When it comes to growth in Limestone County, it may be little to no surprise that East Limestone houses a lot of it.

District 2 of Limestone County proved that for all 2020 held, a substantial reduction in new residential lots was not on the agenda. Records show commissioners have approved 764 new lots total this year, and District 2 accounted for 86.6%, or 662, of those lots.

“Limestone County has been blessed with our economic and population growth over the past several years, and this year is no exception,” Commission Chairman Collin Daly said. “Earlier this year, we were named the fastest growing county in Alabama, and this is exhibited by the commission’s three-year high approval of residential lots in 2020.”

No district was without growth, either. Twenty-five lots were approved for District 1, while Districts 3 and 4 had 42 and 35 lots approved, respectively.

Commission records show more lots were approved in September than any other month at 171, with March coming in second place at 104 lots approved. County engineer Marc Massey said all but a small percentage will be new homes in Limestone County, as “subdivision” can mean anything from a 50-lot new housing development to a person buying a portion of their neighbor’s property so they can build a utility shed there.

Massey presents subdivisions for approval as part of his engineer’s report at each commission meeting. He explained any new subdivision can mean new work for the county’s engineering department, and while more residences can mean more residents and thus more revenue for the county, it doesn’t come without growing pains.

“There are definite growing pains,” Massey said. “The positive is, the more rooftops we have, the more likely we are to have commercial growth and development and all those kinds of things that come along with additional rooftops, but with all of those things, there are growing pains that we have to figure out how we’re going to manage.”

He said it’s something Limestone County has to consider regularly. However, that doesn’t necessarily put a damper on the excitement that growth can bring.

“I am looking forward to the future of our county and the opportunities that this growth will continue to bring,” Daly said.

The Limestone County Commission next meets 9 a.m. Monday for its regularly scheduled work session, followed by a 10 a.m. meeting. Visit limestonecounty-al.gov to view agendas for each after they are made public, view minutes from past meetings and livestream Monday’s meeting.