Olivia McMurrey

With new city councilors on board, regulations to limit short-term home rentals are set to come back up in the first quarter of the year.

The park is credited with sparking commercial and residential growth in Birmingham’s downtown area.

Work is expected to begin later this year on the long-awaited development.

The city is focusing on programs to bolster its affordable housing inventory, reduce homelessness and poverty and ramp up community development.

Latest census estimates show Jefferson County’s population grew after three years of decline, and the Birmingham metro experienced its strongest influx of residents in several years.

Residents of Birmingham’s Red Mountain, Crestline and Crestwood communities looked at the overall Framework Plan for the southern area of the city during a standing-room-only meeting.

The city’s Planning and Zoning Committee discussed a new proposal for limiting short-term rentals in Birmingham and advanced it for further consideration by councilors.

Once considered a model of citizen participation, the influence of the neighborhood association system is waning as participation lags and leaders complain of declining attention from the city.

City officials are debating how many short-term housing rentals should be allowed in Birmingham and where along with other rules for their operation as complaints about their proliferation mount.