MUNICIPAL

conditions, approving the renewal of three businesses.

In February, Birmingham Police Chief Scott Grewe informed the commission that some of the establishments were caught selling alcohol to a minor that had been working with the department. These establishments were issued citations and informed they needed to take corrective action. A public hearing was set at the meeting to hear comments from the businesses.

At the meeting on Monday, March 27, Kelly Allen, representing Papa Joe’s Bistro and Whole Foods, stated that both establishments provided additional training for their staff members to prevent the issue from reoccurring. Allen also explained that the employee from Whole Foods who sold the liquor was terminated on the spot per the company’s policy.

Whole Foods and Allen also made the commission aware that they intend to relinquish their special land use permit. According to Allen, Whole Foods will no longer allow for the consumption of alcohol within the store since “they can’t position it within the store because of the ecommerce merger with Amazon.” They are still asking for the license to be renewed since construction plans have not gone through to the planning department yet, but the license will be put into escrow.

The decision to renew Whole Foods’ license was postponed to the following meeting so the business has times to finalize construction plans and submit them for preliminary review.

Allen explained that the incident at Papa Joe’s occurred in the store, not the actual bistro, and the employee who sold the liquor completely blew off the store’s procedures for alcohol sale. Papa Joe’s scheduled additional training for employees and provided a written letter proving the training was held. Commissioners voted 7-0 to approve the renewal of Papa Joe’s liquor license.

Casa Pernoi and Toast, said planning director Nick Dupuis, were found in violation of their special land use permit agreement. When city staff visited Toast to take a seat count, they had an additional 29 seats. Allen said they believed the restaurant was only over 10 seats, however Toast has surpassed the seat count for the past three years, which, according to commissioner Andrew Haig, indicates a pattern of behavior.

“When somebody breaks the rules, it’s not us that broke them. We break the rules if we don’t follow them. My concern right now is the 65 seats, which was also in the December 13, 2021, package with a copy signed by the single owner it says very clearly 65 indoor seats, 52 outdoor seats –pattern of behavior; three times failed on exactly this,” Haig said.

Toast’s owner, manager and another staff member were present and offered that they wouldn’t let the issue happen again and it was a mistake. Allen, the manager and staff member also mentioned the counting method could be off and weren’t sure how many seats a booth, for instance, may count for. Allen also said the restaurant will be removing all excess chairs from the building so the situation doesn’t repeat itself.

Commissioners voted 6-1, with Brad Host voting against the motion, to approve the liquor license renewal. Allen and Toast will have to provide the commission with a written understanding of the city’s liquor code and compliance with the approved site plans.

Prior to the vote on Toast, commissioners voted 7-0 to approve Casa Pernoi’s liquor license renewal.

B1 zoning request still being studied

By Grace Lovins

The Birmingham Planning Board held its third study session on a zoning amendment request during a special meeting on Monday, April 17, that would add several uses to buildings zoned in the B1 Neighborhood Business District. Planners created definitions for most of the uses, but the board wants to continue working on the language of the definitions before pushing the amendment forward.

The owner of the former Grapevine Market, located at 100 West 14 Mile at Pierce Street in Birmingham, applied for the ordinance amendment requesting the new uses be added to the zoning district. B1 uses are for the convenience of shopping for persons in adjacent residential areas to permit only such uses as are necessary to satisfy limited basic shopping and/or service needs, which are not related to the shopping pattern of the general business district.

Additional uses proposed under the amendment include health club/studio, specialty food store, boutique, bank, food and beverage, and fast casual/café. Banks are already allowed in B1 zones but do not have a definition and have not been explicitly stated in the ordinance.

Planners developed a permitted use and definition for a café use, eliminating the fast casual use aspect of the proposed amendment according to senior planner Brooks Cowan, which would allow establishments to serve food and drinks for either dine-in or carry-out services. The definition would not allow for full table service and wait staff.

A category for indoor dining was also created as an accessory permitted use, said Cowan, for businesses like bakeries, food stores, grocery stores and cafés. Indoor dining would be subject to specific standards and the space for tables, seats and circulation could not be greater than 750 square feet. The parking requirements would follow the typical one-per-75 concept—one parking space for every 75 square feet — but only the assembly area would count towards the requirement as opposed to the gross square footage.

Stuart Jeffares and Bert Koseck offered that they could potentially expand the parking requirements to be 1-per-100, or one space per every 100 square feet, but three other board members disagreed. Chair Scott Clein said expanding the requirements to 1per-100 might be too much right now considering the requirement has already been minimized to only the assembly area.

Reviewing the proposed health club/studio use, many board members said they still weren’t confident with what to do about the particular use in the zoning district. At the previous study sessions, the board was concerned that a health club/studio could become a destination for the rest of the city instead of only meeting the needs of the surrounding neighborhood.

Cowan suggested that the city could potentially allow a smaller health club use for a limited number of patrons. For example, they could allow a personal trainer to operate a studio with no more than five individuals or clients in the building at a time. Some of the board said this might be a good fix, but Williams noted it might create an extra regulatory burden for the city.

Williams raised the issue that the city would have to find a way to regulate who shows up and how many people are in the building at all times.

Board members also asked planners to create a definition, or potentially two, for a bank use in the zoning district. The use is currently allowed in B1 zones under ‘office,’ but does not stand alone as a use in the ordinance. Jeffares said they should make sure if there is a bank use, it has to be a bank that services the public, being teller focused and transaction focused, as opposed to being an office space with little functional use for the public.

“If there’s a definition of financial transactions, teller-based, transactional, what have you, it sounds like [the board is] a bit more comfortable with that in the whole of B1 whereas if you’re talking about things like the credit union where there are offices and other things it sounds like there’s concern that perhaps that should be a special land use itself because location is a little more significant,” Clein said.

The board directed planners to work on creating definitions for bank and tightening the language and method of measuring parking for indoor dining compared to the other uses for board members to review at the next study session.

Whole Foods drops store liquor license

By Grace Lovins

Whole Foods Market, 2100 East Maple Road in Birmingham, has relinquished their liquor license and special land use permit, and is beginning the process of changing the current bistro inside the store to an ecommerce area.

The city commission approved the termination of the special land use permit at their meeting on Monday, April 3, and with it the store's liquor license.

The market was originally tagged for violating the city’s liquor code after the city’s police department caught the establishment selling alcohol to a minor. When representatives attended the public hearing in March for the city commission to decide if they would recommend renewal of the license, Whole Foods attorney Kelly Allen said the employee responsible had been terminated on the spot and additional training was given to the staff.

Allen also informed the commission at the public hearing that Whole Foods was intending to relinquish their special land use permit, and said the store will no longer allow for the consumption of alcohol within the store. According to Allen, the bistro couldn’t be positioned within the store because of the e-commerce merger with Amazon.

At the meeting on April 3, Allen said she and Whole Foods management agree with the city’s recommendation to approve the SLUP termination and are ready to move forward. The plans for the new ecommerce area were submitted to city staff on Friday, March 21.

With little discussion, commissioners voted 7-0 to accept the termination of Whole Foods’ special land use permit either at the start of construction, violation of the special land use permit, or 90 days from the meeting, whichever happens first