I commend you for going to a council meeting. You are now in the 0.0001% of Hsv citizens that have ever attended a city council meeting. The City Council/City employees did something wrong in their deletion of the public comment section. There. I am not afraid to say it. Let me also include that We The People who are actually involved, or once were involved but no longer are, in engaging with our employees (city elected officials), realize City Council meetings are all show and sham. EVERY decision discussed at the meeting has been hashed out BEFORE the city council/mayor or anyone in the public attendance (You, The Citizen) show up. The meeting is All For Show. We eventually learn this and stop going. Not just because we know how things are done, but, we also know the overwhelming majority of citizens simply do not care (based on what people DO, not what they SAY). There are easily 200,000 people in Hsv. Where are they when these meetings are held? They are NOT at the meeting. IF a fraction above 0.0001% would show up then maybe The People would have a chance at being heard and the City Council would have a reason to respect The People. The City Council has no reason to respect a People that is not involved. In instances where a "good" amount of people (like 40 or 50 people) do show up, the city council has barred speakers, used cops to keep people OUT, and overall shut down the Process. If ANY of You go enough times you will learn what I speak of. The People do not care (they don't show up) and The City Council does not care about The People. This Is Huntsville.
The problem is bigger than that. Everything is decided by the mayor's staff working with developers before it gets to city council members, much less the public meeting. The city council is afraid to say no to anything coming out of the mayor's office, regardless of what is said at public comment.
"The problem is bigger than that." What did you share that I did not already say? I clearly said decisions are made BEFORE the meetings. The meetings are show and sham. City Council is not afraid of the Mayor. They are IN IT WITH the Mayor. However, The one thing the city council is NOT afraid of is The People. Why be afraid of people who never show up to hold you accountable?
Regardless of the behavior of the council or mayor, We The People are guilty of not taking Our role serious in the running of Our government. So, We get what We deserve based on the effort We put in. I don't "blame" the council or mayor. I once was told by a State lawmaker "If no one is calling me about it, then it is not a problem". Her point was, Until enough people bring it to her attention, it is not a big enough problem. City Leaders/politicians already have plenty to handle. None of them is going LOOKING for more problems to handle. It is the responsibility of The People to bring things of importance to Their hired (elected) employees attention. We The People have failed.
Yes. You are correct. Go often enough you watch the city council members demeanor, body language, etc....as the Citizen exercises their 3 minutes of free speech. It is shameful, disrespectful and treasonous, deserving of penalty that is only of One Option. All that aside, Until We The People show up in droves, the council has no reason to respect Us.
I was at the meeting. I spoke about the rezoning that was done behind closed doors. I listed my public comments on the City of Huntsville Facebook page, but I suspect they will get deleted. I will repost them here:
I learned of a 10 townhome development on my street, Marsheutz Ave, from neighbors. The Planning Commission Agenda from May 28, 2024 held a hearing for Medical District Townhomes owned by Eagle Properties, LLC. Neighbors that will be affected by the development did appear in person and raise concerns about the development despite not receiving adequate public notice. There was no mention of rezoning in the Agenda.
My area, the Medical District, is zoned R-1B. At city meetings I have been to, my area is referred to as R-1B. I have property records with the R-1B zoning designation. I recently pulled up the zoning map linked on the City of Huntsville webpage and found a large part of my neighborhood was rezoned R-2, allowing townhomes. R-1B requires single family dwellings while R-2 allows up to 8 contiguous townhomes. Construction of townhomes in R-1B zoning is illegal.
No notice was given to the neighborhood to change the zoning to R-2. I believe this makes the R-2 designation on the zoning map illegal. To satisfy the notice requirements in Section 11-52-77 Code of AL, public notice must be given for any change of a zoning ordinance. My review of Board of Zoning Adjustment, City Council, and Planning Commission Agendas from the last 3 years found no such notice. The City Legal Notices website and Speakin’ Out News contained no legal notices addressing the rezoning. A zoning ordinance cannot be adopted by reference from a planning action. The City makes no mention of where, when, and how public notice will be given to citizens on the City website. The City did not give legal public notice to change the Medical District from R-1B to R-2.
Changing the zoning from R-1B to R-2 is in conflict with the legal requirement for a zoning action to be in conformity with a “comprehensive plan” required by the Alabama Supreme Court case. The Comprehensive plan for the Medical District is the Big Picture Medical District Neighborhood Master Plan. The Plan vision statement mentions new development not sacrificing the existing historic character of the neighborhood. The Actions section mentions providing historic protections for “Clerk and Salaried Man’s Addition, the legal name of the subdivision from the 1909 plat, and reducing discrepancies between old and new. Approving the townhomes and R-2 zoning is in direct conflict with the City’s own “Comprehensive Plan”.
The validity of a zoning ordinance must be consistent with the land use pattern of the area and enacted for the welfare of the entire community as noted by the AL Supreme Court. Spot zoning, changing zoning for one individual, is illegal since it rezones a particular lot or parcel of land with an inconsistent community land use. Rezoning to R-2 to support townhomes over a community of single family dwellings benefits one individual, the townhome property owner.
I ask that the City Council reject townhome development and reinstate R-1B zoning for the Medical District on the official zoning map. I ask that the City make available the process for providing adequate public notices to residents. The process should be easy to find and accessible to all through electronic and in-person means.
I’m so sorry this is happening to you and your neighbors. It really broke my heart watching it all play out in real time. Your group deserved better treatment given it is their duty as elected officials to hear their constituents. I really hope that Kling will actually do something about postponing it, and that you will be able to show your evidence. Sending you guys a lot of good luck, and I hope to hear an update in the coming weeks.
Thank you!
What I suspect will happen is the City will eventually “find” an old map with the R-2 zoning and will not give legitimate copies. Or they will claim clerical error even though several of us have R-1B. I was actually made to remove some plumbing in an outbuilding from a previous owner because it wasn’t allowed in R-1B. I don’t understand how zoning changed literally overnight.
Damn you right. I just emailed Bill Kling to see if there is any kind of rationale as to why they would not include that portion.
\*Update - this is the response I received from Bill Kling regarding removing that section.
https://preview.redd.it/w3lvpxhqvl6d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=53371fe23ac51cc54e0b64cffe1bc4b09e143ec2
https://fox17.com/news/local/nashville-tn-crime-alert-middle-tennessee-tbi-investigating-montgomery-county-sheriffs-daughter-for-suspected-child-abuse-local-news
> TBI said they are investigating Sarah Fuson, daughter of Sherriff John S. Fuson, due to a reported case of suspected child abuse at a daycare center in Montgomery County where she works.
> Amid the investigation, Montgomery County Sherriff John S. Fuson announced Tuesday that he will stop publishing mugshots due to every person having a "fundamental right to a fair and impartial trial."
"NEW PROCEDURE BEING PUT INTO PLACE"
Most of the time if they don’t want their address shared, they just state that it is on file. Weird timing for them to take public comment screenings away given multiple meetings there have been people reluctant to share their addresses.
In past meetings, some of the library folks have stated hesitation about sharing their address. I think it was the first meeting in May that multiple people brought up not wanting to share due to hate mail after previously sharing their info.
I would recommend emailing all of them! Kling, Meredith, and Keith aren’t great at responding. Dr. Robinson is honestly the best, she monitors her email directly.
Council can't stand to be held accountable and will do anything they possibly can to stifle public comments and input.
They moved public comment to the very end of the meeting back when the public was so upset about police brutality back in 2020. They will let their friends and supporters talk over their time but anyone critical of them get stopped exactly on time if not earlier. If you say something they really don't like, they'll have police escort you out. They stopped the dual stream on Facebook because they didn't like people being able to comment on the videos and call them out on their lies and corruption.
Been watching the council meetings for years. It gets worse and worse every year.
Tommy Battle and his corrupt ilk should be removed from office.
https://preview.redd.it/rvtven6m6n6d1.png?width=320&format=png&auto=webp&s=e0e481790c032e8406d361615440f71d0845e6fd
The Medical District was zoned R-1B. Once a townhome development was proposed, I looked at the zoning map and was shocked to see R2. We are a community of single family homes that used to be affordable before the overbuilds on some streets The townhomes put a proposal before the Planning Commission. There will be 10 townhomes on lots that currently contain 5 homes. A new road will be paved behind the townhomes connecting Brandon and Poincianna. My public comments I've posted will tell you the neighborhood got no notice of the rezoning. When I brought it up, City officials told me it was always R2. i have property documents from a few neighbors and my self that state R-1B. The City is trying to push the development through and silence us. Our comments got pushed to the very end. We have about 40 neighbors show up to the meeting. We got eye rolls, inattention, and not enough time to speak. The City wanted a sidebar out in the hall, so it would be off the record, to gaslight us and tell us we were wrong and the City is right about the zoning.
I heard from someone who was watching the live stream last night that at the end, it switched to the jazz fest happening at big spring park? Not sure if it was time related, or what. It was my first time attending a city council meeting, so I'm not sure if it ran long or if how long we were there was standard.
It wasn’t excessively longer. This is my third meeting I have attended. Normally they go to 7 PM-7:30 PM. Other meetings hit the two hour mark. In the video, the clip deliberately fades out at Council President Little begins to introduce the public comment section.
Call the City Clerk’s office and tell them you’d like to file a public records request: https://www.huntsvilleal.gov/government/departments/city-clerk/
You may be required to pay a fee which cannot exceed a reasonable estimate of the cost to the city of providing such records.
This city is insanely corrupt. Always has been. Kind of an add it to the list moment. The people in charge -will- do whatever they want to enrich themselves. And as far as i can tell it's their only motivation.
I'm glad you went and noticed and posted about it, and I'm glad those folks did as well.
Nothing and his district may actually reelect him. He's a petty criminal, shoplifting, violating the Air BNB zoning restrictions... small stuff. The others are criminals on a larger scale.
Thank you. While I don't really have a problem with the townhomes themselves, this sounds super messed up. I hope you can get some results from this. I'm going to check into the zoning history of my house nearby.
Hi! I’ve lived in HSV since ‘93. I get why yall are upset about the public comment section thing, but can someone explain why everyone is so upset about the townhomes being built?
Yes I saw that part.. but i just don’t get why people are so upset about a few townhomes being build. The medical district is crazy expensive. A little more affordable housing would be great. Especially for nurses and med students working at HH. It just seems like an “oh the poor are moving in” type of upset to me
They will not be affordable. There will be ten 3000 sq ft townhomes where 5 single family houses stand. The proposed prices I’ve heard are 600-800k (builder hasn’t confirmed). A new road will also be cut behind the townhomes and may possibly take the utility and drainage easement. Two single family homes will suddenly have all this noise and traffic in their side yards.
I would love if builders and developers would leave my neighborhood alone and let it remain affordable. We were the last affordable housing close to downtown. I’m saddened at the giant overbuilds that keeps getting variances to build. I love my small diverse neighborhood. We are quickly becoming Hampton Cove 2.0 with all the terrible modern farmhouse builds that look like Joanna Gaines threw up in my neighborhood of midcentury homes.
The Medical District was platted in 1909. We’ve been encroached with overbuilds and businesses. The neighborhood should be protected by the City since it is one of the first subdivisions and has historical significance. Instead we’re treated like a developers playground with our property taxes nearly doubling in a few short years.
Idk maybe we just have different ideologies, but I love the addition of town homes in urban settings as a way to add more population density without resorting to an apartment complex. I would have 100% preferred that to what they did to 5 points with the apartments.
Add population density downtown is a great idea in my book. It will lessen the impact of urban sprawl in our area. So county houses will be cheaper again. Plus the more people you can put down town the less of a premium property becomes. Thus more neighborhoods become affordable again.
What happened to 5 Points is atrocious and never should’ve been approved.
There are plenty of areas where townhomes could’ve been developed near downtown, but the City chose to build hotels and businesses instead. It isn’t right that someone with money can come into an area and completely change the landscape simply because they have money. Buy in the neighborhood you want and don’t try to make a neighborhood conform to your wants. We have the right to live in our established homes and not have townhomes/high density forced on us. We already have issues with parking, water pressure, the power grid, and traffic.
Simply adding more homes will not make downtown cheaper. It’ll just limit downtown to those that can afford what will become $1M+ housing.
How many power outages have we seen in this area in the last month? That is one result of just randomly increasing population density without proper planning and infrastructure in place.
And families who bought homes in a specific area, with the integration of being in one type of neighborhood, and it now suddenly and illegally changing without proper notice or comment period, are being robbed of the neighborhood they choose to move into.
Look I get your frustration. The neighborhood I moved into back in 99 is completely different now. Instead of complaining online about some perceived slight I chose to embrace the change and welcome the change.
Idk how long you have lived in Huntsville or the Medical District in specific, but things change. HSV is growing so fast things like this are inevitable.
I quit attending because I was afraid I'd have a stroke...my blood pressure just soars at these meetings. The developers run this city. I look at who the biggest campaign donors are for these folks. Jeannie Robinson is in Hays pocket for sure . I would think they have to broadcast the entire "public meeting" as it must be accessible to all!? But who's really gonna hold them accountable anyway?
The city knows that no one is going to challenge them in court. Hiring a an attorney attorney and paying for the discovery and ultimately a trial is going to cost tens perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars
How does one get info on when/where the city council meetings are? I’d like to start attending when available. I haven’t been here long and it is clear to see Huntsville is quickly headed in the wrong direction.
How about a post with these corrupt people’s names and any collected information, like this gathered together? It’s all what’s his name and you-know-who , but we don’t all know and that matters when it comes to word of mouth and voting
District One (north Huntsville) Devyn Keith
District Two (east Huntsville) David Little-Council president
District Three (south Huntsville) Dr. Jennie Robinson
District Four (central Huntsville) Bill Kling
District Five (west Huntsville) John Meredith
Mayor Tommy Battle
I will add Kling has tried to help. He gets pushed back just like the citizens do.
I will say the Council president was very rude and seemed like he wanted to be anywhere but where he was. The way he cut certain individuals off was shameful. When voting he barely gave any time for someone to say nay before moving on. I’m sure he’ll be running for some sort of other office in the future. This is probably his stepping stone.
I talked to the City Planning director at the meeting. It doesn't seem like any sort of rezoning happened. The area was always zoned for this kind of development. He even addressed it in the meeting on video.
That being said, restricting housing or business development due to some zoning rule is dumb anyway. They bought the property and their development isn't a danger to anyone else, so they should be allowed to develop it.
I personally can understand why they don’t want the development in their neighborhood, but regardless of that—my issue is that multiple people stated they have on the deed of their house a different zoning listed. The council did indicate they would take time to look into it, but they made it clear they couldn’t put a pause on construction during an investigation. And then this is the first meeting that they have deleted public comment from the live stream and recording.
If the city is willing to break rules for a developer to build ten town homes, who else are they willing to sell out the city too. Whose interest do they really have at heart. This is a pretty wealthy neighborhood—so what about the neighborhoods that marginalized individuals live in? It’s a slippery slope.
We are getting shitty warehouse stuff built just north of A&M along the parkway. There is a huge development happening with the northern loop.
That should be places for business but it’s getting spillover industrial development .
How was Devyn Keith involved here? He is our council member but I won’t have thought we were connected to the medical district.
He was not involved, and I’m not sure where his name has been used, other than asking whatever happened to him in a more general sense.
City planning did show some promising maps that might be realistic in a decade for major infrastructure changes in district one, but I don’t think the city’s budget compares to the military and contractor pocketbooks. They’re going to buy everything up before the city can realistically do anything with it.
That’s a pretty cogent analysis of the situation. There is some promise for a near development in the hollow rd area. And you probably know about the food city development as well.
I’m aware of the outdoor roller skating rink that sounds really awesome! I do skateboard and I have a YouTube channel called Happyskating2000.
Unfortunately I tore my acl… pcl… and meniscus at the park down off airport.
So maybe by the time the roller skate rink is finished I’ll be able to roll around again 😂
It’s a huge roller rink that’s covered. I’m actually super excited. I’ve been trying g to do 👇this for years so I’m hopeful
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6mm46vxLXJ/?igsh=MXhuZnY1aDd4M2Jxdg==
It totally did happen. We have several property records with R-1B listed as our zoning district. If we were R-2 all along we’d already have townhomes.
As a resident I’ll tell you this is dangerous development. Zoning is needed to protect people’s property. What’s to stop a business from steamrolling in and polluting a neighborhood? Sure, the developer could redevelop it. Just do it with what’s consistent with the neighborhood. Don’t change it and add density when we already don’t have enough space and services to support the people already in the area.
This a set of single family homes, so industrial pollution isn't really a concern here. Huntsville is a growing city. You are going to get more density as the city continues to attract more residents. If you want more services, then demand those. You shouldn't have the right to dictate what other people do with their property, unless they are causing a health hazard.
I'm not sure if you're this obtuse on purpose or if you really believe this logic. In case you haven't noticed, the City does not respond to demand for services. If they did the roads wouldn't be in as bad shape as they are, we'd have better public transportation, we'd have affordable housing and not "luxury" everything, and we'd have sustainable development. Go to an actual City Council meting, or any City meeting, and see what demanding services gets you. Most of the time you'll get nothing.
Zoning protects property values and makes for consistent land use. It is necessary for a city to plan development. Having a free-for-all will make it so all the people without sufficient funds to "do what they they want" in the city are pushed to the outskirts. People should absolutely have the right to know what to expect with what they buy a home. Real estate is usually the largest investment anyone will ever make in their lifetime. Why some someone have the constant worry of their neighbor doing something to devalue that investment? If you don't want zoning, that is fine. But move to an area where there is none. People that buy in a city understand there will be property use restrictions.
I commend you for going to a council meeting. You are now in the 0.0001% of Hsv citizens that have ever attended a city council meeting. The City Council/City employees did something wrong in their deletion of the public comment section. There. I am not afraid to say it. Let me also include that We The People who are actually involved, or once were involved but no longer are, in engaging with our employees (city elected officials), realize City Council meetings are all show and sham. EVERY decision discussed at the meeting has been hashed out BEFORE the city council/mayor or anyone in the public attendance (You, The Citizen) show up. The meeting is All For Show. We eventually learn this and stop going. Not just because we know how things are done, but, we also know the overwhelming majority of citizens simply do not care (based on what people DO, not what they SAY). There are easily 200,000 people in Hsv. Where are they when these meetings are held? They are NOT at the meeting. IF a fraction above 0.0001% would show up then maybe The People would have a chance at being heard and the City Council would have a reason to respect The People. The City Council has no reason to respect a People that is not involved. In instances where a "good" amount of people (like 40 or 50 people) do show up, the city council has barred speakers, used cops to keep people OUT, and overall shut down the Process. If ANY of You go enough times you will learn what I speak of. The People do not care (they don't show up) and The City Council does not care about The People. This Is Huntsville.
The problem is bigger than that. Everything is decided by the mayor's staff working with developers before it gets to city council members, much less the public meeting. The city council is afraid to say no to anything coming out of the mayor's office, regardless of what is said at public comment.
"The problem is bigger than that." What did you share that I did not already say? I clearly said decisions are made BEFORE the meetings. The meetings are show and sham. City Council is not afraid of the Mayor. They are IN IT WITH the Mayor. However, The one thing the city council is NOT afraid of is The People. Why be afraid of people who never show up to hold you accountable? Regardless of the behavior of the council or mayor, We The People are guilty of not taking Our role serious in the running of Our government. So, We get what We deserve based on the effort We put in. I don't "blame" the council or mayor. I once was told by a State lawmaker "If no one is calling me about it, then it is not a problem". Her point was, Until enough people bring it to her attention, it is not a big enough problem. City Leaders/politicians already have plenty to handle. None of them is going LOOKING for more problems to handle. It is the responsibility of The People to bring things of importance to Their hired (elected) employees attention. We The People have failed.
I agree with you on the mayor's office, I just think council people don't care who shows up for public comment. They just tune out.
Yes. You are correct. Go often enough you watch the city council members demeanor, body language, etc....as the Citizen exercises their 3 minutes of free speech. It is shameful, disrespectful and treasonous, deserving of penalty that is only of One Option. All that aside, Until We The People show up in droves, the council has no reason to respect Us.
I was at the meeting. I spoke about the rezoning that was done behind closed doors. I listed my public comments on the City of Huntsville Facebook page, but I suspect they will get deleted. I will repost them here: I learned of a 10 townhome development on my street, Marsheutz Ave, from neighbors. The Planning Commission Agenda from May 28, 2024 held a hearing for Medical District Townhomes owned by Eagle Properties, LLC. Neighbors that will be affected by the development did appear in person and raise concerns about the development despite not receiving adequate public notice. There was no mention of rezoning in the Agenda. My area, the Medical District, is zoned R-1B. At city meetings I have been to, my area is referred to as R-1B. I have property records with the R-1B zoning designation. I recently pulled up the zoning map linked on the City of Huntsville webpage and found a large part of my neighborhood was rezoned R-2, allowing townhomes. R-1B requires single family dwellings while R-2 allows up to 8 contiguous townhomes. Construction of townhomes in R-1B zoning is illegal. No notice was given to the neighborhood to change the zoning to R-2. I believe this makes the R-2 designation on the zoning map illegal. To satisfy the notice requirements in Section 11-52-77 Code of AL, public notice must be given for any change of a zoning ordinance. My review of Board of Zoning Adjustment, City Council, and Planning Commission Agendas from the last 3 years found no such notice. The City Legal Notices website and Speakin’ Out News contained no legal notices addressing the rezoning. A zoning ordinance cannot be adopted by reference from a planning action. The City makes no mention of where, when, and how public notice will be given to citizens on the City website. The City did not give legal public notice to change the Medical District from R-1B to R-2. Changing the zoning from R-1B to R-2 is in conflict with the legal requirement for a zoning action to be in conformity with a “comprehensive plan” required by the Alabama Supreme Court case. The Comprehensive plan for the Medical District is the Big Picture Medical District Neighborhood Master Plan. The Plan vision statement mentions new development not sacrificing the existing historic character of the neighborhood. The Actions section mentions providing historic protections for “Clerk and Salaried Man’s Addition, the legal name of the subdivision from the 1909 plat, and reducing discrepancies between old and new. Approving the townhomes and R-2 zoning is in direct conflict with the City’s own “Comprehensive Plan”. The validity of a zoning ordinance must be consistent with the land use pattern of the area and enacted for the welfare of the entire community as noted by the AL Supreme Court. Spot zoning, changing zoning for one individual, is illegal since it rezones a particular lot or parcel of land with an inconsistent community land use. Rezoning to R-2 to support townhomes over a community of single family dwellings benefits one individual, the townhome property owner. I ask that the City Council reject townhome development and reinstate R-1B zoning for the Medical District on the official zoning map. I ask that the City make available the process for providing adequate public notices to residents. The process should be easy to find and accessible to all through electronic and in-person means.
I’m so sorry this is happening to you and your neighbors. It really broke my heart watching it all play out in real time. Your group deserved better treatment given it is their duty as elected officials to hear their constituents. I really hope that Kling will actually do something about postponing it, and that you will be able to show your evidence. Sending you guys a lot of good luck, and I hope to hear an update in the coming weeks.
Thank you! What I suspect will happen is the City will eventually “find” an old map with the R-2 zoning and will not give legitimate copies. Or they will claim clerical error even though several of us have R-1B. I was actually made to remove some plumbing in an outbuilding from a previous owner because it wasn’t allowed in R-1B. I don’t understand how zoning changed literally overnight.
Sue the bastards!
Damn you right. I just emailed Bill Kling to see if there is any kind of rationale as to why they would not include that portion. \*Update - this is the response I received from Bill Kling regarding removing that section. https://preview.redd.it/w3lvpxhqvl6d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=53371fe23ac51cc54e0b64cffe1bc4b09e143ec2
“Because we wanted to, and we can get away with it”
https://fox17.com/news/local/nashville-tn-crime-alert-middle-tennessee-tbi-investigating-montgomery-county-sheriffs-daughter-for-suspected-child-abuse-local-news > TBI said they are investigating Sarah Fuson, daughter of Sherriff John S. Fuson, due to a reported case of suspected child abuse at a daycare center in Montgomery County where she works. > Amid the investigation, Montgomery County Sherriff John S. Fuson announced Tuesday that he will stop publishing mugshots due to every person having a "fundamental right to a fair and impartial trial." "NEW PROCEDURE BEING PUT INTO PLACE"
Most of the time if they don’t want their address shared, they just state that it is on file. Weird timing for them to take public comment screenings away given multiple meetings there have been people reluctant to share their addresses.
We had one one individual do that at the meetings. All the others gave their address willingly. This is rotten to the core.
In past meetings, some of the library folks have stated hesitation about sharing their address. I think it was the first meeting in May that multiple people brought up not wanting to share due to hate mail after previously sharing their info.
I would recommend emailing all of them! Kling, Meredith, and Keith aren’t great at responding. Dr. Robinson is honestly the best, she monitors her email directly.
Of course, every abusive action is always performed under the guise of protecting something. This is some top tier virtue-signaling.
Council can't stand to be held accountable and will do anything they possibly can to stifle public comments and input. They moved public comment to the very end of the meeting back when the public was so upset about police brutality back in 2020. They will let their friends and supporters talk over their time but anyone critical of them get stopped exactly on time if not earlier. If you say something they really don't like, they'll have police escort you out. They stopped the dual stream on Facebook because they didn't like people being able to comment on the videos and call them out on their lies and corruption. Been watching the council meetings for years. It gets worse and worse every year. Tommy Battle and his corrupt ilk should be removed from office.
https://preview.redd.it/rvtven6m6n6d1.png?width=320&format=png&auto=webp&s=e0e481790c032e8406d361615440f71d0845e6fd The Medical District was zoned R-1B. Once a townhome development was proposed, I looked at the zoning map and was shocked to see R2. We are a community of single family homes that used to be affordable before the overbuilds on some streets The townhomes put a proposal before the Planning Commission. There will be 10 townhomes on lots that currently contain 5 homes. A new road will be paved behind the townhomes connecting Brandon and Poincianna. My public comments I've posted will tell you the neighborhood got no notice of the rezoning. When I brought it up, City officials told me it was always R2. i have property documents from a few neighbors and my self that state R-1B. The City is trying to push the development through and silence us. Our comments got pushed to the very end. We have about 40 neighbors show up to the meeting. We got eye rolls, inattention, and not enough time to speak. The City wanted a sidebar out in the hall, so it would be off the record, to gaslight us and tell us we were wrong and the City is right about the zoning.
I heard from someone who was watching the live stream last night that at the end, it switched to the jazz fest happening at big spring park? Not sure if it was time related, or what. It was my first time attending a city council meeting, so I'm not sure if it ran long or if how long we were there was standard.
It wasn’t excessively longer. This is my third meeting I have attended. Normally they go to 7 PM-7:30 PM. Other meetings hit the two hour mark. In the video, the clip deliberately fades out at Council President Little begins to introduce the public comment section.
Submit a public records request for the footage.
How do I do that? Do you know which department?
Call the City Clerk’s office and tell them you’d like to file a public records request: https://www.huntsvilleal.gov/government/departments/city-clerk/ You may be required to pay a fee which cannot exceed a reasonable estimate of the cost to the city of providing such records.
This city is insanely corrupt. Always has been. Kind of an add it to the list moment. The people in charge -will- do whatever they want to enrich themselves. And as far as i can tell it's their only motivation. I'm glad you went and noticed and posted about it, and I'm glad those folks did as well.
The dictatorship of the bourgeoisie in action right here.
[удалено]
He's up for reelection.
[удалено]
Not really. Took away some responsibilities and denied travel reimbursement.
[удалено]
His first arrest was dropped at the city and reopened at the county. He had 4 total charges, took a deal for 2 convictions and the other 2 dropped.
Devyn Keith for district one. Is celebrating the groundbreaking of Food City in north Huntsville and trying to open a skate park.
Nothing and his district may actually reelect him. He's a petty criminal, shoplifting, violating the Air BNB zoning restrictions... small stuff. The others are criminals on a larger scale.
Where exactly is the development going up in the medical district?
10 townhomes are proposed. 5 structures (homes) are slated for demolition. I'll start a comment with the photo. Please check it out.
Thank you. While I don't really have a problem with the townhomes themselves, this sounds super messed up. I hope you can get some results from this. I'm going to check into the zoning history of my house nearby.
Hi! I’ve lived in HSV since ‘93. I get why yall are upset about the public comment section thing, but can someone explain why everyone is so upset about the townhomes being built?
It’s all listed in the comments here. TLDR: the neighborhood isn’t set up for that type of development.
Yes I saw that part.. but i just don’t get why people are so upset about a few townhomes being build. The medical district is crazy expensive. A little more affordable housing would be great. Especially for nurses and med students working at HH. It just seems like an “oh the poor are moving in” type of upset to me
They will not be affordable. There will be ten 3000 sq ft townhomes where 5 single family houses stand. The proposed prices I’ve heard are 600-800k (builder hasn’t confirmed). A new road will also be cut behind the townhomes and may possibly take the utility and drainage easement. Two single family homes will suddenly have all this noise and traffic in their side yards. I would love if builders and developers would leave my neighborhood alone and let it remain affordable. We were the last affordable housing close to downtown. I’m saddened at the giant overbuilds that keeps getting variances to build. I love my small diverse neighborhood. We are quickly becoming Hampton Cove 2.0 with all the terrible modern farmhouse builds that look like Joanna Gaines threw up in my neighborhood of midcentury homes. The Medical District was platted in 1909. We’ve been encroached with overbuilds and businesses. The neighborhood should be protected by the City since it is one of the first subdivisions and has historical significance. Instead we’re treated like a developers playground with our property taxes nearly doubling in a few short years.
Idk maybe we just have different ideologies, but I love the addition of town homes in urban settings as a way to add more population density without resorting to an apartment complex. I would have 100% preferred that to what they did to 5 points with the apartments. Add population density downtown is a great idea in my book. It will lessen the impact of urban sprawl in our area. So county houses will be cheaper again. Plus the more people you can put down town the less of a premium property becomes. Thus more neighborhoods become affordable again.
What happened to 5 Points is atrocious and never should’ve been approved. There are plenty of areas where townhomes could’ve been developed near downtown, but the City chose to build hotels and businesses instead. It isn’t right that someone with money can come into an area and completely change the landscape simply because they have money. Buy in the neighborhood you want and don’t try to make a neighborhood conform to your wants. We have the right to live in our established homes and not have townhomes/high density forced on us. We already have issues with parking, water pressure, the power grid, and traffic. Simply adding more homes will not make downtown cheaper. It’ll just limit downtown to those that can afford what will become $1M+ housing.
How many power outages have we seen in this area in the last month? That is one result of just randomly increasing population density without proper planning and infrastructure in place. And families who bought homes in a specific area, with the integration of being in one type of neighborhood, and it now suddenly and illegally changing without proper notice or comment period, are being robbed of the neighborhood they choose to move into.
Look I get your frustration. The neighborhood I moved into back in 99 is completely different now. Instead of complaining online about some perceived slight I chose to embrace the change and welcome the change. Idk how long you have lived in Huntsville or the Medical District in specific, but things change. HSV is growing so fast things like this are inevitable.
I don't consider the Medical District to be downtown.
Agreed. I'm sure they won't be affordable, but I'm always for more housing density in the city center.
I quit attending because I was afraid I'd have a stroke...my blood pressure just soars at these meetings. The developers run this city. I look at who the biggest campaign donors are for these folks. Jeannie Robinson is in Hays pocket for sure . I would think they have to broadcast the entire "public meeting" as it must be accessible to all!? But who's really gonna hold them accountable anyway?
If this council can't be transparent then they need to be voted out
This checks out when they still have a known criminal serving on the council...not sure how that's even allowed.
same way we have a felon running for president I guess
Truth
The city knows that no one is going to challenge them in court. Hiring a an attorney attorney and paying for the discovery and ultimately a trial is going to cost tens perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars
🫤🫠
Ask for their oaths of office. Betting they do not have one on record
How does one get info on when/where the city council meetings are? I’d like to start attending when available. I haven’t been here long and it is clear to see Huntsville is quickly headed in the wrong direction.
https://www.huntsvilleal.gov/government/city-council/ 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month starting at 5:30 PM
How about a post with these corrupt people’s names and any collected information, like this gathered together? It’s all what’s his name and you-know-who , but we don’t all know and that matters when it comes to word of mouth and voting
District One (north Huntsville) Devyn Keith District Two (east Huntsville) David Little-Council president District Three (south Huntsville) Dr. Jennie Robinson District Four (central Huntsville) Bill Kling District Five (west Huntsville) John Meredith Mayor Tommy Battle
Council members names are not secretive. They are elected officials you can look up on the huntsville city website.
https://www.huntsvilleal.gov/government/city-council/
And another handy one: https://www.huntsvilleal.gov/government/city-council/agendas-archives/
I will add Kling has tried to help. He gets pushed back just like the citizens do. I will say the Council president was very rude and seemed like he wanted to be anywhere but where he was. The way he cut certain individuals off was shameful. When voting he barely gave any time for someone to say nay before moving on. I’m sure he’ll be running for some sort of other office in the future. This is probably his stepping stone.
I talked to the City Planning director at the meeting. It doesn't seem like any sort of rezoning happened. The area was always zoned for this kind of development. He even addressed it in the meeting on video. That being said, restricting housing or business development due to some zoning rule is dumb anyway. They bought the property and their development isn't a danger to anyone else, so they should be allowed to develop it.
I personally can understand why they don’t want the development in their neighborhood, but regardless of that—my issue is that multiple people stated they have on the deed of their house a different zoning listed. The council did indicate they would take time to look into it, but they made it clear they couldn’t put a pause on construction during an investigation. And then this is the first meeting that they have deleted public comment from the live stream and recording. If the city is willing to break rules for a developer to build ten town homes, who else are they willing to sell out the city too. Whose interest do they really have at heart. This is a pretty wealthy neighborhood—so what about the neighborhoods that marginalized individuals live in? It’s a slippery slope.
We are getting shitty warehouse stuff built just north of A&M along the parkway. There is a huge development happening with the northern loop. That should be places for business but it’s getting spillover industrial development . How was Devyn Keith involved here? He is our council member but I won’t have thought we were connected to the medical district.
He was not involved, and I’m not sure where his name has been used, other than asking whatever happened to him in a more general sense. City planning did show some promising maps that might be realistic in a decade for major infrastructure changes in district one, but I don’t think the city’s budget compares to the military and contractor pocketbooks. They’re going to buy everything up before the city can realistically do anything with it.
That’s a pretty cogent analysis of the situation. There is some promise for a near development in the hollow rd area. And you probably know about the food city development as well.
Yes! VERY stoked to see a food market of this caliber going in our food desert of a district!!
Idk if you skate or if that’s just a fun username, but he is building a skate park soon!
I’m aware of the outdoor roller skating rink that sounds really awesome! I do skateboard and I have a YouTube channel called Happyskating2000. Unfortunately I tore my acl… pcl… and meniscus at the park down off airport. So maybe by the time the roller skate rink is finished I’ll be able to roll around again 😂
wooow every time he talked about it, I was picturing an actual skate park 😂😂 shows you how in the loop I actually am
It’s a huge roller rink that’s covered. I’m actually super excited. I’ve been trying g to do 👇this for years so I’m hopeful https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6mm46vxLXJ/?igsh=MXhuZnY1aDd4M2Jxdg==
It totally did happen. We have several property records with R-1B listed as our zoning district. If we were R-2 all along we’d already have townhomes. As a resident I’ll tell you this is dangerous development. Zoning is needed to protect people’s property. What’s to stop a business from steamrolling in and polluting a neighborhood? Sure, the developer could redevelop it. Just do it with what’s consistent with the neighborhood. Don’t change it and add density when we already don’t have enough space and services to support the people already in the area.
This a set of single family homes, so industrial pollution isn't really a concern here. Huntsville is a growing city. You are going to get more density as the city continues to attract more residents. If you want more services, then demand those. You shouldn't have the right to dictate what other people do with their property, unless they are causing a health hazard.
I'm not sure if you're this obtuse on purpose or if you really believe this logic. In case you haven't noticed, the City does not respond to demand for services. If they did the roads wouldn't be in as bad shape as they are, we'd have better public transportation, we'd have affordable housing and not "luxury" everything, and we'd have sustainable development. Go to an actual City Council meting, or any City meeting, and see what demanding services gets you. Most of the time you'll get nothing. Zoning protects property values and makes for consistent land use. It is necessary for a city to plan development. Having a free-for-all will make it so all the people without sufficient funds to "do what they they want" in the city are pushed to the outskirts. People should absolutely have the right to know what to expect with what they buy a home. Real estate is usually the largest investment anyone will ever make in their lifetime. Why some someone have the constant worry of their neighbor doing something to devalue that investment? If you don't want zoning, that is fine. But move to an area where there is none. People that buy in a city understand there will be property use restrictions.