Councilman Frets About Downtown Losing "Charm"

Fairhope, Alabama 

 

Big buildings under construction.

Proposed 404 Oak Ave. rezoning.

 

REZONING REQUESTED

During a lengthy discussion recently about rezoning a converted house at 404  Oak Avenue from B-4 (office space) to B-2 (general business), council members worried about setting an unwanted precedent for the entire central business district. 

The current owner has indicated intentions for a restaurant there but rezoning would allow a multitude of possible uses for all potential owners of the property in the future.

Councilman Burrell insisted on adding conditions to preserve the character of the existing structure with an emphasis on the view from Oak Avenue, so "the whole roof line is protected" -- and potential additions could not go any higher anywhere on the property. 

(A rezoning request in the CBD gives the opportunity to add such restrictions; the planning commission already added several, according to planning director Simmons. )

Councilman Martin also wanted to focus on planning long-range; raised the possibility of just "leaving it B-4" to avoid potential noise and traffic increases -- as well as parking issues in the neighborhood.

Councilman Conyers said he was not enthusiastic about such "up zoning" but did not want to be too restrictive either: "enhancing downtown" should be the goal he added.

CITY LOSING CHARM?

Councilman Robinson worried about the future of the whole central business district: " ... not just this project ... but every project that comes in front of us like this ...  (my) goal being to enhance the downtown business district ... one of the hallmarks that makes Fairhope different ... from everywhere else ... maintain the charm, character, integrity of what is already down there ... maybe in a new and innovative way .... ."

FIRST DOMINO?

Robinson called this case potentially the first domino: "There are a lot of old buildings in bad shape  ... that we may see requests to do things with ... looking at a coming change ... what downtown looks like ...  (I) see these big buildings going up ... they look really ... big!"

Robinson conceded he had voted to approve the site plans for the new buildings; but added they looked a lot different "on paper."

MORE USE RESTRICTIONS TO BE ADDED

The council decided to add more restrictions for future use of the Oak Avenue property (maintain current roof line, no shopping centers); the rezoning ordinance will have to be advertised again in local newspapers before coming to the council again for a final vote.

MAYOR WEIGHS IN

When asked about Robinson's "charm" concerns later, mayor Sullivan said no changes are being contemplated to allowable building height -- but switching to form based zoning codes is being discussed to help maintain the character of downtown.

Sullivan: "We are not looking at lowering the height limit, just looking at form-based codes that ensure that we are keeping the character of downtown."

Such codes rely more on building appearances than just uses, as is the case with conventional zoning.