Hoover council votes to annex 103 acres for 97-home subdivision near Greystone

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The Hoover City Council tonight voted to annex 103 acres off Shelby County 41 to make way for a new 97-home subdivision next to Greystone and Shoal Creek.

Signature Homes wants to build the subdivision, to be called Brock Point, just east of The Cove at Greystone and The Crest at Greystone. Shoal Creek is directly across Shelby County 41 from the site.

A couple of residents tonight expressed concerns about the impact such a development might have on the Hoover school system.

Councilman John Lyda said he analyzed numbers with Hoover Finance Director Robert Yeager and determined that Hoover schools would receive more in property taxes from the proposed subdivision than it would cost to educate the number of students expected from it.

Signature Homes President Jonathan Belcher has said the homes his company plans to build would be between 3,000 and 5,000 square feet and would sell for between $500,000 to $800,000, with an average price of $600,000.

History has shown that 97 homes in that price range would produce 32 students at most, Belcher said. Yeager, who formerly was chief financial officer for the Hoover school system, confirmed those numbers are historically accurate.

Lyda and Yeager estimated that Hoover City Schools would receive $2,032 per home in Brock Point on average, for a total of about $197,000. The Hoover school system pays $4,184 of its own money to educate each student on average, so 32 students would cost Hoover about $134,000, Lyda said. That would mean a $63,000 surplus for Hoover City Schools.

Neither Hoover schools Superintendent Kathy Murphy nor police Chief Nick Derzis or fire Chief Chuck Wingate had serious concerns about the annexation, Lyda said.

Councilman Gene Smith, chairman of the council’s Annexation Committee, said the land in question is on the eastern side of Hoover and “there are no overcrowding issues when it comes to the education system out there.”

Smith said he would be surprised if Brock Point produces 30 children for Hoover schools. Most people who can afford a home at that price are older and don’t have children in K-12 schools, he said.

Plus, police and fire services already are in place, Smith said. “We wouldn’t have to add anything,” he said.

Councilman Jack Natter said he saw no reason not to annex the property.

Lyda said the city stands to gain $660,000 in sales tax revenues from construction of the homes as well.

Bluff Park resident Dan Fulton questioned the reliability of the numbers provided by Lyda and Yeager, saying they are only estimates. He believes the city of Hoover has not been giving enough money to Hoover schools, limiting its contribution to the school system to $2 million a year since fiscal 2009.

“I consider that unacceptable. I think you can do better,” Fulton said.

A 1 percentage point increase in the city’s sales tax could bring in an extra $20 million, which could be used to help the school system address budget deficits and build more schools, Fulton said.

“They’ve done it in Trussville very successfully. They’ve done it in Gardendale very successfully,” he said.

Lyda said Fulton is the only Hoover resident he knows who is in favor of a sales tax increase.

Bluff Park resident Robin Schultz said he is concerned that Hoover would need to build another fire station to serve Brock Point. Getting a fire truck from Hoover Fire Station No. 8 in Greystone up and over Double Oak Mountain to Brock Point is quite a haul, he said.

Lyda said it’s only about three miles and the fire chief isn’t concerned about the annexation. “We trust our experts,” he said.

Belcher said the late Compass Bank founder Harry Brock formerly owned the property and donated it to Samford University, and now Signature Homes is working with Samford to develop it.

The 103 acres includes a 13-acre lake that Signature Homes plans to leave in place, Belcher said. Plans call for 33 houses to be on the lake. At the planned price point, Signature Homes expects to build two to three homes per month and complete the subdivision in three to four years, Belcher said.

Lot sizes would be comparable to The Cove at Greystone next door, he said.