According to municipal officials, the Huntsville municipal Council’s vote on Thursday to annex over 1,000 acres in Morgan and Marshall counties will increase the industrial base of the Rocket City.
Hollingshead Materials LLC, the company that runs Smyrna Ready Mix Concrete LLC, and Wiz Kidz LLC petitioned the city to annex 1,013.96 acres south of the Tennessee River. The majority of the land is located in Morgan County along McCutcheon Loop Road, while a smaller section is located in Marshall County along Vaughn Road. The city limits of Huntsville presently encompass four counties.
No city services were requested in the petition as part of the annexation. The city will be able to control the quarry where Smyrna Ready Mix works thanks to the annexation.
According to Thomas Nunez, city manager of planning and zoning services, the quarry would have been permitted to continue operations without the annexation because it already holds permits from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.
Shane Davis, the city’s director of urban and economic development, stated that the action will assist safeguard Morgan County’s Tennessee River frontage and offer supervision in nearby residential neighborhoods.
Additionally, Smyrna Ready Mix has offered to provide materials to aid in the enhancement of the recently annexed area’s infrastructure. According to Nunez, the business now provides materials for projects inside the city borders. As a result of the annexation, the city will profit from the quarry’s material sales.
In 2018, Huntsville began annexing Morgan County, which is located south of the Tennessee River. John Wisda, the manager of Wiz Kidz, was involved in Huntsville’s 2018 annexation of over 659 acres in Morgan County. At the time, the annexation across the river was supposed to include residential and recreational development.
Just off U.S. 231 and the Sundance neighborhood, where lots are being offered for residential use, the annexed land is located in Laceys Spring, south of the Riverside Event Center.
According to Nunez, there is currently just one single-family residence on the property. District 1 City Councilwoman Michelle Watkins expressed worry during this year’s earlier annexations, but Nunez stated that no residences are planned for the recently annexed site and that it will not have an impact on Huntsville City Schools enrollment.
After only annexing 85 acres in 2024, Huntsville has already annexed over 1,600 acres this year. Due to this year’s annexations, the Rocket City is now the 37th largest city in the US, with a total area of 229 square miles, which is comparable to the geographical sizes of Chicago and San Francisco.
Data from census tracts shows that Huntsville is bigger than:
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New Orleans (169.5 square miles)
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Denver (153.1 square miles)
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Las Vegas (141.9 square miles)
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Philadelphia (134.3 square miles).
On land that the city has already acquired this year, commercial, industrial, and residential developments are being proposed.
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