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Photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
Lloyd Shelton speaks at the Mountain Brook City Council meeting on Tuesday, April 28, 2026. Photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
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Photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
Chrissie Goldman speaks at the Mountain Brook City Council meeting on Tuesday, April 28, 2026. Photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
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Photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
Director of Planning, Building and Sustainability Dana Hazen speaks at the Mountain Brook City Council meeting on Tuesday, April 28, 2026. Photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
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Photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
Joe Sandner speaks at the Mountain Brook City Council meeting on Tuesday, April 28, 2026. Photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
The future of Mountain Brook businesspeople greeting and serving clients in their own residence was discussed during the City Council meeting on Tuesday night.
After details of the proposed ordinance were presented, residents spoke for and against the measure that could eliminate the practice of welcoming clients to their homes. Noise, parking and traffic were among the primary concerns.
Lloyd Shelton said the long-discussed ordinance leans toward one of two extremes: no restriction or no home occupation at all.
“Zero just doesn't feel right,” he said. “To me, it just doesn't feel right. It feels like overreaction.”
Reading from the code, Dana Hazen, Director of Planning, Building and Sustainability, said the city’s intent is to protect the integrity of its residential areas. The initial ordinance of 1997 allowed residents to serve clients in their homes if they were tutoring or teaching music.
That stood for 20 years when, in 2017, “we decided to open it up to all kinds of businesses in the home,” Hazen said. “We did not limit the type of business that could have clients in the home. We limited the number of vehicles that could be parked on a drive to two. Also you could not use the street, which was actually in the previous ordinance.
“Once we changed the ordinance in 2017, we quickly began to see some adverse impacts of some businesses on their neighbors and again started to get complaints around 2019.
“It's just become very acute over the past five or six years to the point that the council adopted a moratorium on May 27, 2025 to limit for six months any new businesses from being licensed that saw clients in the home while we studied [the matter].”
The proposed ordinance says no new licenses are to be issued for home occupations that see clients in the home, with the exception of music lessons and tutoring, and those limited to two clients at a time. Existing home occupations that see clients in the home who have a current license and operate within the current ordinance are to have a sunset provision one year from the date of ordinance adoption.
“After that,” Hazen said, “they would need to relocate their operations from the home to a commercial or professional zoning district, or they can see clients in their client’s home.”
Chrissie Goldman, speaking on behalf of her parents Martha and Turner Hudson, said a medical clinic was established in the residence next to her childhood home.
“An urgent care clinic was opening and functioning on Nash Circle,” Goldman said. “It ruined the peaceful nature of the circle I grew up on. It was like hummingbirds coming to get GLP-1 out of a mini fridge that was unattended on the side of the house. When those people would come and go, they would park in the middle of the circle and [they] would pin in my family in our driveway. It was extremely difficult.”
Lauren Hendrix is a physical therapist who sees clients in her home on Locksley Drive. This allows her to be home with her two young children and see student clients at a time that’s convenient for them.
“I'm seeing these kids in the evenings from 5 to 7 at night while my kids are home,” she said. “I don't think that I'm being disruptive to the neighborhood or the community. All of my neighbors have been nothing but supportive. But if I was not, if I was obstructing the residents, I would hope that they would at least come to me or come to you guys.
“Y'all could fine me [or] give me a warning, and we could come to some kind of conclusion where we could make that work,” Hendrix said. “But then I could also operate out of my home. I could also give the community the benefit that they need, and that they could come to me ... where a typical clinic isn't open.”
Joe Sandner said he understands and recognizes that the ultimate purpose of the home occupation ordinance is to protect the integrity of residential areas.
“But I would maintain that many of these businesses improve and enhance the integrity, charm and character of our residential areas, and do not take away from them,” he said. “Certainly, they're businesses that have been problems and those need to be addressed and are being addressed, and I thank you for that. But this ordinance, as it stands now, I still think it limits or eliminates educational opportunities that support Mountain Brook students and teachers.
“Our students are enriched when they take painting, pottery or any other fine art instruction, not just music,” Sandner said. “The reputation of our school system in our community is strengthened and enhanced by specialized athletic training, cheer physical conditioning that elevates the performance for our high school athletes and come summertime, our preschoolers and infants in our neighborhoods are safer from learning how to swim in someone's backyard pool. These are not large-scale commercial operations. These are our neighbors, moms, dads, granddads, who are using their talents and passions, often on a part-time or seasonal basis, to educate and improve the lives of our children.”
Shelton said the key comes down to being a good neighbor.
“We've got some people that clearly are not good neighbors,” he said. “You're running a medical clinic [from your home]. They knew what they were doing. That's just not being a good neighbor. Now we're going to say no more businesses, no more seeing clients at home. We've got people that have been seeing clients at home for years and they play well with each other. They're good neighbors, they're responsible.
“It just seems excessive,” Shelton said. “I'm struggling with it. I don't know what the right thing is.”
Council members heard a first reading of the ordinance on Tuesday. The matter will be on the agenda of the next council meeting on May 11.
Earlier, state Rep. David Faulkner addressed the council, presenting a resolution from the governor to School Resource Officer Richard Knecht, who was previously tabbed the city’s employee of the year. Mayor Graham Smith presented a proclamation for Small Business Week.
In other business, the council:
Appointed Anna Comer to the board of education.
Changed the criteria for annexations.
Approved a Skipper proposal to study parking on Park Brook at Jemison Park.
Set May 18 as the date for the fiscal 2027 budget kickoff session.
Approved geotechnical exploration services for the Locksley fire station site.
The next meeting of the Mountain Brook City Council is May 11 at 7 p.m.
