By Ana Good
The former Altadena Country Club property is now in the city of Vestavia Hills.
The City Council voted Sept. 28 to rezone and annex the former country club, though some work continues behind the scenes to finish plan details.
Plans for developing the 122-acre property involve a public/private partnership between Keith Development, Vestavia Hills and the property owners.
As part of the deal, the city will receive approximately 65 acres as a donation. The city will use its land, which is in the floodplain of the Cahaba River, to build a public park complete with athletic fields and exercise trails. Current park plans show the city intends to build a canoe launch into the Cahaba, a kid’s play structure, soccer fields, lacrosse and football fields and fields for youth softball or baseball. Because the proposed park sits in the Cahaba floodplain, structures must be limited to flood-resistant bathrooms.
Keith Development Company would develop some of the remaining acres into a gated community of 66 single-family homes, with separate parcels designated for possible commercial development. Any commercial development would be subject to further approvals.
Plans for the property ramped up when the country club closed its doors in May. The city then moved forward with a series of traffic studies, flood-plain surveys and site designs.
As the studies and plans for the area’s redevelopment became more detailed, said City Manager Jeff Downes, residents of the area expressed some resistance.
“If you were to look at the various concerns that are being expressed by our residents,” he said in a previous interview, “traffic issues are concern number one.”
Downes said residents in the Altadena area worry that, because of where the development’s proposed access point is, on Lakeland Trail, traffic congestion and accidents will worsen.
Since the planning commission meeting in August, Downes said, the city has been working around-the-clock to find a better solution.
“We are actively negotiating a western entrance to the property,” he said, “which we now know is the preferred option.”
Keith Development has a tentative agreement to purchase property along Acton Road that could make room for a western entrance, confirmed Downes. Goodwyn, Mills & Cawood will design the alternatively proposed site entrance on the west side of the park.
An entrance on the west side of the property would be closer to Interstate 459 and would keep drivers away from the hairpin turn on Acton Road that is prone to accidents.
Downes said solving the entryway issues will help resolve almost all of the public’s concerns.
Timelines for the plan, expected to take place in phases, remain fluid.
