Nearly 5,000 Signatures Weren’t Enough: Planning Commission Says No to Food Pak’s New Site

After the Mobile Planning Commission voted against rezoning a Spring Hill lot for Food Pak, the 35-year-old international grocery is asking the Board of Zoning Adjustment on Oct. 1 for a use variance to build a 6,500-square-foot store at 5070 Old Shell Road.

By James Bullard

September 19, 2026 · 8:34 pm Updated November 11, 2026 8 min read

Nearly 5,000 Signatures Weren't Enough: Planning Commission Says No to Food Pak's New Site

Update (Sept. 30, 2026): Food Pak is now pursuing a second route. The grocery is asking the Mobile Board of Zoning Adjustment on Thursday, Oct. 1, for a use variance that would allow a 6,500-square-foot store at 5070 Old Shell Road without rezoning the property. Details are in the new section at the end of this article.

MOBILE, Ala. — The owners of a small international grocery that has anchored a corner of Spring Hill for more than three decades got a thumbs-down Thursday on their plan to move a stone’s throw down the road.

The Mobile Planning Commission voted not to recommend rezoning a lot the owners of Food Pak want to build on — a decision that leaves the store’s future uncertain, and that illustrates how difficult zoning changes are to win in Spring Hill.

Thirty-Five Years on Old Shell Road

Food Pak sits off Old Shell Road in Mobile’s Spring Hill district, about a mile from the University of South Alabama and just west of Lavretta Park. Reza and Mahin Hejazi opened it in 1991.

The Hejazis are immigrants from Iran, and Food Pak carries an eclectic mix of international foods, wines and beers. That selection, along with the store’s prepared foods, has built it a constituency that reaches well beyond the surrounding blocks. An online petition supporting the store has drawn nearly 5,000 signatures.

Why They Need to Move

The Hejazis say their landlord has told them their lease will not be renewed.

Their plan was to build a new Food Pak on a nearby lot they already own, just east of Lavretta Park, behind a public parking area used by park patrons and by customers of the adjacent Maple Street Biscuit Co.

The obstacle is zoning. The lot is zoned residential. Building a grocery there would require rezoning to B-2 business use — the request that came before the Planning Commission on Thursday.

The Lot

Tim Spafford, an architect working with the Hejazis, described the crescent-shaped parcel as looking like a squishy toy his kids would have played with.

It is currently occupied by trees and untamed brush. To its north, an alley separates it from the back side of several homes on Village Circle East.

The Case for the Rezoning

Mahin Hejazi presented Food Pak as the natural candidate to convert an unused parcel into a functioning commercial property. She noted that the business has been part of the community for 35 years and that she and her husband live nearby in the Country Club Village neighborhood.

She said that over the past 35 years, they have witnessed the growth and transformation of their neighborhood into a vibrant, bustling community, and that they have grown right along with it.

She said the rezoning request is not just about Food Pak but about compatible land use. She added that transitioning the property to new commercial use aligns directly with the city’s goals of fostering walkable, sustainable neighborhoods, noting that many customers walk, bike, or drive golf carts and find the store very convenient.

She added that their goal is not just to request a change on a map, but to propose a thoughtful transition that directly supports the future of their neighborhood. She said the project will transform an underutilized property into a community asset, and they want to be good neighbors and a responsible partner in the town’s growth.

The Case Against

Planning Commission rules allow four speakers in favor of a proposal and four against.

Supporters emphasized the Hejazis’ long involvement in the community and the popularity of the grocery’s services.

Opponents raised concerns about drainage, truck traffic and encroachment on nearby homes. But their central objection was broader: that the change would add another business-zoned lot to the neighborhood, and that once a parcel carries B-2 zoning, a future owner could put something on it far less welcome than a neighborhood grocery.

That argument — that zoning attaches to land rather than to an applicant — is the most durable objection in land use hearings. A commission does not approve a business; it approves a category of permitted uses. B-2 zoning in Mobile permits a range of commercial activity, and nothing in the approval would bind a subsequent owner to operate a grocery.

A Master Plan Held as a Line

Linda St. John, board president of the Village of Spring Hill, presented the neighborhood’s master plan as a non-negotiable barrier.

She said that for 21 years their organization has stood firmly in defense of their community and master plan. During that time, they have faced repeated attempts by developers to circumvent or weaken the plan’s guidelines, which they have consistently opposed. With support from the city and the Planning Commission, they have successfully defeated all such non-compliant attempts.

St. John said the master plan represents a carefully considered community mission, not a suggestion or an obstacle to be overcome when a particular development does not fit. She urged commissioners not to let sentiment and emotion open the doors to non-compliant developments.

Everyone Likes the Store

What distinguished this hearing from a typical zoning fight is that the opposition was not opposed to the applicant.

Most, if not all, of those who spoke against the rezoning said they appreciated Food Pak. St. John herself said Food Pak is exactly the type of business they would encourage in the village in an appropriately zoned location. She also said the Hejazis seem to believe the location in question is better suited for invasive, broadly zoned, commercial development non-compliant with the community plan.

The disagreement, in other words, was about the parcel and the precedent — not about the grocery.

What Happens Next

The Planning Commission does not itself have the power to rezone property. It makes recommendations to the Mobile City Council, which holds the final authority.

At the end of Thursday’s discussion, the commission voted not to recommend the requested change. An unfavorable recommendation is a significant obstacle but not an absolute one; applicants can and sometimes do pursue the matter with the council.

Mahin Hejazi declined to speak to reporters after the meeting.

The Larger Question

The case sits at the intersection of two things Mobile has said it wants. City planning language, like that of most American cities over the past two decades, favors walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods where residents can reach a grocery on foot. Neighborhood master plans in established districts, meanwhile, exist largely to prevent the incremental commercial encroachment that residents in those districts have historically fought.

Both positions were represented in the room on Thursday. A small grocery that customers reach by foot, bicycle and golf cart is close to the textbook example of walkable neighborhood retail. It also happens to want a residential parcel.

How Commissioners Explained the Vote

The vote to deny the request was unanimous. Planning Commissioner Kenny Nichols said the parcel simply does not meet the criteria for a commercial development. He said he fails to see any change in circumstances that dictate the lot should be rezoned, and he cannot support it. District 6 Councilman Josh Woods, who also serves on the commission, agreed, saying he cannot line up with a good chain or reason why it should be changed.

Attorney Jerry Speegle spoke in support of the request, telling commissioners the store is more than a market with a “great muffaletta” but a beloved part of the neighborhood. Neighbor Richard Smith spoke against the rezoning; while he supports Food Pak, he said he is concerned about what other businesses could locate on the property as a result of the zoning change.

The City Council may still vote on the request at a later meeting. Hejazi declined to speak to reporters after the hearing, saying only that the commission’s decision shocked her.

Update: Food Pak Turns to the Board of Zoning Adjustment

Two weeks after the Planning Commission voted against its rezoning request, Food Pak Inc. is seeking a different path to build its new store. The company goes before the Mobile Board of Zoning Adjustment on Thursday, Oct. 1, asking for a use variance that would allow a 6,500-square-foot grocery store at 5070 Old Shell Road.

The property is zoned R-1 single-family residential and sits within the Spring Hill Overlay, where a grocery store is not normally permitted.

A variance, not a rezoning

The BZA request would not change the zoning. If the use variance is granted, the property would remain R-1, but a grocery store would be allowed there as an exception to the uses normally permitted in that district. That distinction speaks directly to the central objection raised at the Planning Commission, where opponents worried that B-2 zoning would stay with the land and could allow a future owner to open a far less welcome business.

The rezoning request from R-1 to B-2 Neighborhood Business remains a separate matter. The Planning Commission’s Sept. 17 vote is a recommendation to the Mobile City Council, which makes the final decision after holding its own public hearing.

A revised site plan

Food Pak initially asked for additional variances for parking, tree planting and landscaping, but it has since submitted a revised plan that meets those requirements. That leaves only the use variance before the board. The revised plan shows 18 parking spaces, three more than the 15 required.

The property’s history

The parcel was recorded as “Commercial Lot B” when the Country Club Village subdivision was created in 1943, but it has been zoned residential since Mobile adopted its zoning ordinance in 1967. A 2017 request to use the property for off-site parking for a nearby restaurant was denied.

In March of this year, the Planning Commission tentatively approved a six-lot residential subdivision called The Cottages at Spring Hill at the same address. The applicant in that case was 195, LLC, and the city staff report listed Mahin Ghavamian as the property owner. Ghavamian is also listed as the property owner in the current Food Pak BZA case.

What the board must find

To approve a use variance for the grocery store, the Board of Zoning Adjustment must find that:

Special conditions would make strict enforcement of the zoning rules an unnecessary hardship;
The variance would not be contrary to the public interest; and
Granting it would preserve the intent of the zoning code.

Use variances are generally harder to obtain than variances for dimensional requirements such as setbacks or parking, because they allow an activity the zoning district does not otherwise permit.