Public Hearing on Sims Property
Monday May 19, 2008 - City Hall - Opportunity to preserve Green Space in Homewood. M
Old Business Item 11.01.07 "Request to consider the Catherine Sims’ property (Carried over to the May 19, 2008 Council meeting) – Finance Committee"There is a public hearing regarding the property of the late Mrs. Catherine Sims. Ms. Sims left her property (three adjacent lots) to the City of Homewood for a "botanical garden".
The property is on Highland Road in Edgewood, not far from the Middle School. It is listed as 908 Highland Road. [If you were to walk from HMS up and then down Mecca, you would pass Irving Road on the left and the next left is Highland. It is next to a large home that has a "Sport Court" ] You cannot see the entire parcel from the street.
The Homewood Park Board voted not to accept it after being told that it would cost a great deal of money to create it into a botanical garden. However, there are no specific guidelines regarding what kind of botanical garden nor a timeline for creating it. The Park Board rejected the property based on seeing only one proposal for the property and did not want to take that kind of expense on. They also expressed concern about the traffic that a botanical garden could attract.
The Environmental Commission met on Tuesday and they are in favor of the City accepting the property for a passive and/or pocket park. A passive park could offer a restful and green retreat in the middle of an neighborhood, much like Woodland Park. It would attract pedestrians and could possibly be used for educational purposes by both HMS and Edgewood students who could get to the park on foot. It has value as green space and as a botancial garden of indigenous plants. Woodland Park is used primarily by neighbors who arrive on foot and does not create car traffic.
If the City is not wiling to receive the property, it will default to the Greater Birmingham Foundation who have already stated that they will sell the property to a developer who will then develop three lots. Given the slope and narrow width of Highland, and that property in general, three new homes seems excessive. The traffic during construction would indeed be a challenge and create more car traffic, as well as three new homes where there once was one with a single individual living on that land.
If you are in favor of receiving the Sims property for a passive botanical garden/park with minimal impact on the land and neighborhood, please call your representative, as well as City Council members Alan Tripped (Finance) and President Ginger Busby to express your thoughts. They want and need your input to make the best decision. They have not heard from everyone who will be affected. Please call, especially if you live on or near Highland Road (i.e. Mecca, Peerless, Irving, Dawson area). This is a rare opportunity to preserve rather than use up precious greenspace in Homewood. We also have a great opportunity to explore how to develop this land into something educational (i.e. botancial garden of native plants) and enjoyable as a passive/pedestrian park in the heart of Edgewood.
Lastly, receiving the land and using it in this manner would be more in keeping with Mrs. Sims' wishes than allowing it to default to the Greater Birmingham Foundation that would in turn sell it to a developer who will break it up into 3 new home sites.