Planners review concepts for community center

By Grace Lovins

During a special meeting on Wednesday, April 30, Birmingham’s Planning Board held a pre-application discussion on the plans for the new community and senior center building set to take the place of the former YMCA building at 400 E. Lincoln and serve as a new home for Birmingham YMCA and Next senior services.

The review of the city project comes as the city commission and planning board work to reimagine the process for designing and constructing municipal structures.

As explained by planning board chair Scott Clein, projects on land zoned as public property do not have requirements laid out in the zoning ordinance. The board worked to put together design guidelines and a process for reviewing public projects to alleviate the issue. Their task for the meeting was to review and discuss at a high level the design for the new center.

Design director of Neumann/Smith Architecture Jim Stock presented the design showing a two-story building, excluding lower level storage, just over 47,000 sq ft. in area and 36 ft. in height.

The main level of the building incorporates a lobby and check-in area, a child watch area, multipurpose rooms, a five-lane pool and basketball court. On the same level but accessed through a separate entrance, Next will have a separate living room and administrative space.

On the second floor, patrons will have access to a walking track, the YMCA wellness area, a Next fitness area, multi-purpose rooms with movable partitions, built-in booths overlooking the pool and enclosed study rooms.

Stock explained that the materials included in two designs were chosen from an online study conducted in February. Concrete, steel, brick, panels and glass window walls were deemed appropriate materials based on the survey results and incorporated into Neumann/Smith’s designs. Board members generally favored the design that incorporated neutral colors and materials but some expressed concerns about the amount of windows around the building impacting the neighbors.

Most board members took time to comment on the parking situation for the building. The designs presented by Stock show 125 on-site parking spaces and along with street parking and agreements with surrounding businesses to make up the 40 additional spaces typically required for a building this size.

Stock said the designs also incorporate a reconfiguration of Floyd Street to now have parking. Board member Stuart Jeffares said he worries about encroaching on the neighborhood with the reconfiguration of Floyd and added that street parking on Lincoln can be difficult and to park at the church, one of the surrounding properties Stock suggested, patrons would have to walk around the entire building to get to the entrance of the center.

Several board members noted they were concerned about the traffic flow of the site with some suggesting a traffic study would be beneficial for the project.

As the meeting was held for a pre-application discussion, no formal action was taken by the board. Stock said the item will be back on the city commission agenda on Monday, May 5, to talk about costs, sustainability and materials.