05/02/02

Attorney General Bill Pryor has given Homewood's Palisades proposal five green lights in a much-anticipated legal opinion.

Homewood officials since January have been looking at spending $16.9 million toward buying the shopping center as a new municipal complex. The city has until June 1 to make a decision.

The Homewood City Council in January asked Pryor to weigh in on five issues regarding the city's possible purchase of the Palisades shopping center in Birmingham. They asked him five questions:

May Homewood use taxpayer money to buy the shopping center as a municipal complex in Birmingham?

May it hire a property manager to rent and manage surplus portions of the shopping center?

May it honor existing leases and use the money to pay off debt and maintenance of the center?

May it relocate municipal operations to land in Birmingham?

May the city rent the surplus area for a profit and send the money to its general fund?

Pryor wrote back last week that the city may do so under all of those situations as long as they are in the public interest.

While pleased with the opinion, Homewood Mayor Barry McCulley said the city continues to evaluate the 26-acre shopping center as to whether it is a suitable spot.

"We still want to make sure the property is right for us," McCulley said. "But certainly the attorney general opinion could have been a deal killer, but it turned out to be OK."

Homewood City Hall, completed in 1928, sports a variety of leaks and stained ceiling tiles. The city has contemplated renovating the structure.

Tension between Birmingham and Homewood over the Palisades proposal became heated in April, after the Birmingham City Council passed a resolution stating it would not deannex the property.

McCulley wrote a column last week on the opinions page in The Birmingham News that said Homewood had attempted to contact Birmingham to settle the tempest. Kincaid responded Tuesday, disputing McCulley's account and calling it a "poison-pen letter."

Homewood officials countered that they approached the Birmingham City Council first, since it has the authority to grant deannexations.

Homewood City Council President Ginger Busby wrote a Feb. 15 letter to Birmingham City Council President Lee Loder requesting to be placed on the council agenda to discuss the matter.

"I was not given that opportunity," Busby said.

Kincaid said Tuesday he has directed the city's law department to research legal issues relating to Homewood's plans. He did not rule out the possibility that Birmingham could withhold zoning and building permit approval.

"I would hope certainly the maturity in the elected officials would not take it to that level," Kincaid said. "Birmingham is going to be respected."

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