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By NOAH WORTHAM | Managing Editor

VINCENT – A rezoning request for a 180-lot subdivision across from Vincent Elementary School will now go before the Vincent City Council after the Vincent Planning Commission recommended its continued passage with adjustments during a meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 8.

An applicant has made a request to the city of Vincent for the rezoning of a property that consists of 70 acres from Rural Residential and Estate District to Multiple Dwelling District.

The Vincent Planning Commission previously reviewed the case during a meeting on Sept. 10, during which it requested additional information from the applicant. On Oct. 8, the planning commission was able to review a new concept plan which reduced the number of lots from 252 to 180. The density of the newly proposed plan is 2.57 lots per acre compared to the former 3.5 lots per acre. The new concept plan features a single point of access with no internal or external pedestrian connectivity.

The proposed zoning change would offer multiple types of lot development and the newly designed version of the concept would provide garden homes, town homes and a larger lot in the rear of the property. The change to R-2 would allow for lot sizes of 10,00 square feet, 6,000 square feet, 5,000 square feet or a combination development pattern.

In addition to reviewing the new concept plan, the Vincent Planning Commission held a public hearing to receive feedback from residents and to ask further questions of the applicant.

During the hearing, Vincent resident Debra Barnes spoke in favor of the development.

“I think having the subdivision would be very beneficial,” Barnes said. “I’m a longtime resident of the city, and I’ve taught at the high school the majority of my life. But having families move into the community and more students in the small school that we have, to me, would be very beneficial.”

Barnes expressed her concern that Vincent will be shut down if it does not grow and said that the development serves as a great opportunity to bring families and people into the community.

“We’re going to get left behind if we don’t show any growth,” she said. “And if you don’t think they’ll shut us down at Vincent, look at Talladega, Coosa, Clay—look at those surrounding areas where they’ve lost their small schools just because it’s not financially feasible to keep them open.”

Vincent resident Ashley Thomas also spoke during the hearing and voiced that she was opposed to the development which backs up against her property line.

“I’m really against this one because I’m one of the affected property owners,” she said. “I don’t know if you live in a subdivision or not, but I don’t. I live in rural residential which its currently zoned. I can have animals, I can live off my own land. I don’t have to worry about what my neighbor is doing because I don’t have to see it.”

Thomas said that people who are looking to come to Vincent are looking to live the lifestyle the town currently features and those who wish to have a “cookie cutter” subdivision lifestyle can go elsewhere.

“Here in Vincent, we’re a town of farmers, that’s what we do,” she said. “And if you look at the history, that’s what this town was built on and that’s what this town should stay.”

During the public hearing, residents Stephen Gibson and Stephen George also spoke against the subdivision.

Vice President of Engineering Wade Lowery with Engineering Design Group was present at the meeting and provided clarifications for the commission and residents regarding the design of the development.

Lowery shared that an Alabama Department of Transportation traffic impact study would be required should the development proceed forward which would account for a number of possible issues and concerns, including turning lanes and traffic flow.

After discussing possible issues during peak hours and adjustments to the buffer space between certain parts of the development, members of the commission provided their outlook on the proposed development.

“I definitely hear all the concerns,” said Jeremy Youngblood, who serves District 2 on the planning commission. “In my opinion, I do think Vincent needs to grow, respectively, and try to grow in the right way.”

Youngblood pointed toward the infrastructure and benefits that he sees when working in Pell City, including its police department, and voiced concerns about Vincent staying too small.

“If I owned a restaurant and I had a choice between opening my restaurant, that depended on foot traffic, in Vincent or Chelsea or Hoover, I would probably got to another place besides Vincent because my livelihood (and) my restaurant depends on foot traffic,” Youngblood said.

Leslie Cobb, planning commission member for District 5, highlighted that there needs to be a compromise.

“We’re at a turning point where we have to make a decision, either grow or don’t grow,” she said. “And so, I think our job and the council’s job would be to help make a compromise, to try to make things happen without upsetting too many people. Because the thing is, when it comes down to it, we live here too.”

At the end of the meeting and after closing the public hearing, the Vincent Planning Commission recommended the rezoning be sent to the Vincent City Council for final consideration after the addition of a buffer adjustment to the west end of the property.