TUSCALOOSA, Ala (WIAT) – Some residents near the McWright's Ferry Road extension project are trying to prevent a gas station and apartments from being built in the area.
Developers requested the city’s Planning and Zoning Committee to consider annexing property located at 5921 New Watermelon Road and rezoning that property for commercial use.
Residents who oppose the rezoning proposal showed up on Monday night for the Planning and Zoning Committee’s public hearing.
“I kind of fell into this,” Lexington Downs Resident Alan Weldon said. “But somebody had to step forward, and we only had a week to do it.”
Weldon lives in a neighborhood directly behind the land in question.
He and others started a petition which received 500 signatures in the days leading up to Monday night’s hearing. Weldon and three other residents spoke on the behalf of those 500 individuals.
“There were probably several hundred people last night at the planning and zoning committee meeting to voice their displeasure,” Weldon said.
Crime, property value, environmental effects, and traffic are among the concerns voiced before the zoning and planning committee.
“Many of my neighbors and I will have direct sight line to direct lights and the noise of the gas station,” Chris Roberts said.
Developers assured the committee that the development would meet standards of the city and standards of the developer.
“We’re not going to put something out there that none of us can be proud of,” Plott Co. representative Jimmy Duncan said.
“It will be a pretty gas station – but it’s still a gas station,” Roberts said.
Development plans would directly impact the Lexington Downs neighborhood, according to one woman who spoke before the zoning and planning commission Monday night.
She said a road would put cars where people are now.
“That’s a regular bike zone for kids – a walking zone.” Judy Vanheest said. “We trick or treat, we know our neighbors – and that 29-year-old neighborhood knows the value of knowing its neighbors.”
“The council for years has rejected zoning in the area where we live,” Roberts told the committee. “Tuscaloosa’s history of rezoning from residential to commercial and high-density housing is often met with litigation and declines in property value and quality of life.”
Residents pleaded with the city’s planning and zoning committee to shut down the developers request, but the committee decided to move forward and suggest the Council annex the property and rezone it.
“I was disappointed,” Weldon said. “I felt like they heard us, but the developer has deep roots here in Tuscaloosa.”
Connections or not, developers can build their gas station and apartments without the city’s approval because as of right now, it's Tuscaloosa County property, which Duncan made very clear in Monday’s public hearing.
“If they’re going to build this project regardless, at least if it’s in the city of Tuscaloosa, we can at least dictate [code enforcement and building standards],” The City’s Planning and Zoning Director Zach Ponds said.
The city and county have different standards for developments, which was noted in Monday night’s meeting.
Lighting, sewage, sidewalks and square footage are some building aspects that vary between the two entities of Tuscaloosa.
That’s why the committee made the decisions they did, according to Ponds, so those things can be regulated by the City of Tuscaloosa.