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The Birmingham City Council on Tuesday agreed to pay nearly $700,000 for three firms to develop plans for eight walkable neighborhood centers that leaders are calling urban villages.
“One of the nice things about Birmingham is we do have these historic centers … that served as walkable urban centers and resources for the neighborhoods around them. Places where you could walk to get ice cream, you could walk to a drugstore, you could walk to even maybe a doctor’s office or a dentist’s office. So, places that serve the community and families, and places that are resources, the kinds of main streets that we think of in our minds and that we idealize,” James Fowler, chief of infrastructure for the city, told the council during its meeting. “So those are the kinds of places we like to visit. We need to recreate and strengthen and stabilize those.”
City leaders ultimately plan to have 12 areas across the city that are part of the Urban Village Initiative, but Fowler said four of the planned sites — in Woodlawn, northwest Downtown, Huffman and Smithfield — don’t require consulting firms because they either already have plans or their planning processes are underway.
The eight additional areas being looked at for urban villages are Five Points West, Eastlake, Eastwood, Ensley, Five Points South, Titusville, an area next to Lawson State and, possibly, North Birmingham.
The firms approved Tuesday are Interface Studios, Wilbron Industries, and Tunnell, Spangler & Associates. Wilbron Industries will receive up to $99,600 while the other two firms will get just less than $300,000 each.
The agreements are part of a $2 million investment from a budget surplus the city approved earlier this year.
According to city staff, the companies’ duties under the agreements will include:
- Development of a prioritized list of the capital projects associated with the initiative that will include high-level cost considerations and expected impacts.
- Detailed recommendations for improving bicycle, pedestrian and transit conditions.
- Preliminary design and planning concepts for key public space areas such as plazas.
- Identification of high-impact development opportunities that can stimulate investment.
- Development of short-term, low-cost project ideas that can test concepts and build momentum.
- Renderings and/or conceptual illustrations including a site plan for each Urban Village.
- Community engagement meetings and organization of feedback gained from these events.
- A formal presentation to city staff to review key findings and recommendations.
- Identification and documentation of neighborhood leaders, business owners, institutional partners, and other key voices for ongoing collaboration.
In other business, the council:
- Approved an interlocal agreement with Mountain Brook to allow joint patrols and law enforcement at Alabama Veterans Memorial Park. The park, off Interstate 459, is situated within Birmingham city limits but was gifted to Mountain Brook as a space honoring veterans. Councilor Hunter Williams said that Mountain Brook has made investments and infrastructure improvements in the park, and this agreement allows its law enforcement to patrol and respond to service calls.
- Approved an amended agreement with the Jefferson County Family Resource Center’s Restore program, which provides comprehensive services and support to youth ages 16 to 19 who have been placed in state custody. The agreement approved Tuesday expands the program to include children age 11 through 15.
- Approved $585,000 to extend the Hospital-Linked Violence Intervention Program for another year. As part of this initiative, the Offender Alumni Association provides mentorship and violence-interruption support to severely injured gun violence victims and their families at UAB’s Trauma and Acute Care Division.
