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Prattville Citizens Voice Opinions About Proposed Homes near Camellia Estates

By Andrew Edwards, EAN Staff Writer

Prattville’s zoning and planning was a bit busier than usual on January 16, as droves of people came out to express their concerns about the proposed new homes that might be built near Camellia Estates.

The land, which has been named the “Park Lane Property,” sits directly behind several homes in Camellia Estates [see photo for more visual representation]. It’s currently zoned as R-2/R-3/R-5, and if built, the city could have 116 homes constructed on the land. However, the plan is to rezone the entire area to just R-3 and build 89 single family residential lots.

The Pecan Grove property [see photo for location] is currently owned by Jim Marshall, who would be willing to essentially trade that land for the Park Lane property. The city currently owns the Park Lane property and would like to acquire the Pecan Grove space instead. If Marshall and the city complete the trade, then Greg Gilliam, consulting engineer for Larry E. Speaks, will be able begin the initial steps to the 86 homes being constructed. 

“The Park Lane sketch plan has three street connections that are involved with it. It’s Ridgewood Road, Magnolia Drive, and a current unknown road coming into Camellia Estates, but not onto Camellia Drive. However, that could change,” Mayor Bill Gillespie said.

This “trade” between the city and Marshall is not what many of the citizens of Prattville are upset about. In fact, many are not even upset about the construction of the homes.

The issue is the traffic that more homes will bring to a neighborhood that is already afflicted with repeated offenses of speeding, many said during the Planning and Zoning meeting last week. 

“I’ve lived on Magnolia Drive for 34-plus years, I’ve raised my children there, and in that time, I’ve had at least three cars towed in front of my house. There have been at least ten vehicles hit in front of my house. There was a five-year-old little boy that was hit and killed by a speeding motorcycle on Primrose. There’s also been accidents on Woodvale as well. I have to tell my grandchildren to get out of the street because I’m afraid they’re going to get hit. With the houses being built, we’re only going to have more speeding and accidents like this,” said one concerned citizen.

“We just don’t have the infrastructure to support the ever-growing population here in Prattville, which is really a great problem to have. The infrastructure issues have not allowed us to get the traffic flow to move around Camellia Estates,” said another concerned citizen.

The majority of speakers talked about, at the very least, some sort of regulation for the streets of the neighborhood to help cut down on speeding. Mayor Gillespie had several thoughts about this.

“We’re looking across the city as a whole to see what areas we can improve traffic flow. For many years, speed bumps were not recognized by the city, but we’ve begun to start placing some in certain parts of the city. So, speed bumps, speed tables, four-way stops, or even just blue lights are all options that we are looking at,” Gillespie said.

As it stands, the rezoning will have to go to city council next month in February before being voted upon in March.