Hoover council slowly annexes 211 acres next to Trace Crossings

The Hoover City Council tonight took the second step in annexing 211 acres next to the Trace Crossings development.

Tonight’s vote was to annex 53 acres, while a June 19 vote brought 117 adjacent acres into the city. Another vote is scheduled for July 17 to annex 20 more acres.

In all, it will take six votes to bring the entire 211 acres into Hoover, city planner Mac Martin Jr. said.

The land is being annexed piecemeal because it bumps up against the city of Helena’s jurisdiction, and state law will allow a city to annex only halfway between itself and another city.

Once annexed, the property becomes part of the Trace Crossings development, as approved by the City Council on June 5.

Part of the land will contain homes that will be built by Signature Homes, while part of it will contain two of the five soccer/lacrosse/football fields and most of the 16 tennis courts the city of Hoover is building as part of the Hoover Metropolitan Complex.

Another part of the property will be used for a 3-mile stretch of city park land along the Cahaba River, which is being donated by Signature Homes.

Councilman Curt Posey was the only councilman to vote against the annexation. Posey, when he voted against portions of the Trace Crossings rezoning plan last month, said he was concerned about not having a solution yet to traffic congestion in Trace Crossings.

All of the homes that were added to Trace Crossings will be subtracted from the number of home sites that already have been approved for other land owned by either Signature Homes or U.S. Steel.