By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – The Alabaster City Council took a step toward bringing a new Hardee’s development to Alabama 119 near Thompson Intermediate School during its June 26 meeting, and the city is preparing to finalize the sale of the property to the developer.

Council members voted unanimously during the meeting to accept a property easement near the proposed development, which will allow the city to extend its sewer line to the development’s property.

“This is in preparation for a new development that will include a Hardee’s,” said Ward 5 Councilman Russell Bedsole.

The developer, Tamara Langford, with the Alabaster Montevallo LLC company, previously said she is planning to bring several tenants, including the Hardee’s restaurant, to the land. The development also may include a gas station and a small strip shopping center, she said.

After purchasing the property from the Alabaster Commercial Development Authority, Langford said her company is planning to develop the land in phases, with Hardee’s coming first, followed by the gas station and possible strip shopping development. Langford said the development’s design will follow the guidelines laid out in the city’s overlay district along Alabama 119.

Alabaster City Manager Brian Binzer said the city is working to finalize the property sale by the end of June, which will allow construction on the development to move forward.

Plans for the development call for a turn lane into the property off of Alabama 119 north, and the Alabama Department of Transportation has already approved the concept, Mark Gonzalez with Gonzales Strength Associates, the civil engineering firm working on the development, said previously.

In January, the City Council approved an agreement with the Alabama Department of Transportation to install new traffic lights at the intersection of Alabama 119 and Thompson Road to handle traffic traveling into and out of the new development.

In December 2016, the council voted to rezone the proposed development’s six acres from municipal reserve to B-, or community business.