Birmingham’s Crestline neighborhood is a peaceful and friendly single-family residential area just outside of Mountain Brook. Last September, residents there found themselves in a fight for their future against a developer secretly planning to build a 55-unit high-density rental development in the center of their community.
That developer, David Silverstein, is now running for Mountain Brook City Council, and although Birmingham’s Crestline residents do not have a vote, some are warning those who do.
Hallie Gibbs, a former Mountain Brook resident and current Crestline resident, was one of the earliest opponents of the development. She has been warning Mountain Brook residents through multiple Facebook posts, shared with 1819 News and quoted with Gibbs' permission.
"Voters should know what happened and decide for themselves," Gibbs said in one post.
“It’s clear Silverstein is chasing profits, not looking out for communities. His sneaky moves and bad judgment on this project show he’s not the guy we want on Mountain Brook’s city council or anywhere near the people making city planning and zoning decisions. Since Mountain Brook doesn’t require neighborhood votes for rezoning like Birmingham, MB has to stay on top of anything Silverstein might do,” she warned.
Crestline isn’t a typical big-city neighborhood; it’s separated from the hustle and bustle of urban life and the kind of high-density development Silverstein was trying to create. The current church property is a lush green space, featuring three crosses set against the backdrop of canopy trees.
Neighbors know each other well. They pet sit and babysit for one another. Recently, there was a community birthday party with an open invitation for all to celebrate Winston, the dog, who was turning five.
The heart of the neighborhood features the church on one side and a small commercial strip on the other. According to Silverstein’s timeline, he purchased a property adjoining the church for the project over a year before he brought his high-density project plan to the neighborhood. Then he waited; eventually, Silverstein's church, St. Luke’s, would rent the property from its prior owners to hold occasional services. Then he bought it.
Silverstein is running on a platform of transparency, one that emphasizes "listening." Gibbs described that following the purchase and development of his plan, “Silverstein kept it hush-hush, asking Crestline Park Neighborhood Association leaders not to share information at their regular meetings, keeping the project from residents.”
Sharing a portion of a mailpiece, Gibbs explained, "If Silverstein wasn’t so bold to make 'transparency' and 'open communication' claims like this, I may not have shared what he did. Silverstein is advertising qualities which are the opposite of his dealings with Crestline Park. Voters should know. It is a unique situation because of all the Neighborhood Association documentation supporting it."
Residents of Crestiline found out less than a week before the vote what Silverstein was planning through a flyer posted on the neighborhood's Facebook page. It didn’t include the number of units or the fact that the proposed development would be rental units, but the details leaked. The outcry was swift and decisive. The residents were unified in opposition and were completely taken aback.
The neighborhood association meeting, which would typically see five to seven attendees, had approximately 215 people, and they were furious. Multiple times throughout the presentation and after they called for a vote to reject the proposal, Silverstein, however, would not allow it.
The residents were furious. Many had stood for over an hour and a half, occasionally booing, jeering and laughing while Silverstein tried to convince them that he was a neighbor and that, despite everyone’s strong opposition, he was doing them a favor. At multiple points throughout the presentation, Silverstein insinuated he lived in the neighborhood and was a part of the community. However, when asked directly, Silverstein refused to answer the question, “Do you live in Mountain Brook or Birmingham?” It was asked a second time, and again he refused to answer.
One resident ultimately pushed the subject of the vote again, and Silverstein declared, “There’s not going to be a vote.” One homeowner responded, “That is bullsh*t,” while another said, “I thought you said you were a man of integrity.”
While City officials pointed out that the neighborhood had the paperwork and could move forward with the ballot, Silverstein took advantage of the confusion he created by saying there wouldn’t be a vote and instead pulled his zoning request.
Following the meeting, over 800 people signed a petition in opposition to any zoning change for the property. The property at the heart of the issue is currently pending sale to St. Peter's Church; sources tell 1819 News that an announcement on its closing is imminent.
Apryl Marie Fogel is a resident of Birmingham's Crestline community and a concerned citizen. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email [email protected]
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