HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — There have been whispers of this development being sort of like a "Providence of Jones Valley."
Here are the proposed plans for this area from City Planner, Kevin Bernard:
"This is multi-family development on 41 acres. It's zoned PDH, that's planned development housing and it's for 220 units.
Two City Planning Commissioners, Kelly Schrimsher and Sally Warden asked Bernard two questions regarding the process of approval of these apartments.
With nearly every seat in the City Hall Council Chambers taken by concerned residents, there was no shortage of opinions on the matter.
Schrimsher asked, "and that was approved in 2012?"
Bernard answers, "between 2012 and I think it was finalized in 2014."
Warden adds on, "and at that time, just to follow up real quick, at that time, was it clear during the public hearing stages of that that in the what was allowed in each one of the transects?"
The crowd of Jones Valley residents weren't shy about disagreeing with Bernard's answer. A collective "NO" came from the large group of attendees.
Board Chair of the City Planning Commission, Les Tillery, attempts to calm the crowd of residents by saying, "Okay. So, so hold on a second. I don't want to have to ask everybody to leave the room, but I need you all to be quiet so we can have a discussion about it. So please don't be loud again. Thank you."
So, what is the main concern of these residents?
They don't want multi-family living spaces, like apartments, crowding up or being built so close to their single-family units, aka homes.
City Manager of Planning Services, Thomas Nunez explains that even though residents are not happy about this project and especially the location of these proposed apartments, there's not much that can be done now because this project has already been approved.
And according to himself and the planning staff, those apartments have every right to be there, in Lendon.
"The developer has a right within zoning. There are particular components that we only look at from planning staff. We're only looking at, if they meet the rules and the rules are established in the beginning and can be modified. You can see certain streets and assume that they can be single-family, but the townhomes can also be rented as a multi-family component. But again, this product does allow in Lendon, it is allowed to have multi-family."
City residents living in the Jones Valley area and specifically the Lendon area within Jones Valley, share their thoughts:
"What I believe is, what we see is, it's a typical bait and switch. What we were given in the Lendon proposal was a plan that showed single-family homes along Garth Road and other multi-family homes further away from Garth. And what we were presented tonight were apartment complexes right on Garth. And so that's kind of a bait and switch," said City Resident, James Yates.
"We are in the process of building our dream home, our retirement home, which...," City Resident, Roy Braswell holds back tears. "We... I'm sorry... We are devastated. I mean, I will be able to throw a rock from my front porch and hit the back of the apartment. That's how close are going to be to my front door."