By Lee Roop
The Madison County Commission approved more than 500 new home lots Tuesday, most of them in the county’s fast-growing northern section where developers and government services are chasing the rapid growth in the Huntsville area. That brings the total of lots approved in the northern commission District 1 to almost 1,500 so far this year. Next door neighbor District 4 has 446 lots approved so far in 2021.
“That is the area where there is still land available to build,” District 1 County Commissioner Tom Brandon said after the meeting. “(Lots) are affordable and we have good really good schools up in that area. From where you are up in Hazel Green and the New Market area you have easy accessibility right down into Huntsville. Or turn around right into Tennessee. You have easy accessibility either way.”
One piece of the accessibility puzzle still to come is the widening of Bob Wade Lane now under way from Martin Luther King Boulevard to U.S. 231-431. This Northern Bypass will connect to Research Park Boulevard and Redstone Arsenal making a quick commuter route from those new homes to the arsenal and Cummings Research Park.
Brandon cited other amenities driving growth in the northern part of the county including Sharon Johnston Park near New Market. The park covers 250 acres and has a fishing lake, an Olympic-sized pool, walking trails and a shooting range.
District 1 is largely in northeast Madison County, but it also includes a large rectangle of property west of U.S. 231-431. On Tuesday, commissioners gave initial approval to 141 new lots in District 1 and 203 lots for District 4 immediately to the west. Another 116 lots in District 4 received final Commission approval today.
So far this year, the commission has given final approval to 1,128 new lots for development. The total for all of 2020 was 1,423 lots and the total for 2019 was 1,357. That’s more than 6,000 new lots for homes in the past two-and-one half years. Hundreds more lots were proposed and are still under development.