By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – The Alabaster City Council will decide during its Sept. 28 meeting if it will rezone a more than 300-acre tract of land to house the city’s new high school off Thompson Road, according to city leaders.

During the meeting, the council will vote on whether it will uphold the Alabaster Planning and Zoning Board’s recommendation to rezone the land from residential to institutional to allow the Alabaster City School’s System’s new high school project to move forward.

Before voting on the matter, the City Council will hold a public hearing to allow residents to speak for and against the proposed rezoning. The Sept. 28 City Council meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at Alabaster City Hall.

The Planning and Zoning Board voted 6-0 on July 28 meeting to recommend the rezoning move forward. Board member Gary Wright, who is a project manager with Volkert and Associates, which is handling the school construction project, recused himself from voting during the meeting and sat in the audience.

If the matter is approved, the land will be rezoned from residential to institutional to allow for the city’s new 384,000-square-foot high school. The school is scheduled to open to students in the fall of 2017, according to Alabaster School Superintendent Dr. Wayne Vickers.

The Planning and Zoning Board originally was set to vote on the rezoning during its June 23 meeting, but continued the matter until July 28 after several residents expressed concerns during the June meeting. Many of the residents who voiced concerns during the June Planning and Zoning Board meeting also attended a July 13 Alabaster Board of Education meeting, where they met with the school building project’s architects and engineers.

Residents in the Southwind and Kentwood subdivisions previously expressed concerns about water runoff from the new high school property, among other issues.

During a previous Planning and Zoning Board work session, Goodwyn Mills and Cawood engineer Cole Williams said the flooding issues likely will be lessened once the construction project is completed.

Once completed, the 384,000-square-foot school building will house at least 2,000 students, and will include a 1,250-seat theatre, three gyms including a 2,000 seat main arena, a golf practice facility, a regulation track and more.