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Leadership Mountain Brook presents projects at council

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Photos by Lexi Coon.

Photos by Lexi Coon.

Photos by Lexi Coon.

As part of their curriculum, the Leadership Mountain Brook class began the formal meeting of Mountain Brook City Council on April 9 by giving three presentations regarding their final projects to improve the city.

The first project — presented by James Gillespy, Kate Brown, Fairbanks White, Kathleen Wilson and Hunt Cochrane — was for a small, more permanent outdoor gathering space on the grassy knoll across from the Emmet O’Neal Library.

The space would be modeled after similar outdoor venues in the Birmingham area, they said, such as the amphitheaters at Homewood’s Central Park or Avondale Park with the main goal of having a space where the community can come together and enjoy outdoor events. The students suggested the project could be paid for through grants and potential partnerships.

Currently, the land is owned by a local family, but the students said the family would like to incorporate the presented idea into future plans.

Students Liam Powell, Carter Brown, Patton Browning and Jessie Holt then presented their ideas for crosswalk lighting.

After identifying busier intersections, they found two lighting systems — X Walk and Lane Light — that provide in-crosswalk lights that flash when pedestrians press a button. This differs from current flashing lights in that they only flash when the button is pressed and they are inlaid in the roadway. Lights would be placed on either side of the crosswalk to be visible from both directions, and each installation kit includes the lights and two buttons.

The X Walk lights have an average life expectancy of 10 years and cost approximately $10,000, while the Lane Lights have an average life expectancy of 15 years and cost approximately $15,000. Both are solar powered.

The students said similar lights are currently in use in Auburn and are being implemented in other college towns with high numbers of pedestrians.

Finally, students Alexis Kennedy, Maddie Usdan, Parker Statham and Anthony Lauriello gave a presentation about installing “Welcome to Mountain Brook” signs to let residents and visitors know they have entered city limits.

There were four different “levels” of signs, with larger ones to be placed on more traveled roadways that enter the city, such those in English Village, Cahaba River Park, near the exit of U.S. 280 and near Cherokee Bend, with smaller ones to be placed in neighborhood areas.

They presented a five-year plan for the signs, which at most would cost a little more than $6,000. Any older signs would be updated with new ones to maintain consistency, they said.

Council president Virginia Smith noted that the budget season starts in May for the city, and they would consider both the crosswalk lights and the city signs in the process since they were further along in planning and design.

During the premeeting, council members also discussed the potential for alcohol sales before 10 a.m. on Sundays in Mountain Brook. Previously, state legislation passed a bill that allowed alcohol sales earlier in the day in bars and restaurants in certain areas of the state, including the city of Birmingham.

“I think if a restaurant wants to do it, they ought to be authorized to do it,” said Smith. 

City Attorney Whit Colvin said he would look in to the process for getting legislation approved to allow earlier alcohol sales and report back to council.

Also during the council meeting, members:

The next meeting will be on Tuesday, April 24. 

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