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What those who are Florence city government junkies like yours truly would almost call a Christmas miracle took place at the December 19th meeting of the city council.
Let me start with this. I have been guilty of being hard on Michele Rupe Eubanks, District 4 councilperson, over some of her decisions. For the most part, I think she had it coming. After all, she was responsible for originating the redesign of the city seal which gave us the “F!" disaster. She can never live that down. She has always seemed to be the darling of the “committee” crowd. The artsy people who commission murals from out of state artists. The historical society which sits in judgment of paint colors. Those who do not mind spending taxpayer money on projects many taxpayers will never benefit from or would not want in the first place.
On the other side of the coin, I have always seemed to regard Jimmy Oliver, District 6 councilperson as more of a “man of the people” He seemed like a straight shooter who would take up for those who needed help the most in Florence. Although his district was relatively affluent, he seemed like he understood the needs of the blue-collar working people. He did stall some of the stickier agenda items when he first got on the council. But, sadly in all cases he always voted to approve. Even the “F!" disaster! So did all of them! The murals, the sales tax, the million-dollar appropriations to UNA, the donation to the Salvation Army, “West Village” on ECM land and Joel Anderson’s company getting paid by the city. ALL the “greatest hits” of controversial items passed by this council. At least it seemed Jimmy Oliver asked the most questions and seemed to stall the inevitable yes vote.
River Zurinsky is a young man possibly in his mid-20s. He seems like a very energetic almost nervous young man. He has a keen interest in city government. River ran against Dick Jordan in the 2020 citywide election for councilperson from District 2. He lives with his mother who owns a home on Cedar St. A request for rezoning of the block they live on has been made by a construction company, High Cotton Homes. This is a local company and evidently, they have purchased a house on River’s block and want to turn it into a business. There was the usual public meeting for surrounding property owners to attend put on the city calendar.
A notice sign was erected on the property prior to the actual meeting to be held on 12-05, but there was a hitch. The sign had been erected in the alley of the property instead of on the street. This caused the vote on rezoning to be moved from the original date; 12-05 to 12-19. Rivers made impassioned pleas during the public remarks at both meetings about how the lighting and noise of a business next to the family home would be detrimental to his mother’s health. He alleged that High Cotton homes had already removed barrier trees between the two properties and paved a parking lot on the property to be rezoned. This is a violation of the city building department code according to River. This also allowed streetlights to flood the windows at night of the family home, making it difficult to sleep.
Despite the speeches from River Zurinsky asking that this request be denied, from years of following the votes of the Florence city council by a few different council people, I would have waged money that the vote at Tuesday’s meeting would be in favor of the construction company. After all, they were the petitioner, and they were supposedly making improvements to the property. The deciding factor for me had always been to follow the money and influence. It seemed River Zurinsky and his mother were not a wealthy construction company and I had never seen a council side with the “little guy” when it came to rezoning issues.
The first tell-tell sign that things may not go down as usual was the fact that Michele Eubanks was absent for the 12-05 meeting, so she was not familiar with this rezoning request. She asked questions about the parking lot that had been poured. I still thought she would have voted to approve the rezoning. Jimmy Oliver somehow seemed to not be as involved as usual and it appeared that he was just going to go along on this one. He seemed to favor “High Cotton” (intentional metaphor)
When Eubanks and of all people, Blake Edwards, voted against immediate consideration. I almost went to the window to see if a jolly old man with tiny reindeer had appeared! This was not an outright victory for River, but it meant he could gear up to fight another day. The motion would be carried over to the next meeting. Again. Something tells me he will be ready. Smalls wins like this make it look brighter for all of us “little people” who have neither old or new money or clout and I appreciate the overworked underpaid elves even more the older I get!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from The Florence Detective!
Please send all questions and/or comments to flodetective@gmail.com
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Editor's Note: High Cotton Homes is owned by Will King of Tuscumbia. The thing that we find most troubling here is the accusation of the company prematurely paving a front garden and violating the city's code. After a quick scan of the municode, we see that such paving cannot be in detriment of a residential neighborhood, but did not find the exact section preventing paving of such property. We welcome input.
We cannot begin to fathom why any honest, rational business owner would invest in this property before it was rezoned. Or was he somehow 100% sure it would be?
Hide the deed to your ranches; this does not speak well of High Cotton Homes...
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