Photo by Lexi Coon.
Resident Raheel Farough talks about the proposed revisions to the professional zoning district during the council meeting on March 25.
During Monday evening’s meeting, Police Chief Ted Cook presented a potential memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the home security system Ring. To help solve investigations in the area, the Mountain Brook Police Department wanted to review a possible agreement with the security company that could aid in obtaining information.
Cook said the MOU would allow the police department to be part of the new Neighbors by Ring app. According to Google Play, “Neighbors is the new neighborhood watch,” and allows people on the app to get “real-time crime and safety alerts from your neighbors and local law enforcement.”
Neighbors is set up similarly to the popular community app Nextdoor, and allows users to set their own geofence to surround the area from which they want to receive alerts. The app works with any home video surveillance and security system, Cook said.
The idea is that users can post on the app — “We want you to call the police first, of course,” Cook said — and through a specific law enforcement portal, the police department would be able to see published information that is public to help with gathering information. Cook said the police would not receive push notifications, but would be able to see public posts.
Police would also be able to request information from neighbors within certain areas, such as additional pictures or videos that people may have to help with investigations, but, Cook said, any contact with residents or users of the app would be done through Ring itself.
“We can’t access the members of the app’s videos or pictures or anything else,” Cook said. “But through Ring, we can get better information, probably faster than if we went out and canvassed an area.”
The MOU was approved contingent on legal review.
City council also held a second public hearing regarding Article X of the city code, which pertains to permitted uses in the professional zoning district. The first was on Feb. 25.
Council members did not vote due to the number of requests to carry the issue to a later meeting since many families are out of town for spring break, although two residents did express concern over the language of the article’s proposed revisions.
Raheel Farough, who spoke on Feb. 25, and Floyd Burman both said they thought anything zoned for professional zoning district should be contiguous with another business district, like mixed-use, and not able to be in a residential district. Farough also said the district should include a requirement for notice if a business in the district, which under the revisions would be approved on conditional use, changes.
The council had previously discussed having a provision for notices during the premeeting and agreed to include a requirement for notices to be sent out by certified mail to all residents within 500 feet of the business, as the city currently does for rezoning.
Because the council did not vote and the provision for notices was added, the matter was carried to the April 23 meeting.
Also during the March 25 meeting, council members:
- Heard from Blountsville Fire District Chief Sam Johnson, who thanked the city and council members for selling a used fire truck to the district at a discounted price. Aside from Johnson, the Blountsville Fire District is fully volunteer. “I could send a letter, but that’s not personal enough, I wanted to let you know I appreciate you,” Johnson said.
- Proclaimed April as Donate Life Month.
- Approved the minutes of the March 11 and specially called March 20 meeting. During the meeting on March 20, council approved an ordinance amending Chapter 117 of the City Code with respect to Flood Damage. They also authorized Leadership Mountain Brook to apply for the $5,000 Remy Fund grant for a proposed dog park and the expenditure by the city of up to $5,000 for the dog park if the grant is awarded.
- Reappointed Lynn Ritchie to the Villages Design Review Committee, to serve without compensation, the term to end March 25, 2022.
- Authorized the city’s participation in the 2019 sales tax holiday beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, July 19, and ending at twelve midnight on Sunday, July 21.
- Authorized the proposed Montrose Circle traffic island improvements.Approved revised internal control policies and procedures.
- Approved a funding agreement with ALDOT for resurfacing various rods in the city.
The next meeting will be April 8, and the following meeting will be Tuesday, April 23, due to the Student Showcase on April 22.
