Decatur City Council unanimously votes against proposed apartment zoning on Old Moulton Road

DECATUR, Ala. (WAFF) - The Decatur City Council voted against rezoning 53 acres of land off of Old Moulton Road during Monday’s city council meeting.

The proposed vote was to rezone the land from single-family housing to multi-family housing, which would have allowed the company Magnus to develop the land for low-income apartment housing.

Dozens of residents packed the council chambers to voice their concerns against the rezoning. Decatur resident Rodney Garrett told the council to consider if they would live in low-income housing.

“If you’re going to build something, you need to be lifting up, not tearing down,” he said. “For everybody who sits there on this bench that thinks this is an easy decision because you’re in a position of power, it doesn’t work like that. You have to respect everyone else’s property like the house you’re going to go to tonight.”

Another resident, Stanley Martin, told the council he had lived in public housing before and seen similar issues to what low-income apartments could bring.

“I’ve seen people get shot, I’ve seen a lot of people’s homes broken into, they broke into cars and fights,” he said.

City leaders debated the pros and cons of developing the land for subsidized housing. On one hand, the councilmen saw an opportunity to expand temporary housing in the community. On the other, they saw flashbacks to similar failed housing projects in the city like the Stone Gate development.

After those concerns were enough to sway city leaders to their decision, Garrett now hopes it can be used for the betterment of the community.

“We need to put some stuff back in the community so these kids can have something to do,” Garrett said.

Click Here to Subscribe on YouTube: Watch the latest WAFF 48 news, sports & weather videos on our YouTube channel!

Copyright 2023 WAFF. All rights reserved.