Height and master plan focus of joint meeting
By Grace Lovins
Continuing their work on addressing bonus height provisions and the 2040 master plan, Birmingham City Commissioners and Planning Board members met to discuss the items on Monday, October 21, during a joint workshop.
The city’s planning board began working on addressing bonus height provisions in the Triangle District earlier this year, noting a short-term need to improve the provision, considered phase one, and a long-term need to review the basic pillars for offering such a bonus, considered phase two.
During phase one discussions, board members talked about the current mixed-use provision that grants developers additional floors in exchange for commercial activity and LEED certification. Phase two is meant to be a deeper analysis of the provisions for bonus heights and the purpose of “incentive zoning.”
With city staff, the planning board developed eight approaches to addressing the provision that they believe would balance the goals of the master plan with development and public benefit.
Board members sought direction from city commissioners on which of the eight approaches they should focus on: public parking; sustainability; transit access; affordable/attainable/moderately priced housing; public amenities; urban design; mixed-use or transfer of development rights.
Most commissioners agreed on public amenities and urban design being two approaches that would work well in the Triangle District. “The Triangle District has almost no green space, so if we could incentivize creating greenscape, I think anything that would invite something green and for people to gather would be huge,” said mayor pro tem Katie Schafer, who was acting as mayor in the absence of mayor Elaine McLain.
Several commissioners also brought up affordable/attainable/moderately priced housing as a potential focus. They noted the importance of affordable housing to attract young people to the city, but also provided suggestions at looking into the causes of high rental costs. Commissioner Therese Longe stated parking rates drive unit prices up, so considering units without parking could help to create more affordable housing.
Shifting to discuss the 2040 master plan, planning director Nick Dupuis explained two distinct parts to the topic, with the first being the planning board’s need for hiring consultants, given the scope of projects laid out in the master plan prioritization list.
Dupuis and planning board chair Scott Clein said the board was looking for direction on how they should approach consultant work with the commission. Commissioners offered that bringing projects and plans forward once a year would be an appropriate cadence.
Ultimately, Clein noted that the intention would be for the board to prepare proposals for the commission to present at the city’s long-range budget planning in January each year.
The second distinct part that Dupuis mentioned was the development of both short-term and long-term guidelines for public projects. With the new YMCA and Birmingham Next project underway, planning board members suggest it would be appropriate in the short-term for the board to hold a study session with city staff to craft a recommendation for which type of zoning district the project would best fit in should it have been a private development.
Clein stated that, when it comes to addressing this issue in the long-term, the board envisions the process to be similar. He explained that the board would identify things they feel are important from the zoning ordinance that the project may or may not be providing. They would then discuss that in a recommendation to the city commission, which would have the final say.
“What the planning board is attempting to do is come up with some policy guidelines, if you like, not create a new zone, not create new standards and make them apply, but to say, 'based on this situation for this project in this location, here are the terms, setbacks, height, density, all of those things that we think are suitable to apply to this project,'” said city manager Jana Ecker.
“...They make a recommendation to the commission. It goes to the commission, and the commission then has a ruling or finding or a recommendation from the planning board, who specializes in this type of thing, to base their decision on,” Ecker continued.
Commissioners expressed their support for the concept and agreed the upcoming YMCA and Birmingham Next building would serve as a good opportunity to test the process.