Northport approves zoning change for University Beach, despite objections

Yahoo

21-05-2025

Despite a tidal-swelling crash of voices raised in often-stormy opposition, the Northport City Council voted 3-2 to continue paving a pathway for the $350 million University Beach development.
Roughly 150 citizens, with media and others, overflowed council chambers in the Northport City Hall for the May 19 council meeting. Some were there to speak against proposed polling locations for the August elections, which opponents said could disenfranchise voters. Despite those voices, that resolution also passed the council.
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Heat rose during the second reading of the rezoning request and special district plan approval, for the 76.2-acre multi-use development, which is expected to include a 10-acre lagoon, water park, a hotel, dining, retail, residential facilities, and spaces for performance, rental events and a conference center.
Aside from Texas-based developer Kent Donahue, who presented an animated model visualizing a walk-through of renderings, no one spoke in favor of University Beach. Several from the attending crowd stood up to speak against.
After close of the public comment section, Glenda Webb, Northport city administrator, summarized constituents' concerns, which included:
Disruption of nearby neighborhoods
Drainage and potential flooding issues
Concert volume, and its competition with Tuscaloosa's 8,000-seat Mercedes-Benz Amphitheater
Increased traffic and other traffic issues
Though the modified zoning prohibits certain establishments, the worry was raised that casinos were not among those, should Alabama at some point pass legalized gambling
Airspace clearance for a potential seven-story hotel; the 76.2 acres are north of McFarland Boulevard and east of Harper Road, near Tuscaloosa National Airport.
Murmurings, mutterings and exclamations of disbelief ran throughout the contentious hearing, with repeated urgings for the council to hear and respond to complaints and questions. Trouble with microphones and the PA system, making it difficult for all discussions to be heard, didn't help, though those tech issues were fixed toward the end.
Bobby Johnson's lived in Northport about 57 years, he said, "... and I don't ever remember a council, to the extent this council has, not listening to the citizens." That drew a round of "Amens" and extended applause.
"I would expect the Northport council to begin tonight, to start (listening to constituents), which you haven't done to this point, with this particular project," he said.
Northport resident Tuffy Holland led opposing voices, speaking first, given generous leeway over the usual three-minute time limit by Christy Bobo, council president. Afterward, Holland said he wasn't surprised by the outcome, though he was pleased ― and, with some of the audience, momentarily hopeful ― on getting a second "No" vote, from councilor Anwar Aiken, who had expressed concerns about potential flooding issues.
Councilor Jamie Dykes, the other "No" vote, had also expressed financial worries, and was pointed toward a feasibility study that she had not previously seen. Its figures, as outlined by Donahue, suggested Northport could see a $61 million tax impact in the first 10 years of University Beach, and a $254 million impact after another two decades, generating $1 billion total tax revenue over those 30 years.
Donahue's figures on the plan outlined a 2,000-person concert venue, 30,000 square-foot convention center and 1,400 linear feet of water park with lazy river and wave pool, creating more than 600 permanent jobs working to greet 600,000 visitors over its first year.
Holland noted residents had sued to see such studies, which Webb said the city had recently received. Because she also had just heard about councilor Dykes raised tabling the motion, given that not everyone had had time to digest the fiscal feasibility figures. Webb said there was a legal avenue, but as councilors Karl Wiggins and Woodrow Washington had just previously made and seconded the motion to vote on the approval, the change would involve another bit of wrangling. It was left up to the two councilors to decide if they would rescind and consider the tabling motion. They did not choose to do so. The "Yes" votes by councilors Bobo, Washington and Wiggins carried the motion.
In April, the Northport planning and zoning commission had heard the proposal, but did not give it a favorable recommendation. Regardless, with the council's passing in spite of the commission's concerns, the acreage will transform from C6/highway commercial to a special district, giving the developers easier access to build on the property without having to seek council approval multiple times.
"I didn't expect anything more," Holland said after the council meeting was adjourned. " ... but I thought maybe the upcoming (Aug. 26) election might have played on somebody's, one of their, consciousness, but obviously it doesn't."
There are more avenues for opponents of the plan to pursue, he added, including more legal work, though he hoped it wouldn't come to that.
Reach Mark Hughes Cobb at [e-mail].
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Northport moves forward with $350 million University Beach development