Site plan by Nequette Architecture and Design.
A proposed revised site plan for the 3.8-acre site that formerly was home to Shades Valley Presbyterian Church would replace 26 stacked flats with seven townhomes. That would mean a total of 10 townhomes along Montevallo Road with 13 single-family homes behind them.
The Mountain Brook City Council soon will consider a proposed change in plans for the Hollywood Gateway planned unit development along Montevallo Road.
The Montevallo Road Development Group is proposing to remove 26 stacked flats from the plans for the 3.8-acre property that once was home to Shades Valley Presbyterian Church and replace them with seven more townhomes.
This would mean a total of 10 townhomes along Montevallo Road and 13 single-family homes behind the townhomes.
The proposed zoning change was recommended by the Mountain Brook Planning Commission on Sept. 8 and was expected to go before the City Council either on Sept. 28 or Oct. 12.
Residents of Chester Road, which leads from Mountain Brook Village to the development site, said they were concerned about how the proposed changes would impact the tranquility of their street.
“My concern is still the traffic onto our little road,” resident Jane Grant told the Planning Commission. “The original condominium building did not have any access to it. It was going in and out of Montevallo Road.”
The revised proposal would open up traffic from the townhomes to Chester Road as well.
Dan McCreary, another resident on Chester Road, recalled the point being made that Chester Road residents should take comfort in the fact that the 26 stacked residential units that were in the upper portion of the development had no access to their street.
“That was offered as a conciliatory measure. That was specifically noted as something that should give us some comfort,” he said. “This redesign takes away that comfort and exposes us to another 10 residences that could choose to come down our street. Obviously, we don’t know whether they’ll take it or not. We don’t know exactly what these houses are going to do to our street now because they haven’t started using it yet. But the mere fact that you would increase by another 10 residences the potential for vehicular — and I guess pedestrian — traffic also is a great concern to the neighborhood, as I think you can tell from the turnout.”
Dana Hazen, Mountain Brook’s director of planning, building and sustainability, suggested that perhaps a gate could be installed to limit access. Elizabeth Coleman liked that idea.
“I heard some conversation earlier about how you don’t know why anyone would want to go to all that trouble to go around that way [onto Chester Road], but that’s speculation,” Coleman said. “I would think, in order to be fair to the original agreement, these townhomes that face Montevallo would also not have access to our road.”
Victor Hanson III renewed the suggestion that the development would mirror their homes on Chester Road, with minimum 10-square-foot lots and similar setback requirements. That would have allowed seven or eight houses instead of the 13 that were approved, he said. Now, this plan adds traffic from 10 townhomes on top of that.
The Planning Commission recommended that the developers be required to put the most parking possible — preferably angled parking — along Montevallo Road. Additionally, the commission suggested that there be controlled access from the development to Chester Road.
