By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – The Alabaster Planning and Zoning Commission will decide during its November meeting if it will rezone a recently annexed piece of property next to Saddle Lake Farms to allow the property owner to develop the currently vacant land.

During its Aug. 26 meeting, the commission agreed to table the rezoning request until its Nov. 25 meeting, which will be at Alabaster City Hall.

Commission member Tommy Ryals said the rescheduling came at the request of the property owner, Envirobuild, Inc., which is looking to develop the 40-acre piece of land next to the Saddle Lake Farms subdivision.

In April, the Alabama Legislature voted to annex the 40-acre property from unincorporated Shelby County into Alabaster, paving the way for Saddle Lake to annex into the city.

Envirobuild, which also developed Saddle Lake Farms, is requesting the property be rezoned from municipal reserve to an R-2 zoning, which would allow for a 15,000-square-foot minimum lot size. Envirobuild representative Rick Nicholson told Planning and Zoning Board members previously the company is looking to one day build a residential development on the 40 acres “essentially the same thing” as the current Saddle Lake Farms subdivision.

During a May public hearing, about 50 Saddle Lake Farms residents voiced opposition to the rezoning request – many of who returned for the commission’s Aug. 26 meeting. Several speakers said they paid extra for lots adjacent to the pasture currently on the 40-acre property, and others expressed concerns about the density of the proposed development.

After the Aug. 26 commission meeting, Ryals said the commission has asked Envirobuild to present a visual plan for the property, which would allow the commission to enforce the plan regardless of who owns the land in the future.

“The biggest thing for us is to get something that will follow the property no matter what,” Ryals said during an Aug. 28 phone interview. “The developer is still discussing different options. We want the plans to fit with what’s already out there now.”