By Randy Garrison 

Mayor 

A couple of weeks ago, I shared with all of you that the Hartselle Planning Commission approved 53 new building lots for homes in Hartselle. The lots included 38 for Fox Ridge III, located off Garner Road, as well as 15 more lots in Magnolia Manor, also located off Garner Road. The Magnolia Manor lots are in the cul de sac in the current section where home have been constructed and are under construction. 

As a little background, building permits for new homes over the past few years include: 

–2016: 40 

–2017: 38 

–2018: 23 

–2019: 51 

–2020: 55 

Including the 53 lots recently approved, the City of Hartselle has approximately 202 approved lots at the present time. 

This will include 108 lots for Cain Park, located on the former J.P. Cain property off Lando Cain Road, east of Hartselle. Infrastructure is currently taking place there to include drainage, sewer and getting the lots ready for construction. Lots of soil has been moved on this property. 

Turtle Pond II, located off Barkley Bridge, has 17 additional building lots approved, and these will be under construction soon. Lots in Fox Ridge II, located the end of the current development, has 17 building lots approved as well.  

Hickory Heights also has nine building lots approved for construction, and Lake South has lots approved for construction with houses underway. 

The above numbers only include multi–development areas; there are also many lots approved for construction in various other areas of the city. 

All of these numbers are positive for the City of Hartselle. Increased rooftops are important in the recruitment of new retail businesses, as well as commercial and industrial development. With retail, it is important to show prospective retailers that your community is growing and not in a state of decline.  

With growth factors, the City is able show that folks are interested in investing in this community. Basically, homebuyers like what they see and want to be a part of our city. 

Also, when prospective retailers get interested in your city, the number of households is an important number in deciding whether the new business can be supported by the current and expected numbers.  

The City of Hartselle is in a good situation at this time to have developers and builders interested and wanting to invest in new homes in our City. Also, the economy of late has been positive for new growth and new homes. 

The city is blessed to be able to offer the quality of life many prospective homeowners are interested in. Hartselle offers a great education system, ranking in the top 10 of many factors relating to education. The system has great administration, teachers, support folks and, very important, a community that supports the education of our youth. 

Low crime rate, great sports and recreation facilities, a large number of churches, a public library, well–trained first responders in police and fire and a rich history add to the positive reasons folks are choosing to live here. 

Also, Hartselle is not known as the “City of Southern Hospitality” for no reason. You will find a progressive and growing city that’s still maintaining a small-town feel, complete with an active and growing downtown area.  

We are blessed as a city to have continued growth in households, along with new retail and others that are interested in being a part of our City. 

Hang on; we are on the grow.