12/19/14 UPDATE: After considerable outrage, the Mobile Planning Commission voted 8-1 to deny the re-zoning permit. Given that the Mobile Planning Commission’s Subcommittee on Above Ground Storage Tanks is considering proximity to Residential-zoned property a zoning barrier, preventing this piece of Residential property from eroding a potential buffer around the Africatown community by being re-zoned is a victory for Africatown.

— MEDIA ADVISORY—

Press Contact:
Joél Lewis, President, Africatown Community Development Corporation, 251-648-3441
Teresa Fox-Bettis, Executive Director, Center for Fair Housing, 251-479-1532

Proposed Re-Zoning from Residential to Heavy Industrial in Historic Africatown Concerns Residents
Yorktown Missionary Baptist Church Hosts Community Meeting with Developer, Councilman Manzie

On Tuesday, December 16 at 6:00 PM at Yorktown Missionary Baptist Church, residents of the Historic Africatown/Plateau neighborhood will meet to discuss their concerns about Bean Properties, LLC’s proposed re-zoning of a Residential (R-1) property to Heavy Industry (I-2). Bob Collins, the sole proprietor of Bean Properties, LLC, has indicated in permit applications intentions to clear and pave most of the currently wooded fields of the 17.7 acre pair of lots immediately across the Papermill Road from the old IP site, which many residents suspect is contaminated and in need of remediation. These plans would ostensibly allow for the construction of two warehouses totaling over 125,000 square feet with offices, though once re-zoned I-2 the property could then become any number of even less desirable industrial activities. Continue reading →