HUNTSVILLE, Ala — With all the growth taking place here in The Valley, growing pains are bound to follow.
The construction of a large development off Bankhead Pkwy has people asking a lot of questions.
Right off of Bankhead Parkway and about halfway up the mountain, construction is already taking place on the large development that was proposed there and will eventually have over 60 single-family homes and duplexes.
I spoke with Huntsville City Planner Thomas Nunez about some of the concerns folks have with the location of this development.
Q How does this development differ from other large developments?
A: This particular development, The Summit in Monte Sano, was a planned unit development, so it was designed differently than your traditional neighborhood.
Q: Where is it?
A: It is along Bankhead Parkway, just about halfway up the mountain.
Q: How many homes are on the 47-acre development?
A: Up to 64 buildings. One single-story or two-story, single unit for single-family homes and or some duplexes where they share a common wall between those properties. But we call them single-family attached.
Q: What about the slope of the land and erosion?
A: Regulations are put especially in place when it comes to developments being constructed on land like this. Overall, we do have sloped development regulations where, abutting the mountain or in areas that have these high and low slope areas, you have to protect those areas. There are certain spaces of impervious cover, square footage of impervious cover per lot, and a certain amount of square footage of vegetation that has to remain in its natural state.
Q: What do residents in the area need to watch out for?
A: Water usage. You can not inadvertently increase the volume of water or any other property that is adjacent to you. That water has to be controlled or that stormwater has to be controlled on that property.
Q: Can developers just build whatever they want?
A: The developer building these units has a right to own property and do whatever they want with it, as long as it follows the rules and regulations of the city. The City of Huntsville works constantly and towards those efforts to ensure that we're protecting land but we're also following all of the regulations while not stripping away anybody's property rights.