As Huntsville continues to grow, the city council president says the west side of Alabama’s largest city needs new schools and the city should invest in more affordable housing.

John Meredith, who represents District 5 in west Huntsville and serves as council president, told AL.com that he wants the city to set aside millions of dollars from online sales tax revenue to fund new schools and affordable housing in his district.

“I want to do it because we need schools constructed out west with Huntsville growing at the rate it’s growing, with the west being the biggest pocket of growth,” Meredith told AL.com on Tuesday.

School overcrowding is a frequent topic of discussion in Huntsville, a concern expressed at town halls, planning commission meetings and other public venues in the fast-growing city. The new $75 million Grissom High School is already over capacity after opening in 2017, the Huntsville Lede reported earlier this month. While some have advocated for building new schools in eastern Huntsville locations, Meredith says he sees a need and a funding opportunity to build in his west Huntsville district.

Huntsville has received $50 million from the online sales tax revenue since 2016 and mingled it with the city’s general fund. The current budget proposal up for a city council vote next week has $16 million projected from that fund. Meredith wants the council to set aside portions for the schools and affordable housing projects.

After discussing his proposal at the city council work session on Thursday, Meredith said he plans to sponsor a resolution to provide a portion of the online sales tax revenue for Huntsville City Schools to leverage the funds for more school buildings. The city council will vote on the budget for the upcoming fiscal year on Sept. 28.

Meredith noted that his district, which covers a larger area than any other council district, has only Columbia High School, Williams Elementary School, and Providence Elementary.

“So considering that District 5 goes all the way west of I-65 now, we already have kids that live on Old Railroad Bed and Balch Road that are taking hour-long trips to get to school, and that’s unacceptable,” he told AL.com. “We’ve got to provide the folks that are out there now, and frankly, the folks that are going to be moving out there to a school that’s nearby, particularly the elementary and middle school children.”

Meredith also said that he sees a dire need for affordable housing in the city because of skyrocketing costs.

“I would also like to take a percentage of that money and create and fund an affordable housing fund as well to address the need for affordable housing in the city,” he said. “It’s no secret that a certain percentage of folks that work in the city of Huntsville cannot afford to live in the city of Huntsville, rents are just going up and through the roof, and when you look at the average income of Huntsvillians, housing is not affordable.”

His ideas include the city using a portion of the online sales tax to buy land and selling it to developers at reduced prices to incentivize them to build more affordable housing.

“This would help ensure that affordable homes are constructed based on a whole lot of things, but primarily the reduction of land price that this fund could accommodate, as well as limiting the profit that developers can make, and then helping provide alternatives to stick-built homes that are far less expensive to build,” he said. “So, by subsidizing land price and utilizing different building techniques that are more affordable, you can create an affordable home.”