When Huntsville city planners began crafting its BIG Picture Master Plan, they wanted to take an aggressive approach in diversifying the city’s housing stock.

City Manager of Long-Range and Urban Planning Dennis Madsen said an intention of the master plan was “allowing folks to find the housing that fits them.”

“We’ve been updating our zoning over the last several years,” he said. “We are continuing to do so to allow for more variety of housing such as things like townhomes, condos and duplexes and quads.”

It continues to be a work in progress even though the master plan was implemented in 2018.

The Huntsville Planning Commission recently passed an ordinance to prevent “stacking” of multifamily developments and limiting structures per acre because, in the words of Planning Commission Chairman Les Tillery and Commission member Sally Warden, some of the recent apartment and rental housing developments have been badly constructed.

And there has been opposition from some residents at Planning Commission meetings voicing concerns about new developments near their neighborhoods such as the Summit at Monte Sano, which aims to bring single-family homes and duplexes to the top of the mountain. That is now the subject of a lawsuit.