As the time to vote on the rezoning request approached, numerous opponents held up “Vote No” signs and began video recording the commissioners’ discussion Monday night. (W.C. Mann for The Cullman Tribune)
CULLMAN – Strength in numbers carried the day at Monday’s Cullman City Planning Commission meeting, as residents of the Kinwood Acres neighborhood around Morningside Drive Southwest, along with family members and supporters, packed the city hall auditorium to protest the proposed rezoning of an undeveloped 10-acre parcel near the intersection of Morningside and Main Avenue Southwest. Their efforts appear to have been successful, at least for now.
Weichert Realtors, Carter and Company Real Estate Agent Wendy Childers was present to represent property owners James Roden and Elizabeth Jochum in their request to rezone a portion of the property to B-1 (business) and the rest to R-4 (high density family dwellings). Both zoning categories would allow the construction of an apartment complex on the site.
Childers came forward to address the commission briefly during its discussion before the request was to come for a vote, but neither she nor anyone else came forward to speak in favor of the request during the public hearing held early in the meeting. On the other hand, when Commission Chairman Mike Voss asked if anyone had come to speak against the request, 41 audience members raised their hands.
Voss kept an orderly rein on the protest that followed, noting that time simply would not allow everyone to speak. He called instead for one person to speak, and invited others to come afterwards if they had anything to say that did not repeat something already said.
The first to speak was Morningside resident Linda Romine, who laid out the bulk of the protestors’ argument by presenting each commissioner a copy of a petition signed by neighborhood residents, which set forth multiple claims, including:
- The property is zoned R-2 (single family dwellings), as are many of the surrounding properties. A change to R-4 would be inconsistent with the surrounding neighborhood. (City Planning Director Rick Fulmer pointed out, though, that the site does touch an already existing R-4 property.)
- Additional traffic, noise and infrastructure wear and tear would have a detrimental effect on the Kinwood Acres area, as well as the Westminster and Woodland Haus assisted living facilities nearby, and even the local water table and wildlife.
- The southwest area of Cullman is already saturated with businesses, and other parts of the city would be better suited to new developments.
- Apartment life is less stable than in a house, and apartment dwellers tend to be much less invested in their community than homeowners.
- The greatest impact will be felt years down the road, as new developments make this one less desirable for affluent renters.
- The property is zoned for West Elementary, and the impact on that school could include increased class sizes, need for portable classrooms and increased local property taxes to fund improvements.
When the time came for discussion and a possible vote on the request, Fulmer stated that the request could not be met in its current two-zone form, as the property would first need to be subdivided. With that, Childers came to the podium and asked that the business zoning be dropped and the whole parcel be zoned R-4.
Voss then advised the crowd that rules and regulations are created by the Cullman City Council and that the planning commission can only make sure that requests that come before the City meet those rules and regulations, then advise the council via recommendations for or against a request. The city council must then make the final decision.
He explained that the property meets the requirements for the requested rezoning, then told the audience, “You’ve brought a lot of issues which can be considered by the city council. Some of those we can’t consider, because it meets the requirements. So I’m going to ask my fellow commissioners what they want to do, but you understand that we are limited on–we can’t just say ‘Well, you’re against it for these various reasons’ and not do it, and not recommend it, because we don’t make the decisions. We make the recommendation to the city council, and then they will take it up. And at that point, they can consider many of the things that you just described to us, should you bring them back up to them.”
Voss then set the matter before the other commissioners. Before a crowd displaying "Vote No" signs and holding up cell phones to record the proceedings, the request received a motion to recommend, but no second. With that, the motion to recommend died. A second motion, this time not to recommend, also received no second and died as well.
According to City Attorney Roy Williams, the request to rezone the property can still be considered by the city council with no recommendation from the commission.
The Cullman City Council will meet on Monday, Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. at Cullman City Hall.
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