Birmingham Residents’ Rezoning Questions Go Unanswered

Birmingham residents packed city hall Monday night for a meeting that didn’t happen.

The Birmingham City Commission postponed the hearing for a massive rezoning proposal despite the big turnout.

Mayor Scott Moore said that public needs more advance warning of these kinds of meetings and he wanted to err on the side of caution by postponing the meeting, the Observer & Eccentric reports.

The city is also required to use signs to notify residents of any areas being rezoned.  

» See more about the area in question.

In this case, there are 14 areas being considered for rezoning.The areas are currently zoned as single-family residential or office spaces. City Officials are now using the “transition zoning overlay” zoning to create an orderly transition between commercial, high traffic, and the existing residential areas.

Rezoning the areas would accommodate yoga studios and convenience stores, and allow for the conversion of residential lots into condos or apartments.

The proposal states that uses and sizes of the buildings and hours of operations must be compatible with the neighborhoods.

“A purpose of traditional zoning is to preserve the adjoining neighborhood and thats what we want to accomplish. We look forward to the public’s input when this comes before us again to ensure we have it right,” Moore told the Observer & Eccentric.