Huntsville neighborhoods (Decatur: lawyer, closing, retire)

[HsvMike]

Originally Posted by NicoleC

Huntsville is in Madison County. When people say "Madison" around here, they are usually referring to the City of Madison, which is next to Huntsville in Limestone County.

The City of Madison is in Madison County.

[NicoleC]

I stand corrected, thanks.

[nalabama]

Well, part of the City of Madison is in Limestone County as a result of annexations, so you're only a little bit off.

[HsvMike]

Yep, like the West side of County Line Rd. If Hsv and Madison keep on annexing all that land, there won't be much of Limestone County left. J/K.

[flstatenolefan]

HsvMike--I find it odd that the subdivision Heritage Estates on the West side of County Line Rd. across from Magnolia Springs (which is zoned for Sparkman H.S.) is zoned for the Providence Elementary and Columbia High Schools, but the subdivision Heritage Commons just south of there is zoned for Creekside Elementary and E. Limestone High. It just seems like they are piecemealing the school districts in that area.

[HsvMike]

Hsv annexed the land where the subdivision Heritage Estates ( across from Magnolia Springs ) is on. So they will all have Hsv City schools and everything else. It doesn't make sense to me either. Because Endeavor Elementary is pretty much right across the street from it.

But Heritage Commons was not annexed so they are still Limestone County and use those schools.

I think Hsv and Madison are just wanting to continue to grow even though there is pretty much no room left. So they are taking over Limestone County a little at a time. I have heard that the City of Hsv extends all the way to I-65 ( along I-565 ) because of land annexation.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by HsvMike

Hsv annexed the land where the subdivision Heritage Estates ( across from Magnolia Springs ) is on. So they will all have Hsv City schools and everything else. It doesn't make sense to me either. Because Endeavor Elementary is pretty much right across the street from it.

But Heritage Commons was not annexed so they are still Limestone County and use those schools.

I think Hsv and Madison are just wanting to continue to grow even though there is pretty much no room left. So they are taking over Limestone County a little at a time. I have heard that the City of Hsv extends all the way to I-65 ( along I-565 ) because of land annexation.

What is the underlying driver for this land annexation? Why is it being done? What changes might be expected due to this?

[NicoleC]

In order for land to be annexed, the landowner has to request it and then the city has to approve it. The counties provide very few services, so a land owner might want be part of the city to get access to more or better services.

[HsvMike]

I think that Hsv and Madison are just looking to sprawl as much as they can. More people paying property taxes into their respective cities sounds like the most probable reason.

There are positives and negatives to all of this. Like Nicole said better services is a big plus. One of the biggest negatives I can see are kids passing up a couple different schools just to get to their school.

[Southeastern]

Originally Posted by HsvMike

One of the biggest negatives I can see are kids passing up a couple different schools just to get to their school.

One pet peeve I have with the area is the 3 school systems. It seems that many little towns in Alabama, when unhappy, like to form their own. As residents of Madison County, we should be able to have 1 well-run school system. To have 3, which in total have less than 100,000 students, is just inefficient. We could have much better utilization of the existing school buildings if in 1 school system.