Mayor halts all new building permits in Trussville Springs development

From The Trussville Tribune Staff Reports

TRUSSVILLE — The issuance of new building permits in the Trussville Springs development has been halted as of Friday, according to an email from Mayor Gene Melton.

The action comes after multiple Trussville Springs residents spoke out during Tuesday’s City Council meeting against the multitude of problems they’ve seen with development, as well as problems that have arisen due to the temporary entrance to the development.

During the City Council meeting, Melton assured the residents that he would be putting in a call to the Alabama Department of Transportation on Wednesday morning to see what could be done to assuage everyone’s complaints.

One of the primary concerns for the residents that spoke out was that emergency vehicles and school busses were unable to enter the neighborhood due to the size of the entrance.

According to Trussville Springs Home Owners Association Board Member Bill Bright, the process for getting the problems resolved first goes through the City of Trussville, then moves on to the Alabama Department of Transportation, then finally gets sent to the Railroad for approval. Bright said the Railroad has had all needed documents in their legal department for 30 days, and he hopes and expects the process to start rolling forward again within the next 30 days.

“It’s not like everyone has walked away from it, the process is still developing and a lot of people that aren’t involved in industry and big business don’t understand that,” said Bright. “The entrance is everybody’s problem, and we should all be together rather than against each other.”

Melton said he directed the Trussville Fire Chief to take their longest truck to the neighborhood first thing Wednesday morning to identify any road problems that could prevent emergency vehicles from entering the subdivision, provided that all residents were parked legally.

“The City has heard complaints from residents in Trussville Springs on several occasions, mostly about the developer but this particular meeting focused more on safety and that was a reason for immediate attention,” said Trussville City Councilman and Mayoral candidate, Buddy Choat.

Signage for fire zones is one way developers hope to alleviate traffic problems for emergency vehicles and school buses.
Photo by The Trussville Tribune.

The Chief reported that there were no issues providing emergency service, so long as all vehicles along the street were parked legally.

According to Bright, residents choosing to park on the street, rather than in their garages, continues to be a major problem.

“They think the space on the street in front of their house is their property,” said Bright. “If everyone parked in their garages, it would eliminate the problem. It’s not fair for everyone to park on the streets and complain about the problem.”

Melton then directed the Fire Marshall to meet with Barry Stalnaker to discuss the illegal parking issue within the development, and Melton also met with the school representative that oversees the school bus service to Trussville Springs.

“The school bus situation is not unusual,” said Trussville City Council President and mayoral candidate Anthony Montalto. “It is common practice to not send school busses into new subdivisions until most of the construction has been completed. This avoids potential problems of being blocked in and avoids children having to walk past the construction areas and workers.”

According to Bright, Trussville Springs has made arrangements with the builders of the subdivision to allow more space for the school busses to pass through. A new turn around is being built specifically for the school bus.

“It is usually recommended that parents take the children to school or walk them to the designated stop until it is safe to assign permanent pick up points in the subdivision.” Said Montalto.

Construction vehicles have been a concern to residents in Trussville Springs.
Photo by The Trussville Tribune

Melton said there were several issues identified and he is working with the appropriate parties to ensure those issues are resolved.

Melton has since directed the City’s Building Inspections Department to not issue any more new housing building permits in the Trussville Springs subdivision, subject to the following, which he sent by email:

1. Until which time the illegal parking problem is addressed by the developer and the new home builders along with their subs.
2. Until which time I can confirm where the developer is with completing the railroad gated crossing permit process and the ALDOT permitting process.
3. Until which time I can find a solution to the school bus issue.

Melton said that in the mean time, the City will proceed with the process to pass an ordinance concerning the illegal parking problem that has arisen in the subdivision.

“Reaction to suspend building permits was the mayor’s decision,” said Choat. “I assume and hope that it was based strictly on public safety problems that were addressed at our Council meeting Tuesday.”