Photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
Billy Pritchard speaks during the April 22, 2024 Mountain Brook precouncil meeting.
To close or not to close? That is the question.
At the pre-meeting of the Mountain Brook City Council on April 22, residents of Halbrook Lane heard potential answers to their request to close their street to eliminate cut-through traffic.
Some concern was expressed for Mountain Brook’s relationship with neighboring Vestavia Hills, whose residents and first responders have used the thoroughfare. Councilman Lloyd Shelton said that ranked lower on his scale than giving residents of his city the relative calm they desire.
“I'm not concerned with hurting Vestavia's feelings, quite honestly,” Shelton said. “We've thrown out even more hypotheticals. There's one issue and there's a solution, and that's to close it off.
“We've said, ‘Well, we can put planters in the middle of the road. We've talked about a speed bump farm,’” he said. “We've talked all about those things but none of those are typically used to control volume. Those (address) speed issues.”
Council member Graham Smith cautioned that the council’s decision can yield “unintended consequences.”
“We always have [those consequences] in all of our decisions,” she said. “I do worry about Cromwell [Drive being burdened with the diverted traffic]. Specifically, we've had our police department and our fire department say they're uneasy with the solution of closing this road because it [affects] their response times.”
Police Chief James “Jaye” A. Loggins acknowledged the cooperation and support that Mountain Brook and Vestavia Hills have provided to one another. That was particularly evident The Vestavia Hills church shooting occurred on June 16, 2022 when a man entered Vestavia’s St. Stephen's Episcopal Church and opened fire during a potluck meeting which the church had previously advertised.
Two people were killed at the scene and a third died later in the hospital.
“I'm not totally averse to closing the road but I'm uneasy to even attempt that without having tried some remedial action in some sort of direction,” Smith said, citing no-cut-through signage and a Google map divergent.
Billy Pritchard chaired the meeting in the absence of President Virginia Smith. He said he appreciated the sentiments expressed by Shelton and Graham Smith.
“This was a terribly difficult situation,” he said, acknowledging that the minimum three council members were present. “The nuclear option – and I call it the nuclear option – that what you're asking is dramatic. It might be the right answer.”
Pritchard said the council, aided by the city attorney, should lay out the process by which the road would be closed.
“We ought to communicate it to Vestavia and tell them this is where we are headed,” he said. “I know Vestavia is their world and Mountain Brook is our world. They're looking out for their folks; we're looking out for ours. I don't think we just all of a sudden go off without some kind of cooperation about communicating what's getting ready to happen so they can make the appropriate steps themselves. That's what it seems like to me.”
City Attorney Whit Colvin cautioned the council that vacating the street to make it private is not an easily reversed decision. If Halbrook Lane becomes a private street, access would be determined by adjacent property owners.
During the meeting, the council:
- Approved a contract with Friends of Jemison Park for the Woodland Trail bridge that will cross Shades Creek in Jemison Park. The Friends have raised the funds for construction of the bridge and once the bridge is built, it will be turned over to the city. The plan is for the bridge to be set in August with likely opening no sooner than September.
- Reappointed Brandon Plowden to the board of landscape design.
- Accepted the annual report from the Mountain Brook Chamber of Commerce.
- Authorized the sale or disposal of certain surplus property.
- Recommended that the State of Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board issue a 020-restaurant retail liquor license for Frida’s Cocina & Cantina, which will likely open after May 5.
- Heard the first reading of an amendment to Chapter 38 of the Mountain Brook Code which governs activity on municipal property, including parks. Pritchard noted a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that could affect the constitutionality of the amendment.
In other action, Mayor Stewart Welch III read a proclamation for Police Week and another for Small Business Week. He and Pritchard acknowledged Brian Lucas for his dedicated service on the Parks and Recreation Board.
The next meeting of the Mountain Brook City Council will be 7 p.m. on May 13.
