Prattville Adopts Ordinance Pre-Zoning Autauga County BOE Parcels for Institutional Use

The Prattville City Council adopted an ordinance to pre-zone two Autauga County Board of Education parcels at 1301 and 1315 Upper Kingston Road to INST (Institutional) zoning, adopting the measure on February 4, 2025 and tying the pre‑zoning to annexation within 180 days. The ordinance listing the Autauga County Board of Education as petitioner was sponsored by Councilor Sanders and appears in city records as ORDINARY BOOK 2025, PAGE 005 with signatures from Lora Lee Boone, President of the Prattville City Council; Paula G. Barlow, City Clerk; and Mayor Bill Gillespie, Jr.

The posted ordinance text states, “THAT the zoning ordinance and map are hereby amended to pre‑zone the property described in Attachment ‘A’ to INST,” and includes a procedural declaration that “this proposed Ordinance and a synopsis were advertised for two (2) weeks in the Montgomery Advertiser.” The ordinance cites authority under §11‑52‑85 of the Code of Alabama, 1975, and explicitly conditions the pre‑zoning on the petitioner completing annexation of the property described in Attachment “A” into the City of Prattville no later than 180 days following adoption.

Prattville Planning Commission records included in the packet show the commission recommended the amendment on December 19, 2024. City materials list the ordinance on the February 4 public hearing agenda at 6:00 p.m.; the printed adoption block on the ordinance reads “ADOPTED THIS 4TH DAY OF FEBRUARY, 2025.” The ordinance text further asserts that “ALL other items and provisions of the zoning ordinance of the City of Prattville not herein specifically amended shall remain in full force and effect.”

A Citizen Portal summary of the council meeting reports that one resident spoke in favor at the public hearing and that someone identified only as “Newman” said the high school had been outside the city limits “since I graduated from there in 1983.” The same summary records that “supporters told the council they expect annexation to remove bureaucratic obstacles to emergency response and to make the property eligible for certain city‑administered or MPO‑administered funding that could support sidewalks or other public improvements.” The Citizen Portal also states the council adopted a petition for annexation of the same addresses later in the meeting; the full annexation ordinance text and the contents of Attachment “A” are not included among the posted city documents supplied.

An unresolved location discrepancy appears in the original briefing materials provided to reporters: a separate, truncated notice references property at Saratoga Lane and the Sydney Drive extension (Glennbrooke‑10), but that location does not appear in the city ordinance text, the public hearing agenda, the Prattville website duplicate, or the Citizen Portal summary. City documents consistently identify 1301 and 1315 Upper Kingston Road as the parcels to be pre‑zoned; Attachment “A,” the annexation ordinance text (if adopted), vote tallies, and the Planning Commission minutes for December 19, 2024 are not present in the supplied records and remain necessary to confirm legal descriptions and the procedural record.

Under the ordinance’s contingency, the annexation deadline falls 180 days after adoption; with adoption recorded as February 4, 2025, that deadline is August 3, 2025. The ordinance states it “shall become effective upon its passage and execution as provided by law,” but city materials that define the parcels by legal description and record the council’s vote counts were not included in the posted ordinance packet.