Construction is expected to start on a new K-through-8 school in the Huntsville part of Limestone County later this year.

Although the school is on the schedule to open in 2027, Huntsville City Schools Board President Carlos Mathews said the district is still trying to figure out just how big the school that will be just south of Interstate 565 off Swancott Road needs to be.

“We’ll have to go through the plans to make sure that we have a facility built for what is coming,” Mathews said at a town hall last week. “As you’ve heard in the news, there are quite a few things that may be coming to the Huntsville area. We’ve got to make sure we have the capacity to support our future needs. We don’t want to build something too small. We don’t want to build something too large.”

That may be easier said than done on a couple of fronts. Reports have as many as 500 FBI personnel coming to Huntsville, with the potential of up to 3,000 more. And members of Alabama’s congressional delegation are confident that U.S. Space Command headquarters is coming as well. That could mean an additional 2,000 workers coming to the city.

That’s on top of already explosive growth. Huntsville added about 45,000 residents between 2010 and 2023 to become the most populated city in the state at more than 225,000 residents, according to census numbers.

Just down the road from the new K-8 school, homes are under construction in Greenbrier Preserve where more than 1,100 homes are proposed. And between 2,500 and 4,000 homes are proposed for a Village of Providence-style development near the I 65-565 interchange,

See story: Huntsville’s Limestone annexation a game-changer? 4,000 homes may be coming – al.com

See story: Huntsville developer gets approval to build 90 homes in massive Greenbrier Preserve – al.com

“We can’t put up a school fast as they can build neighborhoods,” Mathews said. “There is no way we can keep up with that. A developer comes in, they buy some land and say, ‘we’re going to throw up 500 houses.’ That’s great. That’s smoke and mirrors. We can’t go off what you might do. We have to go off what actually is.”

Mathews said by the time homes are built “we’re overcrowded.”

That was the case when new Grissom High School opened in growing south Huntsville in 2017. The school was using portables just five years later.

See story: Huntsville’s booming growth taking toll on overcrowded Grissom High School – al.com

Mathews said the district tries to “forecast where we are going.”

“We’re trying to make sure that we’re kind of with them (developers),” he said. “But we will never be on the same speed with them. We can’t build a school that fast.”

It is for that reason residents at the town hall requested the Huntsville City Council reject development plans if the school district can’t accommodate the students. Similar requests have been made at Huntsville Planning Commission meetings.

And District 1 City Councilwoman Michelle Watkins voted against the recent annexation of nearly 400 acres in Limestone County over similar concerns. Watkins served on the school board before her election to the Council last year.

“We’re not going to slow down the growth of the city,” Mathews said. “It’s just not going to happen. The city’s going to grow. We’ve annexed land. It’s not going to slow down. We just have to find a way to keep moving forward.”

Council President John Meredith represents the western part of the city like Mathews. He said he has had numerous conversations with Mathews and other school board members about the challenges facing the school district with the city’s growth.

He said the school district is consulted about future developments and is recommending a joint city school board-city council meeting to address the issues.

Geographically challenged

One of the issues is Huntsville’s size geographically. According to Manager of Planning and Zoning Services Thomas Nunez, the city is now the 27th largest in the country with the recent annexations, covering an area even larger than the city of Chicago.

And District 5 – which Meredith and Mathews both represent – stretches from Cummings Research Park near the middle of the city to U.S, 31 in Limestone County between Athens and Decatur.

“All of this expansion, I think is great,” west Huntsville resident Todd Bender said. “I think it’s awesome, but I feel the city and the city school system tend to not look at the real west part of Huntsville where schools need to be built.”

Bender’s son attends Sparkman High School, which is the nearest school to where he lives. He points out that the closest city high school (Columbia High School) is in Research Park.

“There’s five county schools closer to my house than the closest city school,” he said. “We feel we are the picked on part of the city.”

Eddgra Fallin, whose kids are now grown, suggests parents of students living in west Huntsville pay tuition and attend nearer schools that are out of district in Madison and Limestone counties.

Mathews concedes that is an option. But at least one of the districts – overcrowded Limestone County – isn’t accepting out of district students. One of its schools – Creekside Elementary – is just across the road from Creekside subdivision, which is within Huntsville’s city limits. Children living there are zoned for Providence Elementary, which is 12 miles away.

Mathews understands the frustrations.

“We know our students come from Limestone County and go to Williams Middle School have about an hour and some change ride to get from one place to the other,” he said. “And they pass three or four schools on their way there. So, yes, we are paying close attention to that.”

He said the new school will shorten the drive considerably and will alleviate overcrowding conditions at Providence Elementary as well.

But current plans still have high school students having to go from the Limestone-Madison county line to Columbia High School. Meredith at previous meetings said he supports building a new high school in the western part ot the city.

And residents in the Big Cove area in another growing part of the city – east of the mountains – would also like to see a new high school in that direction. But neither are included in Huntsville City Schools’ 10-year, $600 million capital plan.

And at previous meetings, Huntsville City Schools Superintendent Clarence Sutton said the district must get approval from the federal court for new high schools because of its desegregation case. The city system is seeking partial release from the order, which would give it more control over where schools are built.

Despite the challenges, Meredith doesn’t see the city’s growth and recent annexations as a hindrance.

He sees the new homes and retail centers being built in the western part of the city as additional sources of revenue for the city school system, which receives funding from property tax and sales tax revenue.