Why is Huntsville annexing so much land? (Birmingham, Montgomery: utilities, rating)

[golden eagles fan]

I was on Huntsville's Wikipedia page and discovered that the city is 210 square miles! That's more than higher-populated cities like Atlanta, Detroit and Philadelphia. It's just shy of matching Chicago's 234 square miles. So, is Huntsville really growing because if in-migration or annexation?

[MisterEd51]

Huntsville has annexed a lot of land to the west. It has Madison completely surrounded now. To see the current city limits go to the Interactive Maps and enable the "City Limits" layer.

City of Huntsville Interactive Maps
Huntsville Interactive Maps

[AuburnAL]

It is too bad it can't annex more land to the east. Hopefully, one day it will annex Madison and Triana at the very least.

[EscAlaMike]

Huntsville probably wants to become the most populated city in the state. If they keep annexing empty land, eventually that land will be developed and the population will grow. If they annex already-developed land, then the population instantly grows without any migration of population. It won't be long before they pass the Big 3 if growth trends continue.

[AuburnAL]

Originally Posted by FSUMike

Huntsville probably wants to become the most populated city in the state. If they keep annexing empty land, eventually that land will be developed and the population will grow. If they annex already-developed land, then the population instantly grows without any migration of population. It won't be long before they pass the Big 3 if growth trends continue.

Also smart to grow large enough that it becomes difficult for Huntsville to be surrounded. You don't want to be a giant surrounded by an army of dwarves like Birmingham is. With the wall in the east and south Huntsvill needs to annex more land so it can annex land in the future.

[needtosellmyhome]

Originally Posted by AuburnAL

Hopefully, one day it will annex Madison

That's not going to happen.

Madison is an incorporated city and the areas that the City of Huntsville has been "annexing" were in the county.

[Dirt Grinder]

Originally Posted by needtosellmyhome

That's not going to happen...

[Tourian]

Originally Posted by AuburnAL

Also smart to grow large enough that it becomes difficult for Huntsville to be surrounded. You don't want to be a giant surrounded by an army of dwarves like Birmingham is. With the wall in the east and south Huntsville needs to annex more land so it can annex land in the future.

True but you also dont want to get to a point were it gets harder and harder to provide utilities, police and fire coverage to remote areas. Some of that land is probably just to sit on to keep someone else from doing anything with it and not necessarily to develop.

[Chris J Lumbergh]

Originally Posted by Tourian

True but you also dont want to get to a point were it gets harder and harder to provide utilities, police and fire coverage to remote areas. Some of that land is probably just to sit on to keep someone else from doing anything with it and not necessarily to develop.

Sim City

[golden eagles fan]

Originally Posted by FSUMike

Huntsville probably wants to become the most populated city in the state. If they keep annexing empty land, eventually that land will be developed and the population will grow. If they annex already-developed land, then the population instantly grows without any migration of population. It won't be long before they pass the Big 3 if growth trends continue.

I believe they will. Not much in population is separating the top four cities there. Montgomery came within a hair of toppling Birmingham in 2010. Within 20 years, Huntsville will be the largest city in Alabama.