Background Information of Walker Springs Development

As of today, here is what we know:

As proposed, this development which is known as Walker Springs will consist of 450 acres, 1,004 homes in multiple subdivisions, and a new road. The road will connect to Hwy 119 at Veterans Park with a traffic light and span all the way to Smokey Road via the fields and cow pastures. The development will also have a minimum of 5 acres dedicated to commercial businesses that will be near the Smokey road side of the development. Walker Springs will impact the wetlands and water sources that feed Ebenezer Swamp, not to mention impacting our school system, traffic, flooding, or possible tax increases to expand/support public infrastructure.  





The land parcels for Walker Springs were introduced for rezoning via two ordinances in November 2020 and a public hearing was held December 7, 2020. The ordinances were primarily listed under individual names. Neither ordinance mentions a mass residential development. The parcels were later annexed into Alabaster in February 2021 with a public hearing on March 8, 2021.

City of Alabaster: Ordinance 20-110 | Ordinance 20-122 | Ordinance 20-123

Most people became informed of the Walker Springs development when the US Army Corps of Engineers published their proposal for public comment on July 22, 2022 with a 30-day comment period. The proposal from Newcastle Development requests permission to fill 27 acres of wetlands and 3,200+ linear feet of streams. 

In the midst of rezoning and gaining land approvals, the city also entered into an 11-year Economic Development Agreement with Newcastle Development for $1,785,792.00 that was dated February 21, 2021. This agreement outlines how they expect Newcastle to build 1,004 homes plus the road spanning from Hwy 119 to Smokey Road. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Walker Springs Public Hearing Recap

  Walker Springs Public Hearing Recap Once again, our community is simply the best! The residents and students from the University of Montevallo really advocated and challenged city leadership to address our concerns and to focus on responsible growth. Here’s a recap for those unable to attend the City Council’s public hearing on November 14th. It was a longer than normal city council meeting due to the number of agenda items and the mayor taking the time to address the council and those in attendance before diving into the agenda. The mayor acknowledged the various concerns communicated over the past few months and praised the community engagement that has been displayed at recent meetings. He stated again that the city has not done a good job at educating the public about these developments and promised himself, the city manager and public relations manager would improve the information disseminated in the future. The only person who spoke in favor of the amended plan was Newcastle’s
Read more

Bruno Public Hearing Recap

First, I'd like to say  Thank you to everyone who came out to the city council meeting last night and vocalized their concerns during the public hearing for the Bruno Trust commercial development. We had a very good turnout and at least two news outlets in attendance! ABC 33/40 and Fox 6 were there and ABC 33/40 aired our story in the 10:00 p.m. news last night.  The city council voted unanimously to pass the ordinance and rezone the Bruno Trust land from commercial along 119, planned residential (200 houses), and agriculture to business commercial use throughout the approximately 45.5 acre plot. We have obtained the drafts of three citizens' comments from last night, and have included them below.  First comment:  Demand As I was reading the proposal for this development, I kept asking myself what demand is being addressed by this project? Why create unnecessary burdens with traffic or downstream flooding for residents? Why do commercial businesses need to expand into a pred
Read more