Hoover officials analyze impact of annexing 833-acre Everlee development

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Hoover school and city officials are trying to get a handle on how the new 833-acre Everlee development near Ross Bridge will impact the Hoover school system if it is annexed into the city limits.

On Monday, the student services coordinator for the school system, Bob Lawry, presented some preliminary projections to the school board about the number of students that might come to Hoover schools as a result of the development and some of the financial implications.

However, there are some discrepancies regarding the number of homes that might add students to Hoover City Schools, so school officials say they plan to meet with the developers and city officials to iron out some details about the planned development.

School officials initially were under the impression that Everlee would have 2,644 homes, including 2,044 that could potentially produce children for the school system. That number of homes likely would add 818 students to Hoover City Schools, including 376 elementary students, 118 middle school students and 254 high school students, Lawry told the school board.

However, Jonathan Belcher, president of Signature Homes, which is developing the home sites in Everlee, said the community would have 2,344 homes, including 1,744 that could potentially produce children for Hoover schools.

Signature Homes plans for up to 600 of the homes to be restricted to people age 55 and older and without children age 18 or younger living in the homes, Belcher said.

For planning purposes, the Hoover school system estimates that one student will be added for every 2.5 homes built, which would mean 698 new students for Hoover City Schools from 1,744 homes.

Either way, the proposal from Signature Homes, U.S. Steel and Marbury Properties is to take 1,944 housing units that in 1993 had been promised to U.S. Steel for about 868 acres known as the Trigger Creek property on the south side of Morgan Road, transfer those housing units to the Everlee development, and deannex the Trigger Creek property from the city of Hoover.

The Everlee development, if brought into the city of Hoover, is proposed to have about 400 more homes than were allowed on the Trigger Creek property, but 600 of those homes in Everlee would be age-restricted and produce no children for Hoover City Schools, Belcher said. The net effect would be 200 fewer homes that potentially would produce children for Hoover City Schools than is currently allowed on the Trigger Creek property, Belcher said.

Also, Hoover school officials have been including the 1,944 housing units promised to U.S. Steel on the Trigger Creek property in their planning documents for years, as well as other houses approved but not yet built in other areas.

Lawry said that in addition to the 1,944 houses planned in Trigger Creek, there were 1,655 houses approved but not yet built in the western part of Hoover as of December 2019.

There were 389 single-family home building permits issued in Hoover in 2020, according to Marty Gilbert, Hoover’s director of building inspections. However, some of those may have been in other parts of town.

Lawry, based on the numbers he had, estimated how the Everlee development would impact school capacities, and Everlee by itself would not fill up the schools that serve western Hoover, he said. However, when combined with other homes approved but not built in western Hoover, Bumpus Middle School and Hoover High School could potentially exceed capacity when all the homes are built, he said. More analysis needs to be done to get a better feel for that, Lawry told the school board.

Also, it’s important to understand the financial implications of new homes, Lawry said, noting that each new student requires $4,287 in local revenues, plus money for things such as transportation and special education.

He provided estimates of how much it would cost Hoover City Schools to serve students from Everlee and other homes approved for western Hoover, but those numbers could be modified and updated once school officials meet further with developers and city officials to iron out some details regarding the number of homes expected.

There’s also a question of whether a new school would be needed as a result of Everlee.

U.S. Steel, in a 1993 annexation document, agreed to donate a prepared elementary school site on the Trigger Creek property, and, in place of that, Signature Homes is prepared to supply a prepared elementary school site in Everlee if the school system determines it wants a school there, Belcher said.

An elementary school site for at least 500 students would require at least 10 acres, while a middle school site for at least 1,000 students would require at least 20 acres and a high school site for at least 1,500 students would require at least 45 acres, Lawry said. A new school likely would cost anywhere from roughly $50 million to $125 million, he said.

Whether and when Hoover needs another school is a decision for the Hoover Board of Education, he said.

School board President Deanna Bamman said school officials are not ready to form an opinion about the impact of Everlee, if it were to be annexed, until further meetings are held to refine the projections for houses and number of students expected.

Currently, Everlee is in an unincorporated part of Jefferson County and has been approved for up to 2,800 homes in the county.

Belcher told the Hoover Planning and Zoning Commission on Monday that he is prepared to build those homes in the county, but he believes it would be better for the city of Hoover to annex Everlee and transfer the housing units from Trigger Creek to Everlee.

Because of Everlee’s location, it would be easier for both the city and school system to serve residents and students from Everlee than from Trigger Creek, he said.

Also, Everlee is scheduled to have an economic impact of more than $1 billion, Belcher said. It should produce more than $5 million a year in extra property taxes for Jefferson County and more than $2.25 million a year in extra property taxes for the Hoover school system, he said.

Signature Homes also is prepared to voluntarily double the city’s required front door fee of $1,500 per home to $3,000 per home, which should provide more than $7 million to the school system as those homes are built, Belcher said.

The city should gain $17.5 million in construction-related sales taxes, and the county should gain $10 million in construction-related sales taxes, not to mention any future sales taxes from commercial developments planned in Everlee, Belcher said.

Trigger Creek had no commercial development planned with it, he said.

Whether Everlee remains unincorporated or is annexed into the city, Signature Homes’ goal is the same, Belcher said. “We want to create a community that has a positive impact on our city.”

Hoover City Administrator Allan Rice, a member of the planning commission, said people need to understand that the Trigger Creek homes were planned and promised in the 1990s.

He said it appears moving those housing units to Everlee will be better for the city. The Everlee property is close to existing fire stations near Deer Valley and in Ross Bridge, so the city would not have to worry about building one in the vicinity of Trigger Creek, and the Police Department is already serving communities near Everlee as well, he said.

“You’re helping us not defer, but eliminate, future capital expenditures if we don’t have to build public school facilities and put additional people on staff to serve 1,944 houses if we serve them with what we already have because the physical proximity is better,” Rice told Belcher. “This sounds like a very promising proposal based on what we’ve heard tonight.”

Planning commission member Nathan Reed said he still would want to know if Everlee would stretch Fire Department staff at Station No. 6 near Deer Valley and Lake Cyrus.

Rice said Station No. 6’s territory is about to be cut in half with the opening of Station No. 11 in Trace Crossings this spring, so Station No. 6 should be in a much better position soon.

Planning Commission members said they want to hear more from Hoover school officials before a public hearing is held on Everlee on Feb. 8.

The zoning board scheduled a work session to discuss Everlee further on Jan. 26 and have invited school officials to that meeting. Bamman said the school system will have representatives there and will be working to get more information in advance of that meeting as well so school officials can ask important questions and give informed opinions.

Read more about the proposal for the Everlee development here.