Photo courtesy of Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
Developer Allan Worthington
A public hearing held last week generally yielded positive responses from residents who turned out to Mountain Brook City Hall to hear about a request to rezone a parcel from local business to a planned unit development (PUD) for a luxury senior living facility.
The matter was initially discussed at a City Council meeting in November 2023.
“It seemed like they were very responsive to the changes we made,” Allan D. Worthington, principal and CEO of Dominion Partners, said after the two-hour meeting on Tuesday, May 21. “I didn't hear anyone with concerns about the changes we made on Cahaba Road, which were the bigger changes. I was really pleased with the response tonight."
Amanda Loper said she likes that the development company is proposing housing for a population that really needs housing.
“They are the boomers, they make up a large part of our community and their housing needs are different than they were maybe 20, 30 years ago,” she said. “I really like that this would be a place for folks to go into that next season and stay connected to their community and close to their community. Maybe then the houses they move out of, their grandkids or younger families can move into and then go to the great schools we have here.”
Loper said the changes she saw presented were not insignificant.
“They pushed the building back a really significant amount (and) they've lowered a story,” she said. “Those are pretty big changes that probably affected the economics of the building. From my perspective, which is an outside one, I think the project sponsor is working to accommodate the community's requests.”
Photo courtesy of Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
Charlie Perry said two of his favorite people have already expressed interest in residing at the proposed senior living facility. He noted three issues residents had with the original plan.
“The first one was it would overpower the village and destroy the ambiance,” he said. “The second one was it would increase congestion and density and traffic issues. The third one was flooding.
The revised plan “helps the ambiance/overpowering issue because they've moved it back,” Perry said. “It's an improvement as far as the degree to which it overpowers the architecture. That's better.”
Perry said he was not as confident about the discussed answers to the other issues.
“I'm not happy with the traffic report because they've never gotten it right yet, even when I was planning commission chairman,” he said. “|It just doesn't work.”
Worthington and others on his team said stormwater drainage will be better when the Dominion development is in place. Perry was unconvinced.
“The concept is good, but they don't have anything down so I don't know,” he said. “I will say that the engineers on every project, every big project, have been wrong. I won't say they're wrong now but they've not shown us in their report.”
Worthington said he totally understands resident concerns, especially with Mountain Brook’s history of stormwater issues.
“I get that,” he said. “We hired qualified, competent experts to do the traffic study. Skipper (Consulting) has been doing traffic study for as long as I've been around.”
As for stormwater, Worthington said, “We're controlling the water through basically what I call a bladder that holds the water in it. That's a pretty good way to do it and I think we're going to do really, really well.”
Fire Chief Chris Mullins expressed concern that the facility could increase the number of non emergency calls for his department.
“I have no problem with emergencies. That's what we're here for,” the chief said. “It's the non emergency lift-assists that should be performed by the staff that they're not performing that they call the fire department for.”
Mountain Brook Fire Department has answered calls from other retirement facilities when residents fall and can’t get up on their own.
“This is nothing new for us,” he said. “The difference is, in my opinion, if you're living in an assisted living facility, the word says 'assisted living.' That's living with assistance.
“Assistance means if I fall, you (a staff member) can get me up if I'm not injured,” Mullins said. “If you're injured, it's a totally different thing. If you're not injured, you're paying for that assistance.”
“I'm not being calloused,” the chief continued. “I just have to be careful because we have to provide service for all the residents here. If my call volume goes up by 10% immediately, then I'm gonna be scrambling. I don't want to be making calls at a facility where they should be taking care of themselves.”
The council took no action on the rezoning request and will revisit the matter at an upcoming council meeting.
