Planning commission votes in favor of Vine Street Piggly Wiggly

The city council chambers overflowed capacity on Nov. 3 for a controversial discussion regarding plans for a new Piggly Wiggly on Vine Street in Crestline. After more than two hours, the planning commission voted 4-3 to recommend plans for the store to the city council.

The rezoning issue will now go before the city council at its Nov. 24 meeting.

“We expect the city council to unravel the truck problems,” commission president Patrick Davis said following the vote.

Those voting against the plan said they were divided on the issue but didn’t feel comfortable recommending the plan in its current state. Among the concerns mentioned were the safety of children from Crestline Elementary and athletic events on its field, trucks entering the area, traffic increasing on Vine Street and adding a commercial development in an area that was designated in the city’s master plan to be for transitional development between residential and commercial areas.

“I want a Pig as much as the next person,” commission member Susan Swagler said just before voting against the plan, “but I have a hard time putting it in a buffer zone.”

Swagler also voiced that she was concerned that some people who wrote letters to the commission were more informed on the matter than she was at the time.

Council vice president Fred Murray, who ultimately voted in favor of the plan, said that it was not an easy decision and that he struggled on both sides of the issue.

“Either way I vote, there will be a thousand people who hate me,” he said. “A grocery store is an anchor for the village. The site is unfortunate, but it is the only solution if we want a grocery store.”

With the favorable decision, the commission voted in a block to rezone three lots on Vine Street for commercial development. Previously, 48 Vine Street was professional district, and 50 and 52 Vine Street were residential zoning. The commission also voted to approve conditional use for 55 Vine Street, the site of the current Girl Scout building, which would be relocated across the street if the grocery store is built.

During the meeting, the developers, traffic study consultants and a representative of residents opposing the store all made presentations, followed by comments from residents. Each is outlined below.

Pig building details

Architect Jeffrey Brewer of Goodwin, Mills and Cawood presented the developer’s current version of the plans for the store.

 “We have had a tremendous amount of energy from a lot of people to make this a new and exciting grocery store,” Brewer said, noting that the owners are the same as those who ran the former Crestline Piggly Wiggly for 30 years.

Brewer said that the development team looked at multiple sites, and when they landed at the one under consideration on Vine Street, their next step was to start meeting with the city’s planning commission and police and fire departments regarding safety, as well as the school board, the Crestline Elementary principal and superintendent Dicky Barlow.

“We have done our best to satisfy their concerns,” Brewer said. “The site plan has been a constant moving design.”

The current plan shows the main grocery store entrance on Church Street coming through the current Regions parking lot. Ninety parking spaces would be in a lot adjacent to the store. There would also be an access point to the store on Vine Street, and a new sidewalk and additional parking spaces would be created on Vine Street next to the Crestline Field.

Current recommendations call for West Jackson Boulevard to become a one-way street all the time so that no one leaving the store parking lot could turn right toward school.

To help with parking and safety, the store would provide attendants at a schedule to be determined later in the process.

Per the request of the board of education, an internal loop within the parking lot would be created so that cars do not have to turn around on Vine Street. Additionally, the entrance from Vine Street would be closed with a barricade during school pick-up and drop-off times, and all truck deliveries would be before 6:30 a.m. or after 6 p.m.

The developers would also create two new pedestrian crossings across Vine Street and build a decorative wrought iron fence and hedge on the east side of Vine Street along the field to act as a buffer; specifics for this could be determined by the school board.

Brewer also noted that the plan would conceal service areas. A gate would close the service entrance, and a dumpster would compact trash to allow for fewer pickups and be concealed. All other storage would be inside the building.

The building itself would be 18,000 square feet of retail space, with an additional 10,000 square feet of storage space, which would provide the store more breathing room in the retail space and allow for more inventory offerings. By contrast, the old store was 11,400 square feet of retail space and 3,600 square feet of storage space and had 45 parking places, and typical suburban grocery stores are 40,000-50,000 square feet.

Brewer showed renderings of the store plan with a brick facade, pitched roof and no back lit signage that he said would be “a nice presence” in contrast to the current empty lot and older homes.

“Any infill project will have pros and cons,” Brewer said. “It is up to us to mitigate those as much as we can. I have three kids at Crestline Elementary and want it to be safe as possible. I believe [the developers] will do everything they can to do it best for the community. It is it not perfect, but it is the one chance we have to bring Pig back to Crestline.”

To summarize many of the details of the plan, Brewer shared how they have accommodated eighth of the ten requests from the board of education. They were not able to locate the address on a street other than Vine Street, and they are currently working on obtaining access to the grocery store through the current CVS lot.

Traffic study recommendations

Richard Caudle of Skipper Consulting presented highlights of a 38-page traffic study report commissioned by the developer.

The study recommended installation of traffic light at Dexter Avenue and Church Street that would help with traffic backup in morning on Dexter as parents leave Crestline Elementary. It would also mitigate any future traffic and resolve the limit on sight distance due to parked cars at the intersection.

At Dexter Avenue and Vine Street, Skipper recommended removing stop signs on Vine Street and placing them on Dexter Avenue to mitigate queue that lines up on Vine Street and because Vine street is the major road at the intersection.

Regarding school traffic, they would attempt to limit nonschool traffic by posting “school traffic only” signs for 6:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. for those entering West Jackson Boulevard. They also recommended closing the Vine Street exit with a barricade during peak times of carpool.

Caudle recommended West Jackson and the first section of Vine Street in front of the Board of Education be one-way 24/7, and that the remainder of Vine Street be one-way 7:20 a.m.-4 p.m. on days when school is in session. In addition, trucks would never enter West Jackson in front of the school.

Trucks would take up more than their lane when turning, Caudle said, but delivery trucks are already doing this to service existing businesses in the village.

The trucks servicing the store would be 53-foot “shorter” trailers you see delivering at restaurants in the village.

Commission president Davis said that he was concerned with sweep of trucks and trailers and with the noise from larger deliveries at night. Commission member Williams suggested potentially putting limits on the times that trucks could deliver at night to mitigate noise, and Brewer said they would be open to recommendations on that.

Following Caudle’s presentation, Becky White of Sain Associates summarized her review of the traffic study by Skipper as she was retained to do by the city.

She found the Skipper study followed standard professional practices and erred conservatively on the high side of projecting traffic until 2019. She also agreed with most all of Skipper’s recommendations, but recommended the city consider the design issues of the Dexter Avenue-Church Street intersection and the potential for a light there. She also said the that tight corner radii in the village make it difficult for trucks to get through.

“It’s a trade-off decision for the city,” White said. “You have to decide what is more important, keeping parking spaces or addressing service issue. I believe that the traffic can be accommodated from this development with the roadway network. There will be some challenges though.”

Residents’ points of opposition

Ralph Bishop, who lives at 15 Elm Street on other side of the field from Vine Street, shared information prepared by Chris Heullums on behalf of neighbors concerned about the development. Bishop said that he wanted to remind of the commission of decisions made in the past.

“I loved Piggly Wiggly and would love for it to be back, but this location is the wrong location for it,” he said.

Bishop outlined how a White Paper commissioned by the city in 2006 and the Master Plan adopted in 2007 articulated how Crestline already has a lack of adequate parking.

The White Paper also stated how it was important to establish appropriate transition areas at the edges of the villages into residential areas, and the Master Plan specifically pointed out that the lots under question on Vine Street warranted special planning policies because they were close to the school and residences.

Furthermore, Bishop reminded the commission of the Vine Street Transitional District that the city adopted as ordinance in November 2013. The ordinance provided for compact appropriately scaled buildings for single-family dwellings or professional and office use to transition from village commercial in the area on Vine Street.

“It was important to this body and to the council that there be a transitional area,” Bishop told the commission. “If you rezone these properties, it almost appears as though we have thrown out years of study and thought for this one thing.”

Bishop also called into question a bias of the traffic study.

“It is my assumption that because the study was paid for by developer, it was most favorable to the developer,” he said.

Specifically, he pointed out how Skipper’s report showed that traffic patterns at Church Street and West Jackson, at Church Street and Regions bank, and at Church Street and the potential Pig entrance failed and that there was no reasonable improvement to mitigate it.

“A failure to observe planning will have a negative impact, it changes the character of neighborhood, it causes all of us to lose faith and trust,” Bishop said in conclusion.

Bishop ultimately asked that the commission reject the proposal and help the developer find another place to put a grocery store.

“It doesn’t take an expensive report, it just takes wisdom and common sense to know if you take a grocery store and bring it in, with drivers of every age and varying skills, and place it next door to an elementary school with children five years of age to 11 years of age, many who walk from school, and next door to the largest recreational area in the city that has never been taken into account in traffic study… it is simply a recipe for disaster, and I don’t say that flippantly,” he said. “I have watched close calls with children walking out on Vine Street, and if you multiply traffic, it will likely result in injury or death to a child. It’s why every study you commissioned asked for a transitional area between residential and commercial.”

Public comments

Adria Graham, a mother of two children at Crestline Elementary, said she wanted to bring the perspective of concerned parents. She was concerned that parents at the school were not notified earlier about the plans and that many of her friends might not be able to ask questions.

“When there is a lack of communication and things go under the radar, it sends up a red flag,” she said, asking the commission to postpone or deny rezoning. “You should allow residents and parents time to process this and get information.”

Catherine Loveman, a mother of two children who attend Crestline, said she wants a grocery store in Crestline but is opposed to this plan primarily because of Vine Street traffic specifically after school and on weekends. She counted 759 teams that used the field in 37 weeks between February and October. She also noted that Skipper observed field traffic at end of spring baseball season and start of summer baseball season and hence that it did not take into account traffic created by the field in peak sports seasons.

“I ask you to have no automobile access to Vine Street for customers and delivery trucks to ease my fear of the over 7,590 children in 37-week time period,” she said.

Cherie Harris, a resident of 17 Elm Street, said she is concerned with lights “blaring into homes.”

“My friends have suggested moving, and I am frightened for the health of my children, property value of my home and lack of privacy,” she said. “I have to fight to find parking space at my own house now.”

Kathryn Corey of Sharpsburg Drive said that it has been more than a year since the former Piggly Wiggly closed.

“I believe this is the best possible solution,” she said. “We know it is not perfect, but at present there is not another solution for a grocery store to serve Crestline Village. If you are anything like me, you are taking dollars outside the city. What’s represented here today is an effort on behalf of local businesses and to provide additional parking and a restroom to cover the athletic field. It can certainly still be tweaked. I hope to be seeing you all soon at my locally owned Piggly Wiggly.”

Many in the room applauded her comments.

George Sporl, a Crestline resident of 39 years, said he estimated he spent about $190,000 in the city of Mountain Brook in the 29 years the former Piggly Wiggly and that he has spent about $8,000 grocery shopping in the city of Birmingham, not the city of Mountain Brook, in the past year to grocery shop.

“And I know that number can be increased by the number of people who used to shop at the Pig,” he said. “I encourage you to do whatever necessary to allow the Pig to come back to Crestline where it belongs.”

Randall Pitts, a co-owner of property on Vine Street, said that “the speed at which a lot of this has happened has alarmed a lot of residents.”

He asked for clarification on parking requirements and questioned the parking counts in the Skipper study. He also stated that the traffic study only accounted for 10 hours over two days and said that noise concerns have not been addressed.

“We have lived without a local grocery store of the past year, we can make it another couple of months,” he said.

Elisabeth Lyman, a mother of three Crestline Elementary students, said that the plan is “not perfect” but that it is the only feasible one that could work in the area.

“I am excited to send my kids across the field to buy something when I forget it for dinner,” she said. “A grocery store increases property value.”

She also noted that residents opposed the Publix on Montclair Road coming, the dirt pile that is now Cahaba Village and the Lane Parke development.

Susan Noland, a Crestline resident, noted that the parking lots were not totally full during the day for the old store.

Laura Dunning, a mother of two children who will attend Crestline Elementary, noted that the new Pig is larger than the old one and that the traffic study did not adequately look at traffic after school hours. She also pointed out that residents can shop at Western in Mountain Brook Village and that none of the other developments brought up such as Publix and Lane Parke were next to an elementary school.

Julie Howell, who owns Lamb’s Ears, asked for a clarification on truck routes. Caudle said no parking spaces would be removed to accommodate them.