60% Oppose Lane Parke Project according to telephone survey
Lane Parke group says 60% oppose project
Birmingham Business Journal - by Lauren B. Cooper Staff
A group against the Lane Parke project in Mountain Brook Village said it recently commissioned a telephone survey that showed a majority of the city’s residents are opposed to the development.
Friends of Mountain Brook, which formed shortly before the Mountain Brook City Council was to hold its final public hearing Nov. 24 and possibly vote on the proposed $200 million project, released the results Monday in a news release. The hearing was canceled and has not been rescheduled.
Nearly 700 Mountain Brook residents were polled and results showed that more than 60 percent were against a change in zoning to allow the construction of retail and commercial buildings on seven acres of the proposed 27-acre site.
About 90 percent said they like the village concept as it is and around 70 percent, mostly women, believe the current Mountain Brook villages are the right size for the community, said a news release.
“In terms of information provided, the poll basically just asked people how they felt about expanding the commercial footprint of Mountain Brook Village by seven acres,” said Jim White, a resident and founding member of the opposing group. “As people learn more about the height and density of what has been proposed, there is no question in my mind that community opposition will become even greater. To my knowledge, this commercial development is unlike anything that has ever been proposed in the history of Mountain Brook.”
The group said the poll was conducted by Larry Powell, a professor of communication studies at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and responses were obtained from 693 households in Mountain Brook.
Developers of Lane Parke, Evson Inc., are proposing the redevelopment of the aging Mountain Brook Shopping Center and the adjacent Park Lane apartments. Plans call for constructing 217,000 square feet of retail and commercial space, a 75-room boutique hotel and residential units on the site.
Friends of Mountain Brook said it also has launched a Web site, www.friendsofmtnbrook.com, to further its efforts to sway city council members to vote against the rezoning for the project. The Web site for the development is www.laneparke.com.
