Annexations help fill in ‘checkerboard’

While there haven’t been many substantial annexations in 2019, Vestavia Hills City Manager Jeff Downes said those areas that have been added to the city help “fill in the gaps.”

Certain areas of the city “look like a checkerboard,” Downes said, meaning adjacent homes and streets may not all be inside the city limits. The city’s goal, then, in annexing property is to fill in that checkerboard while not lowering the standard of service provided, he said.

When there are homes on a city street that lay just outside city limits, Downes said it’s hard to provide city services, such as fire and police, to those places, because employees have to determine what is and is not within their jurisdiction.

Magnolia Cove Estates, a 13-home subdivision, was annexed into the city earlier this year. Sitting off Old Rocky Ridge Road, the homes help fill in the “checkerboard” Downes said.

Other annexations this year have been one or two homes at a time.

While the city welcomes annexations that help fill in the gaps, Downes said the city also has to draw lines where the city limits stop in order to not harm the provision of services by trying to annex every possible piece of land next to the city. Areas such as Camp Horner Road and Acton Road have some areas that are contiguous to the city, but going out that far might be too much of a stretch on city resources such as the fire and police departments, Downes said.

However, Downes said the ultimate decision-making body for annexing property is the City Council, which receives recommendations from the Annexation Committee.

Before annexing property, the council examines both the impact on city services and the student population at Vestavia Hills City Schools, Downes said. After the recent reconfiguration of the school system making all elementary schools kindergarten through fifth-grade schools, the student population has leveled out in the past couple of years, and no school is nearing capacity.

When a property is annexed into the city, it is placed on the city map and added to service rolls, including 911 dispatch. If necessary, street signs are added, along with relevant infrastructure, Downes said. Jefferson County Environmental Services manages the sanitary sewer system, and the Birmingham Water Works provides water.

The city is responsible for stormwater management. Downes said if there is public infrastructure to be dedicated to the city, that can happen upon annexation, but usually, infrastructure for new annexations is private, and thus, the property owner is responsible for stormwater management.

In many cases, when annexations bring property that was already adjacent to city limits into Vestavia, Downes said the city was arguably already providing some services to those homes.