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Council reviews three rezoning petitions; one is tabled for outreach
Summary
Council members heard a staff presentation on two coordinated rezonings tied to a McRhykes Ferry Land LLC development and a third petition to rezone a Zach Lawler property from Neighborhood Commercial to General Commercial; because neighbors and at least one councilor had not been fully consulted, the council agreed to delay the Lawler rezoning for a week of outreach.
Tuscaloosa City Council members on Feb. 14 considered three rezoning requests, including two linked rezones for the McRhykes Ferry Land LLC development on New Watermelon Road and a separate petition to change a property owned by Zach Lawler from Neighborhood Commercial to General Commercial.
Planning staff described the first two petitions as a coordinated site-plan-driven swap: the applicants redesigned the development so that a single gas station will remain, an apartment building will be contained within a multi-family residential (MFR) zone and office/retail uses will be placed in a general commercial (GC) zone. "They're getting rid of the additional gas station," planning staff said, arguing the boundary revisions align zoning with the revised site plan.
The council also heard a separate petition from Seth Richardson and Richard Henry seeking to rezone a parcel owned by Zach Lawler from Neighborhood Commercial to GC, which staff said would permit a broader set of uses intended to serve the nearby university area. Staff listed uses allowed in GC that NC does not permit — including larger retail, bars and clubs (subject to conditional-use approval), self-storage, car washes and car sales — and warned that such uses would still require separate approvals for certain operations.
Several councilors expressed concern about compatibility with adjacent development. Planning staff noted planning-commission opposition centered on the possibility of outdoor storage visible from a nearby bridge and the proximity of new townhomes. One councilor said they had not been fully briefed and asked for time to meet the applicants and neighbors. "So I will recommend that we table for a week and then let me meet with them," the councilor said; the council agreed to delay further action on the Lawler petition to allow additional outreach.
No formal final action on the Lawler rezoning was recorded in the transcript. The two coordinated rezonings tied to the McRhykes Ferry Land LLC project were presented as having been recommended earlier by the planning commission; staff said those two items will require separate votes when they return together with the revised site plan.
The council did not adopt or deny the Lawler rezoning on Feb. 14; the next step is a site-specific follow-up meeting and a return to council after the week of outreach.
