Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Legacy Pines topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Huntsville council unanimously approves concept plan for Legacy Pines master development
Summary
The Huntsville City Council voted unanimously to approve a concept plan for Legacy Pines, a master-planned community that calls for mixed housing, commercial space, and an 18-hole golf course; council members pressed the developer on traffic, drainage and annexation plans.
The Huntsville City Council unanimously approved a concept plan for Legacy Pines, a large master-planned development adjacent to Veterans Memorial Parkway, on a voice vote after a public hearing and presentation by the applicant team.
Jackson Don of Planned Environments Incorporated, the project’s land planner, said the concept envisions a mix of residential product types, community commercial space, possible medical expansion near the existing hospital and an 18-hole championship golf course. ‘‘This is something I think is gonna change Huntsville for for the long term in a positive way,’’ the owner’s representative Bill Bigelow told the council during the presentation.
The council’s questions focused on traffic, drainage, governance and timing. Council members asked whether traffic impacts on Veterans Memorial Parkway and the Montgomery Road bottleneck had been analyzed; the applicants said the plan is still conceptual and that engineers (including Kimley Horn) will address traffic impacts as the project advances. The team said it intends to pursue a Municipal Utility District (MUD) for financing and infrastructure and expects to seek annexation into the city as the project develops.
Council members also raised watershed and drainage concerns for nearby neighborhoods including Elkins and Spring Lake. Jackson Don said the team is working with engineers to locate detention ponds and design the development to mitigate runoff so that water does not flow onto adjacent properties.
Don characterized the project as long term: ‘‘25, 50 year project, 15 to 20,’’ noting that phasing will follow market demand. The council and staff clarified that tonight’s action was for concept-plan approval only; a formal zoning change and ordinance are expected to return to council for separate consideration in January.
Councilman McKenzie made the motion to approve the concept plan and Councilman Antoine seconded. The vote was unanimous.
Next steps: the developer and staff will continue technical reviews on traffic, drainage, utilities and annexation, and a formal zone-change ordinance and related filings will return to council in a future meeting for final readings and a vote.
