By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – A handful of new homes soon will be coming to Alabaster’s Oakwood subdivision, as the Alabaster City Council agreed to rezone about 14.4 acres to allow the new development to move forward.

During their Aug. 27 meeting, council members voted unanimously to rezone the land from municipal reserve to estate to allow the new homes to move forward. The rezoning came after a public hearing on the matter, during which nobody spoke for or against the rezoning.

The original municipal reserve zoning was attached to the property when the city annexed it along with much of the land surrounding Saddle Lake Farms in 2015. The estate zoning will allow for no more than one home per acre.

A developer is looking to construct five estate-sized homes on the property, which is between Massey Road and Oakwood Lane in eastern Alabaster.

Plans submitted to the city call for four 3-acre lots in the development and one 1.7-acre lot. Two pair of new homes will share a common driveway, while one will have its own driveway. Before the project can move forward, the city must approve a subdivision plat, and the county must sign off on the shared driveways.

A paved cul-de-sac road – Oakwood Circle – was added on the property in the past for a planned residential development in the area, but the development never materialized. The cul-de-sac road will be removed if the proposed five-home development moves forward.

Alabaster Planning and Zoning Commission members previously said the five estate-sized homes will match what is currently in the area, and said all necessary utilities except city sewer are available in the area.