bush Hills Community Garden and Urban Farm. And lastly, the National Association of Parliamentarians is meeting this weekend here in Birmingham. So we will have a number of individuals that are dedicated to the... dedicated to preserving principles of democratic decision making. So the National Association of Parliamentarians is the largest and oldest professional nonprofit association of parliamentarians in the country. It was founded in 1930, provides education and resources to individuals around the world on how to effectively participate in and manage meetings using parliamentary procedures. So in honor of them being here, I would like to present them with their resolution. So I request for a motion for unanimous consent, please.

All in favor, let it be known by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, say nay. And then a motion on the resolution. All in favor, let it be known by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, say nay.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you very much for bringing that resolution. I'm very excited. I don't know if I'm the only one who gets excited about parliamentary procedures, so I'm excited that they'll be coming to the seat.

Yes, and actually, the District 1 Council Office of Mayor Naplain is very active in one of the two units that's here in Birmingham.

Thank you.

Or one of many units in Birmingham. Perfect. We welcome them.

Councilor, I know that's going to be a rousing convention. Councilor Gooden.

Thank you, Madam President. These are my announcements for today. Tonight, we have the Norwood Neighborhood Association meeting that will be happening via teleconference. On the first Monday of September at 6.30 p.m., we will have Design City. Neighborhood Association meeting which will take place via teleconference also on that same Monday We have Brownsville Heights at 630 which will take place at the Brownsville Heights Community Center and lastly on that same Monday We have Collegeville which will take place at 6 30 p.m. At Greater New Antioch Baptist Church on that following Tuesday We will have the Fairmont neighborhood association at 6 30 p.m. At the North Birmingham library and And then that Thursday, the first Thursday of September, we will have the Brummett Heights Neighborhood Association, which takes place at 1 p.m. at the Brownsville Heights Community Center. The next Community Development Committee meeting is scheduled for September the 8th at 12 p.m. here in the City Council Chambers. So that concludes my announcements.

Thank you, Councilor. Councilor Wood?

Thank you, Madam President. One-to-one, shout out our partner, Black Warrior Riverkeeper, and our Be Litter Free campaign has been a busy month. We've had four cleanups this month and just over 1,100 pounds of litter removed in debris, and so partnered with several corporate organizations to clean up in Apple Valley, in and around Springboro Library, Calvary Resurrection Christian Church, and Grayson Park. Partners were UAB, several neighborhood organizations, and of course our community volunteers. And so really grateful to everyone that spends their time to come out and really help us make an impact. Also excited to continue to work tomorrow in our partnership with House Proud and SHIP for a day of service. And that will be 8.30 a.m. to 1 p.m. So if you have some time throughout the day, any time, come out. And Hilton will be doing some exterior improvements and landscaping if you are interested. desirous of volunteering, you can email bhmdistrict1 at gmail.com for additional details. And as always, if you're looking to roll up your sleeves and get to work, District 1 can find something for you to do. So thank you.

Thank you very much. Council Member Quinn.

Thank you, Madam President. Well, if you didn't get enough of planning and zoning today during today's public hearings, we have a planning and zoning committee today at 3 p.m. here in the council chambers. In other events, we are partnering with Fly V to host a business networking event on Thursday, September 3rd from 5 to 7 in the historic 4th Avenue Business District at the Fly V showroom, which is located at 320 17th Street North. If you're interested in participating in that business networking event, please contact our office, 254-2679, to RSVP. And then we also want you to... Mark your calendars for September 13th. We're going to have two events back to back on September 13th. We're going to start off the day with a very serious topic talking about firearms ownership and being responsible with owning a firearm and we'll have a couple of different training sessions for folks to participate in and some interesting giveaways. We're really trying to focus on helping people understand the importance that if you're going to own a firearm, it's very important to make sure that that firearm is always secured. So we'll have some giveaways that are related to that. So very serious topic in the morning on Sunday, September 13th. And then in the afternoon, it's all about fun with our annual Safe Summer Series concert, which we're partnering with District 9. And we'll be back at Legion Field this year. And the show will start at 5 p.m. And that concludes my announcements.

Thank you so much. I'll start. Go next with you, Pro Tem. Yes.

Thank you, Madam President. The Dolomite Neighborhood Association meeting is tonight at 6 p.m. They meet on conference call. You can dial in by calling 720-843-2669. Access code is 3789426. Fountain Heights Neighborhood Association meeting is canceled tonight. Please keep Darlena Battle in your prayer. She's the vice president. fountain heist and she lost her house in a house fire like total loss so please keep her you know and bundy area alliance who is the president you know continue to keep those ladies in your prayers and um if you can reach out to darlene and coffee you know your support inner reach neighborhood association meeting is thursday april 27th it's at 5 30 at the new salem baptist church okay there's 16 32 6th Street North, and that meeting is headed by our neighborhood president, who's in the audience this afternoon. That's Ms. Adrienne Reynolds. And so also to end the announcements, Interridge Cleanup Day will be Saturday, August the 29th. That's also hosted by the Interridge Neighborhood Association, led by Ms. Reynolds. That's from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Old Sardis Missionary Baptist Church, 1244th Street North. And to echo Councilor Quinn, we're getting ready for Safe Summer Series, so we're looking forward to that. And I want to give a special shout-out to our nephew, C.J. Woods, who is swinging a tennis racket these days. So congratulations, C.J., place number three. All right, I see you, C.J.

Thank you very much, Councilor Smitherman.

Thank you, Madam President. Thank you to the Wonder Kids of the Woods family. Between him and Chloe, I think we need to ride their coattails. I just want to make sure I get some free tickets when they go pro. That's all I want. But my only announcement is we're still having our Get Fit While You Sit classes every Monday at 9.30 at Holy Family Crystal Ray, now known as Crystal Ray Birmingham. as well also we have the sidewalk film festival this weekend actually started this week so make sure to support all of our local filmmakers they have different nights anime night uh black filmmakers spotlight so make sure to support thank you thank you so much council of awesome

Thank you, Madam President. We have Redmont Park Neighborhood Association tonight, 5 p.m. at Botanical Gardens. Look forward to seeing folks there. And also just want to give a thought towards the Kitchens family in Forest Park. They had a loss in their family, and it's a very tough one. So I just want to shout that out. So thank you, Madam President.

Thank you. Thank each of you for bringing your announcements. These are announcements for District 7. There are no Neighborhood Association meetings this week or for the remainder of the month, so we'll start back up in September. On Friday, August 28th, the Land Bank Authority, they will end their series of Lemonade with the Land Bank, and that will be the final location. We'll be at Avondale Library from 2 to 3 p.m. Heard some very good remarks from the two previous locations. I think it was four in total, but if anybody could... really has any interest in land bank property and want to know how the land bank works, you can get them for us. Some glass of lemonade and a lot of good information. Avondale Library from 2 to 3 p.m. That ends our announcements. Mr. Clerk, if you would give us, entertain now the speaker's list.

Okay. Is it, let's see. Denise Jones, is that the first one? That's the wrong list. There's a different list. Adrian Reynolds. Yes. What is this?

That's the old couple.

Good afternoon. Hello, Ms. Reynolds and everyone.

Good afternoon to all of you. Just wanted to speak just for a few minutes. I am president of the Smithfield community, and I'm also president of Enid Ridge Neighborhood. And I'm before you today to just speak on one issue, and that's concerning the 50 million choice neighborhoods implementation grant we received back in July of 2023. As we progress and we know what's in it and what was promised with the building of the houses, the wraparound services, the library, and all of that, we were given a time limit on that also, which was eight to 10 years. Now, we're three years in. We've been going to meetings and hearing what they've said, but they haven't said anything of substance. So, our ask is this. We want to know, is there a change in the plan? Is there something that's going on? Because it seems like, as the leadership of the residents of Smithfield community, we've kind of been left out. Yes, we've been going to the meetings that they've called, and doing all of that, but nothing has still been said. Neither have we seen a spoon of dirt be moved. Nothing concrete And we respectfully ask that if the plans have changed, if the time frame has changed, or if something's gone with the money, with the grants, and I know that grant money has to be spent accordingly as it was received, if we can just talk about that. And we also ask that we like to see how the money is being spent. You know, it's a budget or something. Because we are having people in our neighborhoods ask us what's happening, what's going on. We got a time frame that was given to us. We are well into that now. We don't know anything. We feel like we're being disrespected in our own houses. We appreciate the services. and everything that's coming into our houses. But you're not telling us what you're doing in our house. And we'd just like to know. We just want to be respected and brought into the actual going on so that we can properly inform our residents. And that's my piece. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Ms Reynolds. And I thank each of you for coming today and just bringing this subject to us. I think we've all been anticipation. I know I always used to joke the day that they announced that they had a party and it was my birthday. So I thought I had a $50 million party. to celebrate. But it's been three years. You're absolutely right. Now we have been having some ongoing updates through different action that's been going on through with community development and how they're trying to pull the money in from the grants. But I do think that it's more than apropos that we provide information as well to the neighborhood. So we'll work with the administration, and then we do have some opportunities during our Committee of the Whole meetings where we could bring those updates to us, and then we would invite you all to just be there or we could take that information to them. So, Chief, we'll be working with you to be sure, both of you, that we get those updates because I think it is important that residents feel and understand what's going on. Yes, ma'am. Absolutely. Thank you all. It's going to give you one minute because you didn't sign up. OK. My thing is. You got to get to the mic.

We've been given several dates as to when things was going to take place. That date has changed more than five times. So it's really hard now for us to pull people out to the meetings because they think we are lying. I got you.

So what we'll do, we'll reiterate that, and we will counsel a working administration to see those updates. Did you have anything to say, Chief?

Thank you for the visibility on that, that there's been some inconsistencies with that. We will make certain. We have our chief of economic and community development here as well. So we'll make certain, as you said, Madam President, that the neighborhood and that the residents give actual, accurate, up-to-date information.

Thank you. Thank you all.

Appreciate you.

Thank you. Next speaker.

J.C. Jackson.

Why is this, Mr. Jackson, as you come forward? Just want to remind you, you have three minutes, and you have these video boards here that will be counting down your time. So just be mindful of that when you're speaking. But go ahead, if you'll give us your name.

J.C. Jackson.

Okay.

Okay, I had 30 days to complete my cleanup and stuff.

Kent, will you pull the mic to your back a little bit? Yes, sir.

I had 30 days to complete my cleanup and stuff. And I got sick and I had to go in the hospital and I had an operation and I couldn't complete it. My third day ran out. So I need to continue extension.

Okay. What we can do, I'm going to have to turn you over to administration so that they can work with you and go back and look at your case and just see because we've already ruled on that through council action. We have to just be sure. I don't know if this is through municipal court or has this been through a weed abatement or some type of action with environmental court. So can I get you to talk with the administration? And we'll get someone to take your information. Thank you. Next speaker.

Tilseth Holt.

Hi, Mr. Holt. How are you? Hey, how you doing, Madam President? And you know the rules?

Yeah, I know the rules, but they didn't reset my clock. It's still going down. That's right. Okay, there we go. I'm here to, about three weeks ago, I think y'all approved with the Industrial Development Board, approved $10 million for a business owner, then y'all approved it where they approved. And so upon that, I'm asking as a citizen for... a public hearing so that we can meet with the Industrial Development Board and see who they are and get information about how the black business owners can get approved for the millions of dollars as well that the other counterpart got approved for. There's no website for the Industrial Development Board. Y'all is the city council. We know your faces. Y'all are on there with a website. We can pull you up. But this is all that the city of Birmingham has from the public information office. for the Industrial Development Board and it says on here that the Birmingham City Council is the one who selected the Industrial Development Board. Now I don't believe any of you was the one who selected it. A lot of them have years that they've already been on there and we see the extensions. But all on here is just emails. There's no website. There's no way to ask how can we apply. to be also considered for a million dollar or a half million dollar loan from the city of Birmingham by the bonds that they was given to the other counterpart. So all we're asking for is transparency. I'm asking for a public hearing to be called at 6 p.m. before this year is out with the Industrial Development Board so the citizens can see their faces, ask questions on how we as black business owners can get access to the same thing, the same $10 million bond that another business got access to when he just pulled up a property and had a letter from a bank said that he can get this money. So if it's good for one, it's good for the other. And we are the public and black business owners should have the same access that got approved to another person for $10 million. So we can't find it on the website where you can apply for a $10 million bond loan. There is no website that for the Industrial Development Board that's made up of seven people who we don't know what they look like. And I don't think that's fair. And I think y'all serve the public, so I'm asking for a public hearing so we can meet them at 6 p.m. where people are not at work and they can come and ask questions on how we can get access to stuff that can help our businesses the same way that he got access to $10 million on the bond loan with low interest. Thank you for your time.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon. So this afternoon, I rise again with a heavy heart. Many of you know what has occurred in our city as of yesterday with another homeless man being killed. at the hands of Birmingham Police Department on Avenue I in Ansley. This is a very serious issue that I have been begging this administration and I have been begging this council and previous councils. For a period over 10 to 12 years, we have been asking for help in our communities, but yet our cries for help continue to be ignored. Now, today I don't plan on going to jail. But if you all continue to ignore the concerns of the people, then you will see an uprising of the people. Birmingham is much better than that. I did write some things down. It's a devastating reality that Birmingham continues to struggle with crime while interactions with law enforcement become deadly for people who need therapeutic support the most. Counsel, raise your hand if you believe it's acceptable for police to kill people who are homeless or living with mental illness. Seeing no hands raised, I move that we end that violence. Can one of you second that motion? No, you are not. We need to shift away from this ridiculous spending of taxpayers dollars that you all have allowed this administration to continue to play in our face. We had a mayor that in 2020 implemented and said he was going to push eight can't wait. That's been a joke. We have this Human Rights Council that I don't know what they do, but when we try to reach out to the Human Rights Council, that's a joke. We created a committee. to address police's grievances that do not even meet, nor do they have the power to address the public concerns. That's a joke. Stop playing in our face. Do right by the people. We need investment in models of care and not cages. We need housing and not handcuffs. So I ask you, counsel, Do what you should do to help the least of these. What are you going to do? When are you going to raise the questions? When are you going to raise concerns? When are you all going to investigate? When are you going to police the police and start looking at the practices that exist within the police department? Because it's obvious that when you have five deaths of homeless individuals in less than two months, it's a deadly pattern and it's a problem for this city. Thank you.

That concludes the speaker's list. At this time, we want to thank our officers on duty, officers Tarrant, Ingram, Wesleyan, Shelby, and our fire inspectors, Inspector Griggs and Inspector Shaw. At this time, we'll entertain a moment of silence.