By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – The city of Alabaster welcomed a few new residents – and students in the city’s school system – on April 25 after the City Council agreed to annex two homes in separate parts of the city.

The two annexations came at the request of the property owners, who both said they wanted to be in the city to allow their children to attend Alabaster City Schools.

The City Council voted 5-0 in favor of annexing a home on Oakwood Drive, with council members Stacy Rakestraw, Tommy Ryals, Rick Walters, Sophie Martin and Bob Hicks voting in favor of the annexation. Council President Scott Brakefield and council member Russell Bedsole were absent from the meeting.

The council also agreed to annex a residence off Copperhead Road in Maylene into the city, with Rakestraw, Ryals, Martin and Hicks voting in favor of the annexation and Walters voting against.

During public hearings before both annexations, the property owners addressed the City Council and said they requested to be annexed into the city so their children could continue to attend the city’s schools.

Through a separation agreement between the Shelby County School System and the Alabaster City School System, students zoned for Alabaster schools who do not live in the city limits have been phased out of Alabaster schools over the past few ye