Huntsville City Council Update

From parks events to city annexations, City Council President John Meredith hit the highlights Tuesday at his forum at City Hall.

Why it matters: It takes some effort to keep up with everything going on in Huntsville, so here’s a rundown:

City Clerk Shaundrika Edwards reported on what her office does, including instituting the JustFOIA system this past January.

• Since then, the city has received more than 440 requests, with only seven open cases currently.

Parks & Recreation Director James Gossett provided updates on Parks & Recreation Month events and ongoing construction efforts.

• The new skating rink at Stoner Park is set to open this month, and the West Huntsville Recreation Center will open this fall.

Emergency Management Agency Director Jeff Birdwell talked about the city’s approach to severe weather, including sounding storm sirens only inside National Weather Service storm polygons.

• So far this year, that’s led to 174 severe weather warnings and 63 tornado warnings in North Alabama, numbers that haven’t been seen since 2012 and 2011, respectively.

Planning & Zoning Director Thomas Nunez reported on how the city’s land use planning process happens, including the growth driven by property owner-led annexations.

The city is starting to talk about updates to the BIG Picture master plan, he said, adopted 10 years ago. In that time, the city has added 50,000 residents and made big quality-of-life investments.