Birmingham is getting another entertainment district and Fairfield is getting three firefighting vehicles as a result of Tuesday’s Birmingham City Council meeting.

Pepper Place, a multi-use development in the Lakeview Business District, has been designated as an entertainment district, which means the city’s prohibition against drinking alcohol in public will not apply within the district’s boundaries. It joins Uptown Birmingham, a development near the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Complex, which was approved as the city’s first entertainment district in 2015.

The council also voted to allocate three firetrucks to Fairfield, a neighboring city. Those vehicles will be part of an “interlocal cooperation agreement” between Birmingham and Fairfield; in exchange for use of the vehicles, Fairfield’s fire department and emergency medical services will provide “reasonable assistance” to Birmingham, “upon request and subject to availability,” the ordinance states.

Both measures, the most significant pieces of legislation passed during Tuesday’s meeting, were passed unanimously and without discussion.

New Committee Assignments

The council also voted to approve new committee assignments — a necessary change after last year’s appointment of three new councilors:  Clinton Woods, Crystal Smitherman and Wardine Alexander.

Abbott previously had considered restructuring the council’s committees. Last year, she speculated that she would combine the budget and finance committee with the economic development committee.

“I don’t see that there’s any real benefit to them going separately,” she said last year. “A lot of things need to go to both committees, so if you just combine them, then everybody who needs to see it has seen it and asked their questions.”

But that change, as well as a potential separation of the administration/education committee, didn’t happen. Instead, the new committee lineup is as follows:

Administration/Education

1. Valerie Abbott (chair)
2. Wardine Alexander
3. William Parker

Budget and Finance

1. Valerie Abbott (chair)
2. Wardine Alexander
3. Darrell O’Quinn

Governmental Affairs and Public Information

1. Clinton Woods (chair)
2. Valerie Abbott
3. Crystal Smitherman

Economic Development

1. John Hilliard (chair)
2. Wardine Alexander
3. Clinton Woods

Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts

1. William Parker (chair)
2. Steven Hoyt
3. Crystal Smitherman

Planning & Zoning

1. Steven Hoyt (chair)
2. Darrell O’Quinn
3. Valerie Abbott

Public Improvements

1. Crystal Smitherman (chair)
2. William Parker
3. Hunter Williams

Public Safety

1. Hunter Williams (chair)
2. Steven Hoyt
3. Clinton Woods

Transportation

1. Darrell O’Quinn (chair)
2. Steven Hoyt
3. Clinton Woods

Utilities/Technology

1. Wardine Alexander (chair)
2. Hunter Williams
3. William Parker