Planning board approves Grace Baptist Church expansion at 280 East Lincoln with conditions

The Birmingham Planning Board on April 9, 2025 approved a special land use permit and the final site plan and design review for Grace Baptist Church’s renovation and addition at 280 East Lincoln, voting to grant both items by roll call with the motions moved and seconded and all members present voting yes.

Planning staff described the revised proposal as a renovation that removes about 2,195 square feet of the existing building and adds 4,180 square feet, increasing the building footprint to about 8,682 square feet. Nick, planning staff, said the parking layout was revised since the March 26 meeting and “they are meeting the parking requirement exactly at 44 spaces,” down from 49 shown in an earlier plan. The staff report said the revised design connects the north and south portions of the lot with a one-way access drive so vehicles entering the south lot from Edgewood can exit onto Lincoln via the north lot; staff and the applicant described that change as a response to board concerns about vehicular circulation.

The board and staff flagged two outstanding zoning issues that must be resolved before full implementation. The site is nonconforming for the R-2 district’s open-space requirement (Article 2.08): existing open space on the parcel is 28.8 percent and the plan under review proposes 26.78 percent. Because the proposal expands that nonconformity, the applicant must either meet the 40 percent open-space standard or obtain a variance from the Board of Zoning Appeals. The plan also shows an exterior stair on the east side that encroaches into the 10-foot side-yard setback; that stair will need to be redesigned to meet the 10-foot setback or the applicant must seek a variance. The board noted the project otherwise meets lot-coverage limits (the plan lists lot coverage at about 22.1 percent; the maximum is 30 percent).

Andrew Walters, the project civil engineer with Metro Consulting Associates, told the board the team revised the parking and circulation at the board’s request and that the layout intends to preserve pick-up and drop-off activity while providing the requested internal connection. Walters said the team believes the revised layout ‘‘keeps within the minimum required number of parking spaces and allowing for pick up and drop off activities at the church.’’ Planning staff and the applicant also discussed landscaping and the arborist’s comments; the applicant said species adjustments to proposed street trees will be made in a later revision.

Planning staff recommended approval subject to conditions that were adopted with the motions. The conditions recorded in the motions require (1) that the applicant submit plans meeting the 10-foot side-yard setback or obtain a variance from the Board of Zoning Appeals; (2) that the applicant submit plans to meet the minimum open-space requirement or obtain a variance from the Board of Zoning Appeals; (3) that the applicant enter into negotiations for a shared parking agreement with the City of Birmingham to reduce neighborhood parking impacts; and (4) that the applicant comply with requests from all city departments. The site-plan motion as adopted also notes that site-plan approval is valid for one year from the date granted, with a possible extension not to exceed one additional year under Article 7, section 7.28 of the zoning ordinance.

Board members who spoke during the deliberation said the revised circulation was an improvement and that they favored negotiated shared parking rather than a mandatory condition. One board member asked staff to be specific in any condition about tying landscaping commitments to the submitted plans. The board also noted a previously issued variance allowing wood privacy fencing on the west and south lot lines, granted July 10, 2007; that fencing remains in place and screens the residential side of the lot.

Next steps: the variances described in the conditions must be sought from the Board of Zoning Appeals before elements of the approved plan that depend on those variances can be built. The board’s approval documents will be forwarded to the City Commission as part of the formal site-plan and permit review process and staff will follow up on shared-parking discussions and any department comments required by condition.