Revised Pig plans call for new delivery truck route, Vine Street access
A revised Crestline Piggly Wiggly plan has moved the delivery area for trucks and includes Vine Street access for the store outside school hours.
The city council heard a presentation of this plan during a public hearing regarding rezoning parcels for the proposed development at its Nov. 24 meeting. The council chose not to vote on the rezoning following the hearing so that residents first could review its revised form before a decision is made. Instead, the council will vote on the issue at a specially called meeting Tuesday, Dec. 16 at 7 p.m. at City Hall.
Changes in new plan
During the hearing, Jeffrey Brewer of Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood highlighted recent changes to the store’s plans and addressed issues raised at the Nov. 3 Planning Commission hearing on behalf of the developers, Naseem Ajlouny and Andy Virciglio,
The revised store plans show a service entrance for truck deliveries on the alley that runs parallel to Vine Street south of the proposed store; previous plans called for the entrance to be directly on Vine Street. With this plan trucks will only enter from Church Street instead of travelling on West Jackson, Brewer said.
Furthermore, traffic would only be allowed to exit the store parking lot onto Vine Street and turn left away from the school, not right toward the school.
Additionally, access to Vine Street, Brewer said, had become the central issue for the development discussion. The Planning Commission had approved the plan on Nov. 3 with the condition that access to Vine Street be closed permanently.
“We vetted the plan with Vine Street access closed, and the traffic experts agreed keeping it open is an important part of the plan,” Brewer said.
Richard Caudle of Skipper Consulting presented a list of reasons that his firm believes the entry is necessary. First, during a period of time in the day, there is not sufficient opportunity for cars to exit into traffic on Church Street, and traffic would start seeking alternate routes to exit the store during peak times. In addition, the plan calls for part of Vine Street to be one-way permanently, and traffic approaching the one-way area would need an opportunity to turn around. Finally, residents who live to the northwest of the store would have to drive down to Church Street to access the store, while a Vine Street access point would provide them greater convenience.
The plan also offers a direct pedestrian crossing from Crestline field or Crestline Elementary to Church Street as well as a new fence and hedge installed between Vine Street and Crestline field.
Brewer clarified that to calculate the number of parking spaces required, the new retail area of 18,000 square feet was reduced by the square footage currently on site to a give square footage of 9,920. This amount requires 66 spaces, and 93 are provided in the plan.
Council response
Following these presentations, Council President Virginia Smith said all five council members and the mayor heard the presentations at the Nov. 3 Planning Commission meeting and that they prefer the changes in the plan presented Nov. 24.
“Getting the service off Vine is an enormous change,” Smith said.
Per council member Lloyd Shelton’s request, Caudle specified that the pedestrians were counted and observed during entire school days for the traffic study. Regarding Euclid Avenue traffic, Caudle said that the previous store already had access to Euclid and that it should see similar traffic. Regarding the left hand turn off Church into the parking lot, Caudle said that cars waiting should be able to wait in the turning lane.
Following the hearing, Smith stated that she had not heard any new concerns raised that night and that she liked the proposal they had heard.
Council member Billy Pritchard noted how the developers have listened to the affected parties’ concerns and tried their best to address them. He also said he would motion to approve the rezoning but first asked for counsel from city attorney Whit Colvin. Colvin recommended that they allow time for “everyone” to see the specifics of the revised plans, and the other council members agreed to postpone the vote to another meeting.
In all, the hearing lasted about two and a half hours.
Rezoning details
The plans shown at the meeting are still preliminary. If approved, the developer could still revise the plans within the provisions of the zoning ordinance.
The current plan calls for 28,250 square feet of gross floor area with 90 parking spaces; 49 spaces would be in adjoining gravel lots, 14 in a shared Regions lot and 27 along Vine Street.
The building would replace three existing buildings, the Scout House, Please Reply and the Early Learning Center, which total about 8,080 square feet combined with 16 on-site parking spaces.
The rezoning under consideration would change three lots on Vine Street to commercial development. Previously, 48 Vine Street was professional district, and 50 and 52 Vine Street were residential zoning.
How the Pig fits into the master plan
Prior to the meeting, City Planner Dana Hazen prepared an analysis of the Pig’s plans and how they compare to the Village Master Plan and the city’s White Paper, which was a precursor to the master plan. At the Nov. 3 Planning Commission meeting, some residents had said that these city plans’ conflicted with the Pig’s because they called for transitional areas between village buildings and residential lots and because they noted existing parking issues in the village.
Hazen’s report stated that the Pig project is in keeping with the White Paper for an urban infill project and with respect to building form. She also noted that the Village Master Plan was originally intended to be flexible and that Crestline Village’s businesses were then “anchored by a small, full service grocery store.” Other parts of the document indicate that Vine Street parking was available and underutilized and suggests a new pedestrian passage from Church Street to Vine Street to connect the village to the school.
Regarding the call for transitional areas, Hazen wrote that the grocery store does not conform to strict interpretations of that part of the plan but does conform to the “spirit and intent of mixing compatible neighborhood-oriented uses that create human interaction and synergy.”
Resident comments
Residents shared comments following the formal presentations before the council.
Ralph Bishop, who lives at 15 Elm Street in Crestline and made a presentation in opposition to the plan at the Planning Commission meeting, highlighted that everyone agrees the store will create more traffic in the area and more parking issues and that there is no remedy for these issues. He also said that the Planning Commission only narrowly recommended the plan to the council and that the council has previously disallowed locating large commercial business next to the school and field through the Vine Street Transitional District plan that was passed last year.
Kurt Zinn, who lives at 100 Dexter Ave., said he purchased his property in 2013 with the understanding that there would be no commercial development on Vine Street. “I feel the city was very deliberate about this…so from our perspective we feel like we had the insurances and now you are going back on the insurances,” Zinn said. “We are against the rezoning request.” Zinn also noted that Vine Street is currently very congested in the morning and that he believes the proposed store will allow loiterers to be close to the school property. In response, Smith noted that Vine Street Transitional is an optional zoning for properties; she said that the Vine Street Transitional zoning does not apply here. She also noted that several of the lots the Pig would take up are currently used for retail businesses.
Jim Ward asked if there had been a traffic study conducted based on the plan presented tonight. Caudle said the only difference between the plan considered in traffic study and the one seen before city council is the move of the truck access.
Catherine Loveman, a mother of two Crestline Elementary students, shared her concern with the safety of children, particularly with Vine Street access being open. She also articulated figures that explained the large number of children who use the Crestline Field as she had reported at the Planning Commission meeting.
France Goodview said she has struggled without her Piggly Wiggly and asked if it would be possible to make the store smaller. Smith responded by saying that much of the new square footage is storage space that will allow there to be fewer deliveries.
Jeanne Monk, 28 Beechwood Road, asked that there be no truck deliveries during Crestline Elementary carpool times. Smith said that she believes that will be taken into consideration.
Adria Graham, 19 Crestview Circle, expressed that she was concerned that the new Piggly Wiggly plans were not shared with Crestline parents and the public until just before the Nov. 3 Planning Commission meeting. She also said she is concerned with the safety of children at the school and field. In response, City Planner Dana Hazen said that no certain time frame is required between Planning Commission and City Council meetings. Council member Lloyd Shelton also clarified that the council is concerned with the safety of children.
Kathryn Corey, 4252 Sharpsburg Drive, talked about the amount of time and energy that the developers have given to the project and their commitment to the integrity of the village. She noted that they are paying to have the Girl Scout Hut moved and remodeled.
Betsy Henley said that the Piggly Wiggly should not receive an emotional pass. She said the stakes are higher because the development is larger than the previous grocery store.
Michael Odom said that he believes the project is inconsistent with the master plan and that it is not necessary to the village. He also said he was concerned with the new loading area and that no traffic study has been done based on that change. In response, Billy Pritchard said that the delivery trucks will primarily come in the mornings like the other delivery trucks in the village.
Randall Pitts said that traffic that would affect Church Street could be rerouted to Vine Street. He also read portions of the Planning Commission transcript asking for no ingress or egress onto Vine Street and asked for a contingency plan if Regions Bank does not allow the development to use its parking lot.
Dicky Barlow, superintendent of Mountain Brook City Schools, clarified that the Board of Education has not taken and position and does not plan to but that it looked closely at the safety of its students and the traffic on West Jackson and Vine Street. He said the board talked with Brewer about closing Vine Street access during carpool times and having an attendant in the school parking lot. The board would like to see the bulk of traffic enter and exit from Church Street and the orientation of the store be toward Church Street. "The board has taken this very seriously, and while we did not send an email blast to everyone, we came up with a list of ten concerns and posted them to our website," Barlow said.
Elisabeth Lyman said that a grocery store is the most basic need for the community. She also pointed out the new crosswalk and sidewalk on Vine Street in contrast to the current lack of safety regulations on the street.
Village Living will post an update on when the council will vote on the rezoning issue once it has been announced.
For more details on the proposed store, see our report on the Piggly Wiggly plans from the Nov. 3 Planning Commission Meeting