Upcoming Public Hearing- Sept. 27

What has changed on Walker Springs amended plan?

We hope that you can join us on Tuesday, September 27 for the public hearing held by the Planning and Zoning Committee of the City of Alabaster. 

Date: September 27, 2022
Time: 6:30 p.m. cst
Location: 1953 Municipal Way
                Alabaster, AL 35007

As an Alabaster resident, this notice was given about a week ago via certified mail:

*apologies for the poor image quality! First time blogger here!

When we contacted the person listed for more information, this is what we were given:

This is the amended plan that the City of Alabaster Planning and Zoning committee will be voting to accept on Tuesday, September 27 and where you as a member of the affected community, get to voice your concerns about the site plan. When we looked at this, we decided it was pretty difficult to discern what was amended from just this page. So upon a request for more context, the current master plan was also shared. 

Current Master Plan for Walker Springs Development:

So... to attempt at answering the big question- What changes have they made to the original site plan that triggered this hearing? - We have included our observations of comparing the two maps below. 

Please note, this is definitely not a full comprehensive list, because the information given to the public is extremely limited. Also of note, it has been confirmed that the amended plan is not from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers comments- the developers haven't received any comments from them yet. 

  • It appears that the number of lots have decreased from 1,004 to 999. This is a difference of only 5 lots, and if you look closely at the 'waterside' area, it is apparent that the footprint of the lots are increased. 
  • They took out several roads and an amenity area, however, they increased the commercial lot size and included a parking lot and added an amenity area near. 
  • They widened the 'park to city' trail in-between houses, but cut back the park to city area by the road and have it going behind the commercial lots. We are not sure if there is a net increase or decrease of 'park to city' area. 
  • The current master plans mention a detention pond in the map legend, the location of which is unclear, as it is not visible on the map. The new plan does not show a detention pond either and does not provide the overall footprint, like the current map shows. 
While we hope that 'reducing the roads' does mean an overall reduction of impervious surfaces, the overall footprint or reduction is unclear as other areas were increased, such as the commercial and some residential lots.

Even the proposed amended plan does not address concerns posed by Alabaster residents and the surrounding community. The planning and zoning committee does not take the current flooding issues seriously and this liability falls back to the residents, as is seen here with Golden Meadows in April 2022.

The proposed plan will undoubtedly fill the source waters for the Ebenezer wetlands and diminish and destroy our beloved swamp. 

We hope you come out on Tuesday with your friends and voice your concerns! Thank you for your support!  


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