Hoover council delays annexation vote for 259 acres owned by Freshwater Land Trust

The Hoover City Council tonight delayed a vote on annexing 259 acres near Ross Bridge that are owned by the Freshwater Land Trust.

The land is situated east of Ross Bridge Parkway between Shannon-Oxmoor Road and Shades Crest Road and has Shades Creek and several tributaries running through it.

A vote was set for tonight back in early August, but some details were left off the official public advertisement of the annexation, so the proposed annexation had to be re-advertised, City Clerk Margie Handley said.

The annexation now is scheduled to come back up for a vote by the City Council on March 5.

Hoover Council President Gene Smith in August said he is glad the Freshwater Land Trust wants to bring into the city of Hoover land that it is protecting as green space. The land and water preservation group had several options, he said.

In other business tonight, the Hoover City Council:

• Declared Feb. 23-25, 2018, as a severe weather preparedness sales tax holiday, exempting people who buy certain items to prepare for severe weather from having to pay Hoover’s municipal sales and use taxes for those items during those three days. Those items include batteries, weather radios, flashlights, waterproof sheeting, plywood and cell phone chargers. A full list will be available on the city of Hoover’s website.
• Annexed a roughly .25-acre piece of land surrounded by land owned by Riverchase United Methodist Church.
• Reappointed Hal Humphrey to the Hoover Library Board.
• Authorized the mayor to grant easements to Alabama Power Co. for underground facilities at Veterans Park to allow for the extension of utilities to new restrooms by the sand volleyball courts.
• Authorized the mayor to enter an agreement with a company called SeeClickFix to provide new software designed to make it easier for people to report complaints to the city and have them addressed promptly.
• Authorized city workers to cut overgrown grass and weeds at 2233 Talheim Drive and charge the property owner for the service.
• Joined Mayor Frank Brocato in congratulating Hoover native Briana Kinsey for winning third runner-up in the 2017 Miss America Pageant as Miss District of Columbia.
• Set a public hearing for Dec. 18 to consider an amendment to the Trace Crossings development plan that removes 13 acres from Trace Crossings and transfers the land into a development plan for the new 43-acre Stadium Trace Village shopping center being built along John Hawkins Parkway between Stadium Trace Parkway and Interstate 459. There also will be a public hearing concerning the rezoning for that shopping center on the same night.