By Sarah Stephens
Elmore Autauga News
By unanimous vote, the Prattville City Council agreed Tuesday to annex the Prattville High School property into the corporate limits of the city, and also change the zoning of the property to INST (Institutional.)
The properties are listed as 1301 and 1315 Upper Kingston Road. The Autauga County Board of Education requested these changes.
A public hearing was held prior to the vote, with Autauga County 911 Board member Wade Newman addressing the council during public comments in favor of the ordinance. No one spoke in opposition.
Newman addressed the Council saying, “This has been something I have been involved in a bit, because of realizing a disconnect at the 911 committee meeting I was in. (Autauga School Board member) Kyle Glover and I started speaking about the fact that being out of the city limits, it put the high school at a bit of a disadvantage to some other schools in the city limits. There was some memorandum of understanding that had to be done, some bureaucracy that needed to be done with the ambulance services, medical services, and that type of thing.”
He said he and Glover talked about it and felt it would be a good idea.
“All of the other schools in the county that service Prattville are in the city limits. This is the only one that is not. It has been like that since I graduated in 1983. I think it was due to the land being donated. At the time they brought it in, it was a county school system, so not in city limits.”
Newman said he spoke with multiple officials, addressed the school board about it, and the board agreed. The Board put a resolution forward, which was sent to the Planning Commission.
“I think it is a great idea. I think it will streamline processes. It will align it with the other schools in the city. I think it is something that overall will be a good idea for the zoning and the city.”
In Prattville Mayor Bill Gillespie’s report to the Council, he agreed with Newman’s earlier comments in the public hearing.
“It has been talked about for many decades and there has always been some resistance. I am glad no one is here to oppose it tonight,” he said.
Prattville Police Chief Mark Thompson the annexation into the city will have no impact on his department, as they have always responded to calls at the school, and have school resource officers in place at PHS.
“I am sure there are people in Prattville that didn’t even know Prattville High was outside city limits. Prattville has always treated PHS like it was in the city. We have school resource officers assigned there, we patrol it like any other inner-city school, we have functions out there. This will not change anything for us with them being officially in the city limits.”
