by Robin Schultz
David Hare, the owner of The Hare Farm, (Old Smith Farm) has requested that his property be rezoned from R-1 (Residential) to PRD (Planned Residential Development). This request was approved by the Hoover Planning and Zoning Board at their December 2022 meeting and comes for a First Reading at January 3, 2023, Council Meeting. There will be no action taken at this meeting, but the Council will vote on approving it at their January 17, 2023 meeting (The first and third Mondays in January are holidays, so the meetings will take place on a Tuesday).
Many residents in the Bluff Park community are opposed to any type of development at this property. It’s important to understand the basics of the existing zoning. Below you will find an outline of the zoning. To make it as compact as possible, we have linked articles if you wish to go deeper into the recent history of this property.
Background:
In October 2019, the Smith family auctioned the property at Savoy Street and South Sanders Road. The property consisted of eight parcels. The winning bidders were David Hare for parcels 1 and 2 and Lance Kitchens for parcels 3-8.
Mr. Kitchens set out to develop his parcels; however, there was an issue with the zoning. Two of the parcels were zoned A-1 (Agricultural), which prevented him from developing the number of lots he wanted due to restrictions on A-1.
Mr. Kitchens requested that the parcels that were zoned A-1 be rezoned to R-1 (Residential) or E-2, which would allow him to develop the number of lots he wanted.
The Bluff Park community resisted Mr. Kitchen’s request, and although the Hoover Planning and Zoning Board approved his request in February 2020, the Hoover City Council denied it at their March 16, 2020 meeting.
Mr. Kitchens reapplied for the rezoning, making some concessions in his second request, and the Hoover City Council approved his request in October 2020. Since then, Mr. Kitchens has developed the area, and soon homes will be built on the property.
Unlike Mr. Kitchens, Mr. Hare’s parcels were already zoned R-1. This means that if he wanted to, Mr. Hare could begin developing and constructing homes immediately.
Mr. Hare does want to rezone his R-1 parcels to PRD. The reason that he wants to rezone the parcels is to use the area as an event venue, which PRD would permit him to do to a larger extent than he’s able to do now. Note: Should this get approved on January 17, Mr. Hare has also asked that he be granted conditional use for Public and Private Events in the Council Agenda item following his request for rezoning.
I spoke to Mr. Hare regarding the rezoning on October 30, 2022. At the time of our conversation, he was interested in the event venue concept for his property, and also interested in developing it.
Should he decide to develop, BluffParkAl encourages the idea of developing it as a 55+ community, which would be proactive in addressing any capacity issues at Bluff Park Elementary School. During our conversation, Mr. Hare sounded receptive to the idea.
Regardless of what his future plans are, it’s important to remember one thing: Unlike the Kitchens development, which faced zoning hurdles, the Hare property does not have these issues. As mentioned before, Mr. Hare could begin developing the property tomorrow, and there’s nothing the Hoover City Council could do to prevent it.
If a resident was opposed to the rezoning, they could contact the Council prior to the vote, but their hands are tied, so getting upset at them for their vote would be unfair.