EAST ATHENS: City leaders anticipate growth boom

Published 6:30 am Wednesday, March 28, 2018

The city of Athens anticipates a growth explosion could occur on Lindsay Lane, south of U.S. 72. The confidence is so high, it is making plans to upgrade its sewer infrastructure in that area.

The City Council on Monday unanimously approved a resolution to allow KREBS Engineering to provide an engineering plan for improvements at the Canebrake wastewater lift station and a sewer analysis at the Huntsville-Browns Ferry Road and Interstate 65 interchange. Frank Eskridge, water services manager for Athens Utilities, told the council the cost would not exceed $17,600, but it could be much less.

Eskridge said the report should explain how to build redundancies into the Canebrake lift station and any future development in the area.

“With the growth we anticipate in that area … I need redundancy,” he said. “If that lift station goes out, we don’t have a good way to pump around that.”

He explained it was important to do the analysis now because with anticipated growth, the city doesn’t want to have to tell a residential or commercial developer it doesn’t have enough sewage capacity.

Signs that growth is on the horizon for east Athens was evident at Monday’s meeting. The council approved the 296-lot Links at Canebrake development and also annexed in 300 acres off Cambridge Lane.

Mayor Ronnie Marks on Tuesday said both the Lindsay Lane and Cambridge Lane corridors could boom over the next few years. He also anticipates vacant land at Huntsville-Browns Ferry Road and I-65 interchange won’t stay vacant long.

“I think it will be a mix of residential and retail,” he said.

Marks would like Athens to reap the revenue benefits of future development, but Athens Utilities does not have the water or sewer rights to the interchange and doesn’t have sewer rights. Marks hopes both sides can work out an agreement that would allow the city to run a sewer line to the area.

In terms of other infrastructure, the mayor said improvements to Lindsay Lane and Cambridge Lane, including widening, may be necessary. He described the intersection of Cambridge and U.S. 72 as a safety hazard he hopes will be addressed by the Alabama Department of Transportation.

“It’s a real critical issue and I don’t know of a more dangerous area,” he said.

Monday’s annexation of about 305 acres was requested by Piney Creek LLC, which represents the landowners. Attorney Bill Matthews, representing the group, said the property would likely be used for residential development and a possible new elementary school.