Open space ordinance updates approved

By Grace Lovins

Following years of study and drafting between Birmingham city planners and the city’s planning board, an amendment to open space standards of the city’s zoning ordinance was approved by commissioners during the Monday, August 11, meeting.

The update includes changes to the paved surface limitations for properties zoned as single-family residential, said planning director Nick Dupuis, which adds that of the 40 percent minimum required open space for these developments that a minimum of 75 percent must be vegetated open space. Per Dupuis, permeable pavers and other hardscape materials do not count towards that percentage.

A change was also made to the definition of impervious surfaces to exclude stone. Dupuis explained that when the planning board took up discussions on the ordinance amendment, many thought stone would be a pervious surface, ultimately leading the board to remove the term.

Dupuis and commissioner Jason Emerine stated that these updates had been a work in progress for several years now. Emerine, who had been a planning board member at the time, explained that a big problem with including stone in the definition was that city staff was enforcing stone as an impervious surface. He said that many infiltration trenches and stormwater management basins designed to infiltrate water have stone at the bottom, but argues it is counterintuitive.

The city’s new definition now reads that an impervious surface is any surface that restricts the infiltration of water into the ground, excluding sidewalks three feet or less in width in the front open space.

While it was noted by mayor pro tem Clinton Baller that parts of the amendment leave it up to interpretation, Dupuis explained that residents or developers aggrieved by a decision from the city’s building or engineering departments can petition the board of zoning appeals to review their case.

Commissioners unanimously approved the ordinance amendment in a 7-0 vote.