WESTOVER – Progress may be forthcoming on a long-planned residential development in Westover after the Town Council approved an Improvement District for the project at its Oct. 2 meeting.

Plans for Pine Mountain Preserve—a 6,270-acre, 19,000-unit development off U.S. 280 that would transform the area over the course of decades—were approved more than 10 years ago.

“The process started back in 2006 and laid on the table until the housing market straightened out, and they have decided to re-start the project,” Westover Mayor Larry Riggins said.

But representatives of the developer, Eddleman Properties, requested an Improvement District designation from the Westover Town Council to begin the process of funding the project, and work on the main entrance and infrastructure for Pine Mountain Preserve could begin in spring 2019, Riggins said.

Even before then, Riggins said construction could begin on an 83-home sector of Pine Mountain Preserve that would later connect to the greater part of the development.

Westover’s Planning Commission approved Phase 1 of that separate sector, Riggins said, which would initially utilize a main entrance off Shelby County 280 (Old Hwy. 280).

Pine Mountain Preserve’s main entrance would be off U.S. 280 just east of Chelsea Park Drive.

Mountain Brook-based Eddleman developed Chelsea Park along with other area developments including Brook Highland and Meadowbrook.

A 30- to 40-year master plan for Pine Mountain Preserve includes a town center with restaurants and retail establishments, and conservation easement areas with walking trails and other recreation opportunities.

“The amenities for this community are going to be first-class, to say the least,” Riggins said. “The developer has already committed a site for a new school over there. We’re in the Chelsea school district, Chelsea schools have become quite full, and we anticipate needing another school for all those folks.”

Westover could also see progress soon at Yellowleaf Farms, a development that saw the construction of just one home before the housing market crash.

Another developer purchased the subdivision out of foreclosure, Riggins said, and could soon begin work on the planned 30 homes there.