Looking forward

What started as a vision of one man, Robert Jemison Jr., nearly 90 years ago has since grown to become a thriving city nestled in the mountainside of Birmingham. Mountain Brook, albeit a smaller city compared to its neighbors, has grown and evolved significantly since it got its start 75 years ago.

The first settler in the area, James Rowan, purchased property in 1821 in what would later become Mountain Brook. 

Within 15 years, the community had nearly tripled in size both geographically and numerically. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 20,590 people called Mountain Brook their home in 2016 — a number that has been relatively steady for at least the last decade.

Population growth has not been a huge factor in the evolution of the city, but for good reason: it’s landlocked and can’t expand much further. 

“It’s hard, because we just don’t have room to grow except up I guess … I don’t see high rises, that’s just not the Mountain Brook feel,” said Lori Smith, president of the Chamber of Commerce.

City Manager Sam Gaston said that the city doesn’t have many “large tracts of land” that are available, and there are limited options for annexations even if it was something Mountain Brook was interested in.

“I’m sure if the city did annex some land, it would be very selective annexations,” he said. 

So what could the future — either in five or 75 years — hold for the community?

“Our future definitely is through infill development and redevelopment,” Gaston said. Because there’s little land that is available to the city or residents to build on, it’s more likely that older buildings and areas will be renovated or rebuilt to freshen the city. 

Gaston said in the upcoming years, residents will be able to enjoy the completion of Lane Parke, which is an example of the redevelopment that the city is looking to accomplish. 

“Our future is going to be the second phase of Lane Parke, and then of course you’ve got both sides of Office Park are in Mountain Brook, and there might be redevelopment on the east side,” he said.

Suzan Doidge, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce, agreed. 

“I think we’re going to be very much the same. I think we’ll look the same, but better,” she said. “And what I mean by that is kinda back into that infill development.”

She believes a redevelopment of Office Park in Mountain Brook Village, which was the first organized office park in the country, is in the future, too. “I can see that being maybe the next big development,” she said. “Maybe not in my lifetime, but in the future.”

As far easing transportation goes, the city is already working on completing a roundabout project in Mountain Brook Village and adding even more sidewalks to its neighborhoods.

Currently, there are 45 miles of sidewalks and walking trails in Mountain Brook, and Gaston said their existence has helped increase the quality of life for residents of all ages. 

“Believe it or not, there are a number of retirees that are moving to our community,” Doidge said. “On Euclid, there’s five or six people that have sold their big houses and moved to a smaller house … but they can walk to the grocery store, they walk to dinner, they walk to the library.”

Through the sidewalk master plan, officials are in the process of planning more segments that would connect existing sidewalks. 

The roundabout project looks more toward vehicular traffic, which has been a concern in Mountain Brook for many years.

“As far as traffic, we have probably the best maintained roads in the area by far, but at the same time, we do have a lot of traffic that cuts through Mountain Brook,” Gaston said. The city has previously looked at eight or nine intersections and made adjustments accordingly, and now it has applied for a second APPLE grant to determine how to better manage congestion for residents.

But regardless of the outcomes of the Mountain Brook’s various projects, Gaston said the city — and the resources, community, municipal government and local schools that accompany it — hopes to continue to be known as “a premier city in Alabama and the nation.” 

– Erica Techo and Emily Featherston contributed to this article.