Two cities are trying to protect the way of life -- and bring order to the chaos of their prosperity -- through strategic zoning changes.
Homewood in Jefferson County and Chelsea in Shelby County, face different challenges but both have turned to the Regional Planning Commission to guide the way forward.
This is the tale of two cities.
Chelsea is one of the fastest growing cities in Alabama. A map of plans to fix the congested intersection of County Road 39 and 47 is displayed on a folding board in Mayor Tony Picklesimer’s office. The display, which includes the intersection solution and other plans, is placed near the window where he watches traffic back up every morning.
“Every day around school time, there’s a traffic jam,” Picklesimer said, pointing out the window. The intersection was built to handle about 2,000 vehicles per day. Now, around 10,000 vehicles pass through it daily.
Picklesimer, who has served as Chelsea’s mayor since 2016, says the city has had to make strategic decisions about its growth. The congested intersection -- and traffic -- is just one growing pain.
The young city, incorporated in 1996, has grown more than 10-fold since its incorporation. Census data estimates the city’s population was more than 13,000 in 2018. It’s the second fastest growing city in Alabama, just behind Fairhope. Picklesimer expects the city’s population to be around 15,000 in the 2020 census.
Picklesimer said families are moving to Chelsea because they want the convenience of being close to the jobs and opportunities in Birmingham, but they also want a smaller, more country area in which to spend their free time and raise their kids.
“People want to enjoy this country lifestyle that we have but have access to major shopping such as the Summit. Any restaurant in the world you think of is on 280,” he said.
As the population has grown, so has the demand on city services. Chelsea recently had to add a fire station and began charging a membership fee for the city community center. Chelsea also adopted an overlay district, which sets requirements on the type of building materials allowed for new structures. Chelsea officials worked with the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham on the project.
These decisions haven’t been popular with all residents, but Picklesimer is confident he’s making decisions that are best for the people of Chelsea.
“We want to manage our growth. When I make decisions like the overlay district, I'm not doing it to penalize people. I'm doing it to protect the people that are already here,” Picklesimer said.
Protecting residents and Chelsea’s family-friendly country lifestyle is his goal. That means prioritizing the development of single-family homes instead of the development of apartments.
More than 92 percent of Chelsea residents own the home they live in, according to Census data. The median value of these homes is around $220,000.
“Nine out of every 10 homes in our city are owned and not rented, so there's a sense of community here,” he said.
Chelsea’s housing growth is just part of the fast-growing housing market in Shelby County.
Housing estimates show more than 1,700 lots will be added to Calera by 2025. Hoover comes in second with an estimated 889 lots being added. Chelsea and Pelham are expected to add about 700 lots each.
While Chelsea has grocery stores, restaurants and businesses, it’s still a bedroom community, meaning residents commute to outside cities for work. The average commute time for Chelsea residents is 30.1 minutes, according to census data.
“We also have our own essentials here. We have our own Walmart Supercenter. We have our own Publix. We have our own Winn Dixie. We have 30 or so restaurants here. We’ve got all the things for the daily business here, but we have access just across the mountain to anything you might need,” Picklesimer said.
With the city’s dependence on sales taxes, Picklesimer said he’s hoping to attract more jobs to Chelsea, which will increase the city’s daytime population and sales tax revenue.
“My focus now is to try to bring jobs to Chelsea. But we don't want smokestacks,” Picklesimer said. He wants to attract companies and light manufacturing to the business park in hopes of increasing the city’s daytime population, and therefore, the city’s sales tax revenue.
Chelsea doesn’t have a property tax, so the city’s budget depends heavily on sales taxes. As the city grows, so does the demand for revenue.
In January, the city approved an incentive for a chemical company, Therachem, to open a lab in Chelsea. The company mixes chemicals to be used in medicines. It’ll be the first company in the city’s new Foothills Business Park, which is in the early stages of construction.
Now, the city is working with the RPC to create a long-term master plan for the city.
The RPC can’t force a city to abide by the plan, it only provides suggestions and recommendations for the city, said Lindsay Puckett, principal planner for the RPC.
The RPC helps cities secure federal funding and conducts various studies to inform its planning recommendations. Puckett said most of these cities are looking to increase their tax revenue, like Chelsea, and protect or improve the quality of life.
The city of Homewood, which borders Birmingham to the south, exemplifies an equally successful area, but with challenges on a larger scale.
Discussions as a long as five years ago began about how to ensure coming development is smart and keeps the feel of its downtown business scene. Currently, there are 13 different zones in the city’s 1.25 square mile downtown area. The city wants to reduce it to three: Low-Intensity (LI), Medium-Intensity (MI) and High Intensity (HI).
Changing the ordinance will make zoning easier to enforce and allow the city to protect its downtown and small business owners, said city councilor Jennifer Andress, who represents Ward 5, Place 1.
The plans have been much discussed in the community, and Andress fears the reasoning behind the rules get lost in some of the discussion.
“We understand the value of what we have,” Andress said. “We can’t have a big developer come in and wipe a whole block out. We love our local businesses and want them to remain.”
The new zones will allow the city to further restrict the height of buildings. The current zoning ordinance allows for buildings with up to 11 stories, she said.
The Aloft hotel, which is part of SoHo square would still be in compliance with the five-story rule. The new four-star Curio Hotel will also be compliant with the new zoning.
The Curio is expected to open this fall with accompanying retail space. It is expected to generate millions after $10 million in incentives from Homewood is paid over 20 years. It is the kind of development that is necessary in a largely landlocked Homewood where the median value of a home is around $330,000. About 62 percent of Homewood residents own their home.
The Curio Hotel by Hilton is under construction in Homewood. It is expected to open in Fall 2020. This image captured on Jan. 15, 2020. (Anna Beahm | abeahm@al.com).
Andress said another goal of the zoning changes is to protect existing businesses on 18th Street and 29th Avenue. Residents and business owners have been vocal about protecting the area from being bought by a large developer, which could drive out small business owners.
“We love it. It’s interesting and funky and historic. We want to do all we can to make sure it remains as it is,” Andress said. “We’re trying to control development. We don’t want to overdevelop.”
Andress said the new zoning would also support residents’ desire for downtown to be more friendly to bike and foot traffic. She envisions downtown Homewood as a place where residents could park and safely walk or bike to any shop or restaurant in downtown.
The zoning plans for downtown Homewood are not final. A public hearing before the city planning commission is at 6 p.m. tonight in the city council chambers. The council plans to hold a public meeting March 9. Meeting details and more about the plan is here: Heart of Homewood plan.
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