Council approves Fountain Heights rezoning for neighborhood market and community kitchen

The Birmingham City Council on July 15 approved ZAC2025-7, rezoning about 0.16 acres at 1201 Sixteenth Street North in Fountain Heights from CR-4A (medium-density residential) to MUL (mixed-use live) to allow a new building that will house an office, a neighborhood market and an accessory kitchen for a community garden.

The rezoning drew unanimous recommendations from the Fountain Heights Neighborhood Association (8–0), the city zoning advisory committee and the planning and zoning committee before the council vote. City zoning administrator Kim Spruill told the council the applicant’s site plan meets landscaping requirements, requires one bicycle parking space and will follow stormwater permitting during construction.

Applicant Maria Villanueva told the council the project is “the first neighborhood market that our community has had in almost 70 years,” and described the building as a community gathering and educational space where local growers can sell produce and use the accessory kitchen to prepare items for sale. She said the applicant has applied to the Birmingham Land Bank to control adjacent parcels that will be combined with the site.

During the public hearing, nearby property owner Shay Hornbuckle said her family has owned 1604 Twelfth Avenue North for more than 70 years and opposed the rezoning because of what she described as repeated trespass, a storage pile, a porta-potty near a driveway entrance and stakes placed at the driveway that she said interfered with access. Hornbuckle said the neighbor’s vacant home had been stripped by previous renters and that the situation had made renting her property difficult.

Villanueva responded in the hearing that she had attempted to work with Hornbuckle, that professional surveys and architectural plans have been completed, and that the project represents about a $750,000 investment for the neighborhood. City staff acknowledged the lot-line concerns raised in public comment and said lot-line disputes are separate civil matters; zoning enforcement staff also offered to inspect the garden site to address any code or permit issues.

Council members pressed staff and the applicant on buffers and setbacks. Staff said the minimum landscape buffer between a mixed-use property and adjacent residential property is five feet and that the plan includes a mix of trees and shrubs along the property edge. Spruill said no parking spaces are required for the community garden/market use beyond the single bicycle space mandated by zoning.

Councilor Kelsey Clark and others asked whether the applicant controls neighboring lots; Villanueva said they are seeking control through the land bank and are in contact with owners of an adjacent vacant home that is heirs property. Spruill said the site is in the North Side/South Side framework plan area and that the rezoning process for the neighborhood is under way.

The council voted verbally; the motion to approve carried and the rezoning was recorded as approved.

A city staff follow-up noted: (1) staff will verify whether any recorded easements or legal instruments affect the shared driveway and will coordinate with surveyors; (2) ordinary permitting and stormwater reviews remain required before construction; and (3) zoning enforcement will monitor the community garden sites for code compliance.

Votes and next steps: Council approved ZAC2025-7 as presented; the applicant will continue permitting and site-control work before building permits are issued. The council and staff noted the lot-line, driveway and property-dispute issues raised at public comment are civil/property matters that may require separate legal or survey resolution.