PELL CITY — The Pell City Council heard from residents of Florida Road Monday night over objections to the possible annexation and zoning of property for a residential development.
The council ultimately tabled the issue to a later date because of a property line dispute on a small portion of the property in question, but carried on with the public hearing because a small crowd had gathered in the council’s chambers.
City Attorney John Rea said the hearing was primarily to discuss zoning the property as Residential-4 before its annexation but would also cover the annexation as the two had been combined for the city’s agenda.
He also advised the council about the boundary dispute which he said affected only around 25 feet of the over 80 acre property.
Rea also pointed out that the property is adjacent to the city limits but does not fall inside them.
Zoning maps available on Pell City’s website show that Florida Road does not sit in the city limits.
James Cassidy, of Hoover, who represented the developer TCG Oak Village, LLC addressed the council first and simply asked for the council’s consideration of the annexation and zoning.
Florida Road Resident Beverly Barber addressed the council and mentioned a petition that had been signed by many of her neighbors in opposition to the proposed 216 house development.
“There’s over 200 signatures of people who are opposed to this annexation,” she said. “Well it’s not the annexation it’s the traffic that will result if the exits are placed as the proposal is laid out.”
Barber said she and her neighbor already experience traffic issues on Florida Road and fear it will only get worse if the development places its exits on the road as proposed.
She also expressed concern that the city would have no way of fixing these issues since Florida Road is not a city maintained road. Barber also expressed some concern that the city may simply take the right of way it needs from residents if it were to improve the road, something City Manager Brian Muenger said the city has no plans to do.
Barber also expressed concern about the development increasing traffic on Vaughn Lane near Wal-mart.
“This creates a traffic issue for everyone,” she said. “We do not understand why the city would allow the developer to put these exits where it’s going to create this problem.”
Barber suggested the city simply have the developer build a road connecting the development to a more developed road way.
She also mentioned, early in her remarks, that the resident of Florida road had seen a traffic study carried out that was flawed and would not have given an accurate count of traffic on the road.
Council President Jud Alverson addressed this directly, saying that the council had not seen the results of any traffic study. He also pointed out that the council had already been advised to table the issue and was simply wanting to hear Barber and her neighbor’s concerns.
Cassidy said that the developer had only commissioned a traffic study after the vote on the matter at the city planning commission and that the study is currently underway. He said once that is done TCG will present the study to the county and move forward from there.
“We are prepared to do whatever the traffic study says we need to do,” Cassidy said.
The only other person to address the council was Alton Phillips of Phillips Lane. He simply asked if the city had any ordinances looking at buffers or setbacks between his property and the subdivision.
Councilman Jason Mitcham, the council liaison to the planning and zoning commission, said setbacks of a variety of types are looked at when a development is sent to the planning commission.
Phillips said he simply worried about the cul-de-sacs being close to his property line, but said he had discussed the matter with Cassity.
Ultimately the council took Rea’s recommendation and took no action on the matter.
Muenger said that over 100 people came to the planning and zoning meeting on the matter and that he felt some residents had been told some disinformation like that the city was going to annex the whole road.
“We’ve stood in planning commission and we’ve told people the truth, which is that we are considering a voluntary annexation request only,” he said. “We are not doing anything with other people’s property.”
Muenger also said without a traffic study of Florida Road, he does not see a reason to assume the traffic on the road is particularly bad.
“I think the proper first question is why do you say there are traffic issues on the road because I have seen nothing that says that,” he said. “That road is quite robust, it’s every bit as large as any other county road.”
Muenger said the road is more robust than Hardwick Road, 19th Street and many other roads in the city that see large amounts of traffic.
Councilman Blaine Henderson pointed out that the council has only heard opinions so far, not hard data.
Muenger also said that the development itself will be subject to a full planning commission approval process as well, which will look at hard data as part of the process.
In other matters, the council:
— Held a public hearing to assess the grass and weed nuisance abatement costs of properties on sixth avenue, stemley bridge road, tyler street and first avenue south. Noone spoke during the hearing and the abatement costs were approved;
— Approved setting a public herding for Sept. 12, 2022 at 6 p.m. regarding grass and weed nuisances;
— Approved a resolution authorizing assignment and assumption of the project development agreement with Noon Pell City, LLC;
— Approved a resolution adopting the Hazard Mitigation plan for AEA Division G Counties;
— Approved an agreement with the Alabama Department of Transportation regarding improvements to pedestrian sidewalk ramps within the city;
— Approved a resolution adopting updated utility regulations;
— Approved a resolution authorizing the McKesson Opioid Alabama Settlement Agreement;
— Approved a resolution authorizing the Janssen Opioid Alabama Alabama Settlement Agreement;
— Approved changing the operating hours of the civic center so that it will open at 5 a.m. on weekdays;
— Approved an emergency extension to an agreement with Waste Management Services inc for an amount not to exceed $170,000
— Awarded a bid for the collection and disposal of residential solid waste to Arrow Disposal for a price of $20.25 beginning Sept. 1. The service will include weekly pick up and bi-weekly brush service of up to six cubic yards of brush. The city will also charge a $2.75 fee for roll off dumpster service which will also be included in their final bill; and
— Awarded a bid for commercial collection and disposal of commercial solid waste to Waste Management Services.
