Residents voice concerns about Lane Parke drive-thrus

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So many Mountain Brook residents attended Monday’s City Council meeting that those who arrived after 7 p.m. were forced to stand in the back. By then, the rows of chairs lining the chamber had already been filled.

Most came to make one thing abundantly clear: They don’t want drive-thrus to take over Lane Parke.

The three city councilors present — Council President Virginia Smith, Billy Pritchard and Lloyd Shelton — listened for more than an hour to residents’ concerns about a proposed ordinance to the Lane Parke Planned Unit Development (PUD) master plan. 

Most importantly, the ordinance would amend the original traffic and access plan to allow alternate drive-thru locations and change the base zoning standards to allow four drive-thrus instead of three. The council delayed a vote on the ordinance and will continue the hearing at its Aug. 26 meeting. 

The ordinance came before the council because the city’s Planning Commission approved the revisions in July. 

“There are only three of us here tonight, and it’s the day before school starts,” Smith said, referring to the absence of councilors Phil Black and Alice Womack. “We want the full council here.” 

Residents on Monday responded to a pair of presentations given by Mel McElroy, an attorney with Maynard Cooper Gale who represents Lane Parke developer Evson, Inc., and Richard Caudle, a traffic engineer with Skipper Consulting. 

McElroy explained the changes that Evson desires and why it desires them. He said that potential tenants have expressed interest in leasing space at Lane Parke but need the guarantee of drive-thru capability before committing.

The original Lane Parke PUD outlines five types of businesses that can have drive-thrus. They include banks and financial institutions, pharmacies, dry cleaners, coffee shops and specialty food concepts such as bakeries, delis or ice cream shops. McElroy said coffee operators have shown interest in opening in Lane Parke’s second phase, though he did not disclose any names.

“We do not know what store or brand of coffee shop will go in there,” McElroy said. “We don’t have a deal struck with any one of them.” 

According to the proposed PUD amendment, adding a drive-thru coffee shop would alter the flow of traffic, eliminate parking spaces and, as Sim Johnson pointed out, remove communal green space from the original plan. Johnson is chairman of Mountain Brook’s Board of Landscape Design and on Monday displayed a rendering of the approved landscape plans for Lane Parke’s second phase. The coffee shop drive-thru lane would replace trees and shrubs included in the approved PUD.

Caudle followed McElroy and delivered the results of a traffic study for the proposed coffee shop drive-thru. Skipper Consulting conducted a study at two Starbucks locations in the area, on Montclair Road in Birmingham and on U.S. 11 in Trussville. The study found that a drive-thru lane for a coffee shop in Lane Parke's second phase won’t be able to contain all vehicles during peak business periods, resulting in a backup that would temporarily block traffic in both directions on Jemison Lane. 

“It hardly seems like that would be an immaterial event,” Shelton said. “It seems like it would be a bit cumbersome.” 

The study itself drew criticism from residents like Patrick Darby, who said that it lacked a stated methodology and yielded invalid research. He also alluded to the traffic delays a drive-thru would exacerbate in an area that already gets congested. 

In a letter to city officials, he wrote that “this issue deserves adequate study and analysis before we further complicate the traffic situation in this critical area of the city.”

Victor Hanson shared Darby’s concerns and voiced a few of his own. He said that he has lived in Mountain Brook Village for eight years and has seen it suffer mightily in that time due to Lane Parke's development. He referenced the loss of small businesses like Little Hardware that has altered the nature of shopping and of the village itself. 

Hanson said he fears that the village's character will continue to change, especially if Lane Parke draws away a key tenant like Starbucks to fill the drive-thru coffee shop location. Residents speculated about that possibility during the meeting. 

Hanson's remarks, like a handful delivered on Monday, evoked a round of applause from many in attendance.  

“I just don’t think this is the right move for the city at this time,” he said.  

Also on Monday, the council:

  • Approved an ordinance permitting and regulating the sale of alcoholic beverages for on-premises, off-premises or both on- and off-premises consumption beginning on Sundays at 10 a.m. In June, the council approved an ordinance that allowed Sunday alcohol sales to begin at 10 a.m. instead of noon for on-premises consumption at restaurants. The new ordinance expands sales to stores.
  • Ratified the execution of a contractor agreement for $9,600 between the city and Reno Plumbing & Sewer Services, Inc. with respect to the installation of new water service at the Crestline Elementary School field. The city will be adding a restroom onto the existing concession stand building.
  • Authorized the expenditure of up to $3,000 on Cove Drive traffic island improvements.
  • Appointed poll workers for the Sept. 24 special election regarding an ad valorem property tax increase to benefit the school system.
  • Amended the council’s policies on board appointments. 
  • Appointed new members to the Village Design Review Committee.
  • Recognized Jamie Gregory for serving on the Planning Commission.
  • Approved the minutes from its July 22 meeting.
  • Announced that it will hold an open work session for the 2019-20 fiscal year budget on Aug. 29 at 8 a.m. in Room A106 of city hall. There also will be a public involvement meeting Aug. 15 from 5 to 7 p.m. at city hall regarding the proposed bridge projects for Old Brook Trail and Canterbury Road. 

The City Council will hold its next meeting Aug. 26 at 7 p.m.