By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

The Alabaster City Council is continuing to work on options to allow residents in the Saddle Lake Farms subdivision to decide if they will annex into the city after some Alabaster leaders expressed doubt in a proposed legislative annexation method.

During its March 17 meeting, the council voted unanimously to annex a 10-foot strip stretching around the northern boundary of the Carmeuse lime plant connecting U.S. 31 with the intersection of Massey Road and Oakwood Drive.

The 10-foot annexation strip brings Alabaster city limits closer to Saddle Lake, which is currently in unincorporated Shelby County off Massey Road.

State Sen. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, said the Alabama Senate will pass a bill on March 18 to annex a 40-acre piece of property adjacent to Saddle Lake into Alabaster. If approved, the bill will make Saddle Lake Farms contiguous to Alabaster city limits, and would pave the way for neighborhood residents to vote on annexing Saddle Lake into Alabaster.

After the bill passes the Senate, it will move on to the state House of Representatives for its consideration.

If the legislative annexation is approved by the House, it would allow Saddle Lake residents to begin a petition to annex into Alabaster, and could pave the way for a neighborhood vote on annexing into the city.

The possible annexation into Alabaster has sparked debate among Saddle Lake residents, as some residents support becoming part of Alabaster and some do not.

During a pre-meeting work session on March 17, City Council President Scott Brakefield said he was unsure if the legislative annexation of the 40 acres adjacent to Saddle Lake will pass the House this year.

If the legislature does not approve annexing the 40-acre property during the current legislative session, Brakefield said the city could work to annex property between the end of the 10-foot strip approved on March 17 and Saddle Lake.

After the council agreed to annex the 10-foot strip, Henry said the city could either annex a portion of one 2-acre tract, or portions of three separate 3-acre tracts to connect Alabaster city limits with the 40-acre property currently under legislative consideration.

If the city is able to eventually annex property up to the Saddle Lake boundary, it will pave the way for Saddle Lake residents to vote on annexing into the city.

“This is just one bump in the road,” Brakefield said during the work session. “I think the end result is we will still get to the same conclusion (of allowing Saddle Lake residents to vote), but it will take us longer to get there.”

“We are not out there trying to force those people to annex in. We are not out there to do that,” Alabaster Councilman Russell Bedsole said. “We want those people who want to be in Alabaster.”