The Birmingham City Council on Tuesday approved buying land to establish an urban park to give unhoused people a place to “hang out” and receive services.

The city was offered land at 1312 First Ave. N. for $168,000, and the City Council approved the purchase.

Alanah Melton, director of Birmingham’s unhoused strategy, told the council that the park would be a fenced-in green space with tables and chairs, along with a dog park, bins and lockers, restrooms and services to help unhoused persons.

Mayor Randall Woodfin said it would be a place where people can connect with help to obtain services such as housing, mental health care and addiction treatment. Melton said the goal is to open the park at the start of summer.

Park operations would require strong participation from the Birmingham Police Department and the city’s Department of Public Works to provide law enforcement and regular maintenance, he said

“Human nature is just that, human nature,” Woodfin said. Everyone, housed and unhoused, tends to look for a place to gather together, he said. The park would give people living on the streets or in shelters nearby a place to hang out, which also would reduce the unhoused who stay on sidewalks and other areas near businesses.

It also would give service providers a chance to build rapport with individuals at the park and gain their trust, he said. Woodfin said he believes housed residents also will take advantage of the park.

The plan did not meet with full-throated agreement, but it did pass on an 8-1 vote, with Councilor Hunter Williams the only no vote.

“It’s very clear that I don’t believe it’s the city’s responsibility to have the taxpayer pay for a place for homeless people to hang out,” Williams said. “I don’t think that’s the taxpayer’s responsibility.”

Councilor Crystal Smitherman responded later in the meeting, “If we can spend money on sporting events, we can spend money on our unhoused residents.”

Woodfin said money for the land purchase would come from $1.5 million already set aside in the city budget for homeless services.

Williams pointed out several concerns with the plans. He worried that the park would become part of the loop that keeps people unhoused. He feared unhoused individuals would be doing drugs in the park and contended that providing addiction treatment such as Narcan just prolongs addiction.

He said he supports the city providing a strict program that offers services, but if people do something illegal on a public street, he’d rather address their actions and predicament through the court system.

Other councilors expressed concern over how details of the park might be handled but in the end supported the idea of providing a park.

Woodfin also made the point that anyone using drugs in the park would be arrested and said drug addiction services would be aimed at helping people get off of drugs. He said encampments would not be allowed in the park, which would not be open overnight.

The City Council for months has been talking about the possibility of a downtown park for the unhoused and looking at Urban Alchemy’s Oasis Parks as models. Some of the councilors did not like features they saw when visiting one of those parks in San Francisco, and plans have developed since then.

Williams also said he was concerned about the proximity of the park to Innovation Depot, just a block away. “How will that look to potential new businesses?” he asked.

“I think that says that the city of Birmingham cares,” responded Irenio Johnson, project manager for the city’s Department of Innovation and Economic Opportunity.

Unhoused residents already tend to hang out near the Innovation Depot, Woodfin said, and building the park could actually shift the activity farther away.

Councilor Darrell O’Quinn shared concerns about the location of the park but said the area already has problems with activity on city rights of way. “This brings order out to chaos,” he said.