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Council rejects rezoning for truck-parking plaza at 1418 22nd Avenue North
Summary
After a public hearing and neighborhood opposition, the Birmingham City Council voted against rezoning 1418 22nd Avenue North from multifamily to light manufacturing for use as a truck-parking plaza; planning staff had identified required buffers and permits but the planning committee and neighbors opposed the change.
The Birmingham City Council voted on Dec. 9 to deny a request to rezone 1418 22nd Avenue North (case ZAC2025-00013) from D-5 multiple-dwelling to I-1 light manufacturing, a step the applicant said was needed to park and store large trucks on a 0.68-acre parcel.
Michael Ward, principal planner in the Department of Planning, Engineering and Permits, told the council the proposal would require the parcel to be resurveyed, a landscape buffer installed outside the fencing shown on the site plan, and city erosion- and civil-construction permits if rezoning were approved. Ward said the property is inside the North Birmingham framework area and the city's long-range plan identifies the site as general commercial; he also noted mixed recommendations from advisory bodies — the neighborhood association voted 6-9 against the rezoning, the zoning advisory committee recommended approval 4-1 (limiting allowed uses to a truck plaza), and the planning and zoning committee voted not to recommend approval 1-2.
The applicant, Roger Lewis Jr., said he planned to park his own trucks on the lot and accepted conditions such as limits on engine-start times and required landscaping. "I'm trying to do something where I could regulate what happens to my equipment because that's all I own," Lewis told the council, adding he expected the lot would hold only two trucks once buffers and fencing were installed.
Neighbors who spoke at the public hearing urged councilors to preserve the residential character of the block and cited safety, noise and quality-of-life concerns. Anna Brown, chair of the North Birmingham framework committee, said the area has "suffered over 100 years of pollution" and asked the council to "protect our residential areas." Pamela Abernathy, who lives diagonal from the site, described past incidents with 18-wheelers getting stuck on sidewalks overnight and said the neighborhood's sidewalks and trees have already been damaged by large trucks.
Council members questioned how the property fits with adjacent land uses and whether existing commercial truck-parking facilities nearby might meet the applicant's needs. After deliberation the council clerk announced that item number 1 did not pass.
The decision leaves the parcel under its current zoning; council and staff discussion referenced the option of further review under future updates to the city's framework and land-use plans but no new action was taken during the meeting.
