By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – A portion of proposed new subdivision off Smokey Road in southern Alabaster can now move forward after the City Council voted to rezone land to allow for the development.

During its Jan. 25 meeting, the City Council voted unanimously to rezone a 300-acre parcel of land from a mixture of agricultural, municipal reserve and high-density residential to entirely agricultural.

The vote came after a public hearing on the matter, during which developer Jason Spinks spoke in favor of the project and nobody spoke in opposition.

Spinks is working to bring the new Mallard Landing subdivision to southern Alabaster off Smokey Road near Meadow View Elementary School and the Shelby County Airport. During a Dec. 15, 2015, meeting, the Alabaster Planning and Zoning Commission voted to combine four parcels of property into two parcels to allow for the proposed neighborhood.

One parcel, a 182-acre plot, is set to hold the majority of the new Mallard Landing neighborhood. The other parcel, the 300-acre plot adjacent to the Shelby County Airport, will hold one house, and will primarily remain woodlands, Spinks said during the meeting.

Because a previous developer planned to construct a neighborhood on the 182-acre parcel off Smokey Road near the airport in the mid-2000s, the land is already zoned as residential to allow for the new neighborhood. However, the 300-acre plot was zoned as a mixture of agricultural, municipal reserve and high-density residential.

Spinks previously said he has finished constructing a house on the 300-acre parcel, and likely will put the house up for sale soon.

The layout and number of lots for the proposed neighborhood on the 182-acre property is still preliminary, and the site plan must be reviewed by the public and the Planning and Zoning Commission before work can begin, city leaders said previously.