City council hears alternatives to address Overbrook Road flooding

Jim Hicks told the Mountain Brook City Council Monday night that his residence next to Canterbury United Methodist Church has not experienced flooding, and he wants to keep it that way.

Hicks and others attended the pre-council meeting to hear engineer Walter Schoel of Schoel Engineering discuss alternatives to addressing flooding in the vicinity of Overbrook Road.

“I think there's more to learn,” Hicks said after the session. “I think the council sent it back to the engineers to better determine what would be needed downstream of the junior high. That's what I'm looking to see.

“My house has never had flooding,” Hicks continued. “My concern is that that continues. I've been there since 1987 and experienced 5-, 10-, 25- and 200-year floods, and have not gotten any water in the house. I'm just looking to make sure it doesn't make any situation worse downstream.”

City Manager Sam Gaston said are two primary options under consideration, and a third “if we go down a little farther downstream at Pine Crest Road and Overbrook by the church.

“That's why we need to study the downstream effects,” Gaston said, “to make sure that we were not solving one problem and pushing it on downstream, no pun intended, to somebody else.”

Schoel also talked to the council about a proposed fill project at Field No. 1 to provide additional parking. That plan is on hold pending a meeting with the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) to address a “denied access” designation.

“I was supplied a right-of-way drawing, and denied access actually goes by 100 feet into Field 1,” the engineer said. “They own this, and the city is leasing this, but that lease did not change the limits of denied access, according to ALDOT. The offshoot all this is you can't build that parking lot.

“You could get 31 spaces on the Mountain Brook property,” Schoel said. “You can't do these (additional spaces) unless somebody can get the denied access moved. They will not let you cross it."

Schoel added that in his long experience he has not seen a denied access designation moved.

In official action:

The council approved a capital budget amendment for the police department, using the space formerly used by dispatchers to build needed office space for sergeants. “They've got a very small, cramped office,” Gaston said. “Actually two sergeants are in there now. I think the chief proposes to build five or six offices. Of course, that will be shared by different sergeants because of different shifts.”

Approval was given for a street light at 2117 Cahaba Road near Little Hardware. It will be up to the merchant to install a second light if one is desired.

The Friends of Jemison Park left city hall happy Monday after the council agreed to a funding plan to make improvements to the park. The Friends of Jemison Park are raising money for the improvements to Jemison Park and they've asked the city to allocate $500,000 this next fiscal year, $500,000 in 2024 and their verbal agreement was that for anything they raise over $600,000, the council would match it $1 for $1. “The council agreed verbally they would do $400,000 in FY 2025,” Gaston said. “There are two contracts. One is to do survey work with the exact dimensions of the park. The second one is to design the improvements, which will be the asphalt sidewalks, widening them and doing some drainage improvements or other things of that nature. “That park is our most visible park,” the city manager said. “During the pandemic, the usage has just exploded.”

The city expressed gratitude to Turner Williams for his years of service as presiding judge of Mountain Brook Municipal Court. The council last month amended the city code to allow for a lead judge and a supernumerary judge. The city has had two judges who alternated hearing cases. The change – which made K.C. Hairston the lead judge and Williams the supernumerary – brings Mountain Brook in line with other cities.

“This council gives you an opportunity to not just be a police court, you can make some difference,” Williams said. “You can help some folks. That's the way I do it. That's way Judge Hairston does. That's the way the judges ahead of me did it.

“This was a place where if you needed a start-over or a redo and you show that you've got some contrition and some wherewithal and some ability to want to get your record straight and all that this place will help you do that.”

The mayor read a proclamation recognizing National Police Officer Appreciation Week.