Fwd: Apartment complex that will be built over shopping center in Tuscaloosa clears zoning obstacles | al.com
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Subject: Apartment complex that will be built over shopping center in Tuscaloosa clears zoning obstacles | al.com
They all look alike?http://blog.al.com/tuscaloosa/2013/07/planned_apartment_complex_in_t.html#incart_riverTUSCALOOSA, Alabama -- The Tuscaloosa City Council officially approved the rezoning of 5 acres on the corner of 15th Street and 10th Avenue from commercial to mixed use Tuesday, taking another step to facilitate a 550-bed residential and retail complex in the area.
The complex will be developed by the Atlanta-based South City Partners. The company's director, Mark Randall, said razing of existing structures in the Central Plaza shopping center and construction of the complex would not begin until 2014. Randall said this would allow the lot's current occupants, which include 15th Street Diner, Eat My Beats music store and more, ample time to find a new place to conduct business and move.
The developers said the complex is to feature 550 beds, a deck with 589 parking spaces and 10,000 square feet of retail space for stores and restaurants. Other similar projects have faced strong resistance from the community, but at Tuesday night's public hearing, only Nikki Ray, the owner of Eat My Beats, took the podium to address the council with her concerns about the complex.
Mayor Walt Maddox said the lack of opposition was likely due to the project's location, which is better suited for an apartment complex that will almost certainly be filled with University of Alabama students than other projects presented to the council recently.
Maddox signed an executive order creating a citywide student housing task force to evaluate the supply of and demand for such complexes in the area last month, and after their analysis, the task force will recommend action to the council, if any is required. Until their research is done, though, there is no reason to stop new housing complexes from developing, the mayor said, and the city passed the rezoning because there was no legal basis to reject it.
"To deny an application strictly based on the fact that we're studying the matter is not a legally defined reason to deny the zoning," Maddox said. "A citywide moratorium on any kind of construction has to be based on fact and the existence of an emergency."
Maddox said the issue was being taken seriously, though, and after the task force conducts its full analysis, whatever action is appropriate will be taken.
Ray also asked the council to ensure that the current tenants of the shopping center are treated fairly and were given time and money to help in their relocation, but City Attorney Tim Nunnally said that was a promise the council couldn't make.
"It is not the proper consideration of city council to consider lease agreements and private contract issues that exist between a property owner and its tenants," Nunnally said. "It's not a proper zoning factor, and the city council doesn't have the authority to require any kind of rent, forbearance or compensation as has been requested."
The only other concerns voiced about the complex involved increased pedestrian and vehicle traffic in the area, which were not enough to prevent a unanimous vote in favor of the rezoning.
