The professional district is intended to provide appropriate-scaled buildings for professional offices, business offices and service uses. The district may be applied to sites which can establish an effective transition to adjacent residential neighborhoods.

(Ord. No. 2044, § 1, 4-23-2019; Ord. No. 2054, § 1, 9-9-2019)

(a)

The uses permitted in professional districts shall be as follows:

(1)

Professional offices;

(2)

Business offices;

(3)

Interior design/decorating studios;

(4)

Personal fitness (limited to one-on-one personal trainers);

(5)

Photography studios;

(6)

Travel agents;

(7)

Professional consulting services;

(8)

Accessory structures customarily incidental to the uses permitted by this section 129-151.

(b)

Conditions on permitted uses. All uses in the professional district shall be conditional uses and shall only be permitted with prior written approval of the city council. Conditional uses are uses which may be acceptable within the professional district, based on specific circumstances and mitigating site design provisions that would eliminate the potential for these uses to otherwise have negative impacts on adjacent property or other uses in the vicinity. Therefore, they require special review to better determine if the circumstances and design provisions for the proposed use, when applied to a specific site, are sufficient to mitigate any potential negative impacts. Proposed conditional uses will be reviewed as to the following:

(1)

Whether the use would disparately impact public parking in the area;

(2)

Whether vehicular or pedestrian circulation would be adversely impacted by the use;

(3)

Whether the use would adversely impact surrounding existing uses;

(4)

Whether the hours of operation or peak traffic times would adversely impact the surrounding properties and public streets;

(5)

Whether sufficient landscape buffers exist or are proposed along any adjoining residential properties;

(6)

Whether existing or proposed exterior lighting is sufficiently designed so as not to spill onto adjoining properties.

(c)

The city council may require the party applying for the approval of such conditional use to furnish to the city council any or all of the following information and documents and such additional information and documents which the city council may consider necessary or helpful in deciding whether to approve such requested conditional use:

(1)

A survey of the property;

(2)

A topographical survey of the property;

(3)

A site plan for the property, showing the location, size, height and elevation of all existing and proposed improvements, the location, number and size of parking spaces and such other information about the existing and proposed improvements and the development plan for the property which the planning commission considers reasonably necessary for its consideration of the request for approval;

(4)

Plans for all proposed improvements;

(5)

The type of construction materials to be used in the proposed improvements;

(6)

A traffic study with respect to the traffic expected to be generated by the use;

(7)

Information concerning outdoor lighting;

(8)

The hours of operation of the activities proposed to be conducted on the property;

(9)

Information concerning the visibility of the proposed improvements from adjacent property, buildings and public streets;

(10)

Information concerning the proposed screening of the proposed improvements by fences, walls, berms, shrubs, trees or other means;

(11)

Whether any trees or other vegetation which would serve to screen the proposed improvements and the use thereof from adjacent property will be removed from the property; and

(12)

Information concerning vehicles, equipment and materials which may be stored on the property or within the improvements.

All materials and information required to be submitted must be submitted to the zoning officer at least 24 days prior to consideration of any application for such conditional use.

(d)

The city council shall hold a public hearing for the consideration of any such conditional use, after giving at least ten days' notice thereof. For purposes of this section, written notice of public hearings held by the city council shall be sent, by United States mail, to all property owners, any portion of whose property lies within 500 feet of any portion of the parcel included in a request for conditional use consideration. For the purpose of such notice, the owner of a parcel shall be considered to be the person who is shown as the owner of such parcel according to the records of the county tax assessor. If a public hearing is continued or postponed during the meeting of the city council during which such hearing was held or was scheduled to have been held, no notice of such continued or postponed hearing need be given.

(e)

Any use established and permitted by right in the professional district prior to September 9, 2019 shall be permitted to continue in the same location without regard to these provisions, provided that such use is not expanded. However, should such use be expanded, such expansion shall require prior written approval of the city council per subsection (b) of this section.

(f)

A professional office, business office or service use established on or after September 9, 2019 and permitted after city council review and approval under subsection (b) of this section may be replaced by another professional office, business office or service use if the zoning officer determines that there are non-material changes for the proposed professional use utilizing the criteria for review outlined in subsection (b). In the absence of such a determination, city council review of the replacement use shall be required under subsection (b).

(Ord. No. 1224, 2-26-96; Ord. No. 1427, 8-28-00; Ord. No. 1955, § 1, 7-12-2016; Ord. No. 2044, § 1, 4-23-2019; Ord. No. 2054, § 1, 9-9-2019)

(a)

Minimum dimensions of parcel. .....

(1)

Minimum area of parcel .....15,000
square feet

(2)

Minimum width of parcel at all points between the street line and the front setback line .....100 feet

(b)

Building limitations. .....

(1)

Maximum building area .....25 percent
of the total area of parcel

(2)

Maximum number of stories .....Two

(3)

Maximum building height .....35 feet

(c)

Minimum yards and building setbacks. .....

(1)

Minimum front yard setback .....40 feet

(2)

Minimum rear yard setback .....40 feet

(3)

Minimum side yard setback .....20 feet

(d)

Minimum yards and building setbacks for professional districts which are contiguous to local business districts.

Notwithstanding the provisions of the foregoing subsection (c), the following provisions shall govern minimum yards and building setbacks for all professional districts any part of which is contiguous to a local business district (as used in this subsection (d) the term "the edge of the adjacent sidewalk" shall mean the edge of an adjacent sidewalk which is nearest to a building or a proposed building):

(1)

Except as provided in the following sentence, the front wall of each building shall be contiguous to: (i) the edge of the right-of-way of the adjacent public street; or (ii) the edge of the adjacent sidewalk; whichever is farther from the center line of such right-of-way. If the front property line of the parcel on which the building is located is not adjacent to the right-of-way of a public street, the front wall of the building may be located at any point between the front property line of such parcel and a point which is 30 feet from such front property line.

(2)

Notwithstanding the provisions of the foregoing subsection (d)(1), the front wall of any building located on a parcel the front property line of which is adjacent to the right-of-way of a public street may be located no farther from the edge of the adjacent public street right-of-way or from the edge of the adjacent sidewalk, whichever is farther from the center line of such right-of-way, than the front wall of any adjacent building, but in no event shall the front wall of the building be located farther than 20 feet from the edge of the adjacent public street right-of-way or the edge of the adjacent sidewalk, whichever is farther from the center line of such right-of-way.

(3)

Except as provided in the following sentence, the side walls of each building shall be contiguous to the side property lines of the parcel on which the building is located; provided, that if one or both sides of such parcel are contiguous to the right-of-way of a public street or alley, the side wall or walls of the building shall be contiguous to the edge of such right-of-way, or if there is a sidewalk adjacent to one or both sides of the parcel, the wall or walls of the building shall be contiguous to the edge of the adjacent sidewalk, whichever is farther from the center line of such right-of-way. If the front property line of the parcel on which the building is located is not adjacent to the right-of-way of a public street, the side walls of the building may be located at any point between four feet and 20 feet from the side lines of such parcel.

(4)

Notwithstanding the provisions of the foregoing subsection (d)(3), no side wall of a building located on a parcel the front property line of which is adjacent to the right-of-way of a public street shall be required to extend to the side property line of the parcel upon which the building is located if the planning commission approves the use of the side yard between such side wall and the side property line for the parking of motor vehicles.

(Ord. No. 1224, 2-26-96; Ord. No. 1446, 10-23-00)

(a)

Service yards. On any parcel on which a professional building is hereafter built, the construction of which is started after the effective date of this chapter, there shall be provided a service yard, the size of which shall be sufficient to serve the needs of the occupants of the building, and which shall be located at the rear of such office building. The service yard shall have access to a street, alley or driveway and shall provide adequate accommodations for the handling of waste and garbage and for the loading and unloading of vehicles. The service yard shall be paved with asphalt or concrete and shall be enclosed with an opaque wall or fence of permanent construction, at least six feet, but no more than eight feet, in height, and designed and constructed to conceal the service yard from visibility from outside such wall or fence. The entrance to the service yard shall be screened by a gate constructed of an opaque material, which gate must be at least six feet, but not more than eight feet, in height. No part of the service yard may be used to satisfy the off street parking requirements of this article.

(b)

Building setbacks. Any professional office, the construction of which is started after the effective date, shall not be located closer to the front lot line than 35 feet, or the front line of the principal structure on the adjacent property located in a residential district, whichever is greater.

(Ord. No. 1224, 2-26-96; Ord. No. 2044, § 1, 4-23-2019)

(a)

Generally. All parking spaces and such attendant driveways and other areas which may be necessary for the maneuvering of motor vehicles shall be arranged so as to provide convenient access to and from a paved street or alley. All parking spaces, driveways and maneuvering areas shall be paved with asphalt or concrete. All such areas shall have adequate storm drainage facilities.

(b)

Parking spaces.

(1)

Minimum number of parking spaces required, for every 250 square feet of rentable floor area in the building .....One

(2)

Minimum size of each parking space .....Nine feet
wide by 18 feet long

(Ord. No. 1224, 2-26-96)

If artificial illumination is provided for a parking area, it shall be arranged so as to shine and reflect away from any adjacent residential areas and away from any streets adjacent to or near the parcel. No lighting fixtures used for any parking area shall be elevated more than 14 feet above the ground. Each lighting fixture shall be designed and installed so as to direct its beam of light below the horizontal plane of such lighting fixture.

(Ord. No. 1224, 2-26-96)

With respect to professional districts that abut in whole or in part a local business district, building permits and certificates of occupancy may be issued for uses, structures, and improvements that do not conform to the requirements set forth in this article only under the following conditions:

(1)

A development plan containing the information specified in sections 129-233 and 129-234 of the Mountain Brook City Code shall be submitted to the zoning official or building official of the City of Mountain Brook and shall thereafter be processed, reviewed, and acted upon in accordance with the procedures provided in sections 129-233 and 129-235 of this Code.

(2)

In addition to the information described above, the person, firm, or entity seeking authority to construct a nonconforming building, structure, or other improvement shall, in its application to the city, specifically identify all features of the proposed construction or improvement that do not meet otherwise applicable requirements, explain why a modification or deviation from these requirements is necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, and demonstrate how compensating architectural features, design elements, construction practices, or characteristics of the site will operate to mitigate the effect of any modification or deviation from the otherwise applicable requirements and thereby serve the purposes of the zoning ordinance.

(3)

If and to the extent not fully addressed in the development plan, the person, firm, or entity seeking authority to construct a nonconforming building, structure, or other improvement shall submit with its application a specific and comprehensive description of plans, methods, or means for resolving actual or potential problems, issues, or concerns pertaining to pedestrian and vehicular traffic flow and/or safety, drainage, landscaping, buffering, lighting, and impact on adjoining districts or properties.

(4)

No construction or improvement that does not conform to a development plan that has been approved by the Mountain Brook City Council in the manner prescribed above shall be permitted or authorized.

(Ord. No. 1622, § 1, 1-26-04)