Commission recommends rezoning and approves resurvey for Our Lady of Sorrows campus

The Homewood Planning Commission voted to recommend rezoning and to approve a resurvey for the Our Lady of Sorrows church campus at 1730 Oxmoor Road. The commission approved the rezoning recommendation (RZ2510-03) and the related resurvey (RS25-10-04); the rezoning recommendation and resurvey will be forwarded to the Homewood City Council for final action.

Chris Eckrote of Caprion Engineering, representing Our Lady of Sorrows Parish, told the commission the work is primarily “housekeeping” to consolidate multiple contiguous lots into a single campus lot. Eckrote said research showed an earlier attempted right-of-way vacation was not completed and that one island lot was recorded C-1 even though the parking deck sits atop it; the parish seeks to rezone the campus portion to I-2 so the contiguous parcels will share zoning before the resurvey is recorded.

Eckrote described that one small lot at the campus northern corner is landlocked by public rights-of-way and cannot be consolidated; that lot will remain separate. The commission opened a public hearing but recorded no public speakers on the cases. Commissioners noted that the planning commission can approve the resurvey but that recordation would be contingent on the council’s rezoning action taking effect.

Motion and votes: The rezoning recommendation (RZ2510-03) passed on a roll-call vote with commissioners recorded as voting yes: Miss Wilcutt; Mister Harwell; Mister Respiento; Mister Henninger; Miss Andress; Mister Gulas; Mister Roberts (7–0). The resurvey (RS25-10-04) was also approved by the commission on a 7–0 roll-call vote and will be forwarded to the city council for final recording and any conditions required by that body.

The commission’s actions were limited to making the rezoning recommendation and approving the resurvey plat; any recordation and final zoning change depend on city council action and completion of instrument recording and permitting steps.