English Bulldog Puppies for Sale in Huntsville, AL

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) - A Huntsville man was among eight people who were indicted on conspiracy to commit wire fraud charges.

According to the New Hampshire District Attorney’s Office, the charges relate to an international scheme to bill $10 million in fraudulent market survey data.

The indictment states that clients would hire Op4G or Slice, U.S.-based market research companies, to conduct market research surveys.

Op4G and slice maintained “panels” consisting of people potentially eligible to take surveys.

In 2014, 38-year-old Daniel Harriman of Huntsville, Alabama, and two other men, who were senior leaders at 0p4G, decided to increase company revenues by generating fabricated survey data.

To execute the scheme, some of the defendants recruited “ants.” The “ants” would pretend to be legitimate survey takers, but instead, they were paid a nominal fee for completing surveys that produced fraudulent data.

Some of the eight defendants would be “ants” and fraudulently took numerous surveys and received a lot of money for their “ant work.”

In or around 2018, some of the defendants decided that Op4G should move the fraudulent survey operation to a new company, which became Slice.

By 2019, Op4G and Slice began conspiring with defendant Arvind Iyer, a senior leader at an international company, SNWare.

By 2021, defendant Katarina Grublijesic left Op4G, but she continued to conspire with the defendants using her international company, Bright Analytic Consulting.

To evade detection, the defendants exchanged instructions with each other and the “ants.” These instructions included directions on how to answer survey screener questions, provided parameters on how long “ants” should remain on surveys and encouraged the use of virtual private network (VPN) services to conceal real IP addresses.

The maximum sentence is no more than 20 years in prison, up to three (3) years of supervised release and a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater.

Harriman and four other defendants will appear in federal court at a later date.

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This week, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, popularly called Mormons, released an exterior rendering of its planned temple for the Huntsville area.

The temple would be the second in Alabama, following the opening of the Birmingham-area temple in Gardendale in 2000.

The planned 30,000-square-foot Huntsville-area temple would be on 21 acres about 11 miles west of Huntsville. That structure will be nearly three times the size of the Birmingham-area temple, which is 10,700 square feet. The single-story Huntsville temple would be at the southeast corner of Gillespie and Browns Ferry roads in the city of Madison.

Russell M. Nelson, president for the Salt Lake City-based denomination, announced 17 new temple locations, including the one for Huntsville, at the denomination’s October 2024 general conference.

That makes 34 temples announced in 2024 and a total of 185 since 2018, when Nelson became president. It will bring the number of temples to 367 worldwide. The denomination’s global membership stands at 17.5 million at the end of 2024, with more than 40,000 members in Alabama in about 75 congregations.

Local congregations worship weekly at church buildings called wards, grouped into stakes, and members travel to a regional temple for certain rituals. The rituals include baptism for dead relatives to secure their salvation, with the belief that the deceased can choose to accept the salvation in the afterlife. There is also the marriage sealing ritual of the husband and wife and also the sealing of children to their parents to create an eternal family unit.

Jeffrey Cazier, the Huntsville stake president, said some members in his stake traveled to temples in Washington D.C., then Atlanta, Ga., and, more recently Birmingham for such rituals.

“It’s such an incredible blessing,” Cazier said. “It’s a testimony that the Lord loves His children and wants to make the blessings of the temple more easily accessible for everyone. I’m so excited that it will be so close. There is a power that comes with the temple, and I’m glad for the city of Huntsville and northern Alabama to be blessed by it.”

Ronald E. McNair Junior High School will grow as it prepares to add sixth graders to its enrollment.

The Huntsville Planning Commission this week approved a 21,228 square-foot expansion to the existing school east of Pulaski Pike and south of Winchester Road. The expansion includes additional classrooms, according to Allison Corey of Chapman Sisson Architects.

The expansion will consist of eight new classrooms, four each on two separate floors, restrooms, a new media center and a band room. There will also be minor renovations of the existing building.

“The school had a media center and a band room,” Corey said. “The program was smaller at the time. Part of this renovation is making this junior high into a true middle school.”

The expansion is part of Huntsville City Schools’ $600 million, 10-year capital plan, which includes moving sixth graders from elementary schools to middle schools.

McNair Junior High School will become McNair Middle School with the move and will include grades six through eight. Classrooms will be enlarged to accommodate the new grade, Corey said.

The school’s cafeteria will be expanded into the location of the current media center, Corey said. A concession area by the gym will also be added.

High school cafeteria expansion

The Commission also approved the expansion of the Columbia High School cafeteria. The expansion will add 1,119 square feet to the current cafeteria, which is 4,108 square feet. The school is located south of Farrow Road and west of Explorer Boulevard in Cummings Research Park West.

The expansion will increase the capacity from 240 students to 328.

The expanded portion will be in an area that was an outdoor seating area that wasn’t being utilized by the school. It will include two new exits. The work also includes matching the color scheme of the cafeteria with the rest of the building.

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When blasting began to take place to pave the way for a new subdivision on Monte Sano Mountain, Huntsville residents voiced concerns about a scar that was visible from Interstate 565.

When another subdivision was proposed on Green Mountain, other residents complained the developers were clear cutting trees off the mountain.

The city has an ordinance officials said is designed to help preserve the character of the mountains in the Rocket City. Most developers follow the rules, but city officials acknowledge there are a few bad actors.

City Manager of Planning and Zoning Services Thomas Nunez said the city has cited developers who violated Huntsville’s slope development ordinance.

The repercussions for not following the rules can range from a hefty penalty plus court costs to an appearance before the Zoning Board of Adjustments to come up with a remediation plan.

Developers can be charged $500 according to state law for each ordinance violation, and each day the violation occurs counts as a separate offense.

The ordinance provides greater leverage for the totality of violations. In the past, each violation constitutes a separate offense. For example, the removal of a single tree could involve multiple violations for size, girth, species, age, location, value of wood, etc. There is also potential for additional penalties until the property is determined to be restored.

One developer had to pay a six-figure penalty.

There’s even a provision in state law that includes up to six months jail time, but city officials are not aware of anyone receiving that punishment.

Land Trust of North Alabama Executive Director Marie Bostick, whose organization works with the city on preservation of places like the mountains, said she has heard from residents that “there have been tree cuttings on properties in certain areas.”

“But I don’t have any first-hand knowledge,” she said. “But I have talked to several neighbors and a community group up there (on Green Mountain) about tree removal that shouldn’t have occurred.”

Huntsville has a slope development ordinance that spells out just how much property can be “disturbed” for the clearing of the land for homes depending on the elevation of the mountains within the city limits. Developers are not supposed to do geological harm to the terrain.

Lot sizes are required to be larger – 40,000 square feet in the upper slope, 25,000 in the lower slope.

Developers not following the ordinance were among complaints at a Huntsville Planning Commission meeting about a proposed development on Green Mountain in 2023.

See story: Developers are endangering the character of Green Mountain, Huntsville residents say - al.com

Monte Vedra resident Anita Reck – who frequently spoke out at the commission’s meetings about Green Mountain issues – was one of the residents voicing concerns.

“Twenty acres, not one tree left,” she added. “Please go up there and look, not one tree. It’s clear cut. Total destruction.”

Reck provided AL.com with photos at the time backing up her concerns.

Nunez said there are exceptions to the slope development ordinance. There are property owners who were grandfathered in who are allowed a significant amount of tree cutting.

And Summit at Monte Sano – which faced stiff opposition from residents of an adjacent subdivision – is zoned as a planned development, which allows for smaller lot sizes than the others on the mountain.

Nunez said updates to the slope development ordinance could contain a different approach to addressing violations, as well as contain clearer language making developers aware of the native vegetation, including trees, on the mountains.

Where development is occurring

Bostick said development on Monte Sano dates as far back as 100 years. She said many people purchased land on both mountains in the 1960s, although some of that land has not been developed.

Development has been more frequent in recent years on Green Mountain.

According to City Communication Director Kelly Schrimsher, who is also a member of the Planning Commission, there are 568 housing units on Green Mountain as of April 1. She said there were approximately 25 homes under construction.

“Green Mountain has seen consistent development over the last 15 years,” Nunez added. “… , We’ve seen on average 60 lots or homes or more created a year. Some years have been more aggressive than others.”

Currently on Green Mountain, there are three active subdivisions, according to Nunez, Inspiration on Green Mountain, the Bluffs at Green Mountain and Mountainside Cove – formerly The Cove at Green Mountain - which received re-preliminary approval in January of this year for 38 lots, but those lots have not received final approval.

Green Mountain is in one of the parts of the city that is seeing tremendous growth. According to Huntsville’s 2024 Development Review, 204 building permits were issued on the mountain last year, ranking it fourth among census tracts in the city. More homes (208) were sold on Green Mountain last year than any other part of the city.

Because development dates back much longer on Monte Sano, there is not as much new development there. Summit at Monte Sano is the lone active subdivision where 56 lots are proposed, with 26 receiving final approval earlier this year.

Much of the development there, Nunez said, is in the redevelopment of existing property and homes. According to the development review, Monte Sano tied Hampton Cove for the most permits issued within the city limits last year for additions and alterations with 49.

Monte Sano is prime real estate in the city. Homes there sold for an average price of more than $652,000 last year, ranking fifth among census tracts in the city.

Collaboration with Land Trust

While the slope development ordinance is one of the ways the city is trying to preserve the natural parts and character of both Monte Sano and Green Mountain, collaboration with the Land Trust of North Alabama is another.

Nunez said the city works with the Land Trust to improve trails. He also said the city helps the Land Trust in efforts to purchase land or have land deeded to it to keep it in its natural state.

Bostick said the Land Trust works with the city on its greenway system. She said the city also tries to keep the organization in the loop on where development is occurring and what the trends are.

“We contact property owners when we can,” she said. “We talk with them about opportunities for preservation. Quite often, we actually work with the developers who are developing their properties.”

She said the Land Trust will work with developers on what can be done to preserve land that isn’t appropriate for housing or other development “either because of slope or hydrology.”

“It could be just difficult to access,” she said. “Then it could be appropriate for both the Land Trust as a preservation organization and the developer from a tax incentives standpoint to work together so that the development can occur on the more appropriate properties and then preservation can occur on the inappropriate development of the properties.”

Bostick calls that a “win-win situation.”

“We’ve been able to do that on Monte Sano a good bit,” she said. “We’ve done a little bit of it on Green Mountain, but not quite as much in the developer realm. We’ve done more of it on Green Mountain with individual property owners, people who have held property for many, many years.”

One developer the Land Trust has worked with is Colorado-based See Forever, which is developing the Summit at Monte Sano. See Forever pledged during Planning Commission meetings to donate the undevelopable property around the proposed subdivision to the Land Trust.

See Forever has donated about six acres south of Bankhead Parkway to the Land Trust just ahead of the Bankhead Trailhead that has helped Monte Sano Nature Preserve keep continuity for its trail network.

“They have not donated anything on the opposite side of the Bankhead Parkway yet,” Bostick said. “We are in discussions of what that might look like once they actually get the footprint of the development area completed. None of that has taken place yet.”

The Land Trust owns 1,120 acres in the main part of the preserve on Monte Sano but also has property on the east side of the mountain that is not contiguous. It also has 630 acres at its Green Mountain South preserve and another 187 at Green Mountain North.

Bostick said the Land Trust also has 800 acres on the north side of Green Mountain all of the way to Blevins Gap that most people don’t think of as part of the mountain. The acreage is part of the Land Trust’s River to Gap Project that seeks to connect Blevins Gap with the Tennessee River.

But the Land Trust’s preservation effort isn’t just limited to the mountains. It has 10 nature reserves open to the public, nine of which are in Madison County. The other is in Colbert County. They have trails people can access by hiking or biking but are not for motorized vehicle use.

“Some property we get, we just leave it in its natural state,” Bostick said. “We don’t open it to the public. It’s just conserved as habitat for certain species. Sometimes, that’s because it has very sensitive species on it and sometimes because of capacity and just not being able to open another preserve, and sometimes it is just the remoteness of the property and inaccessibility for people to be able to get there safely.”

Bostick said the Land Trust has never been anti-growth, anti-development.

“It’s just not in our DNA,” she said. “But we’re very much in favor of making sure that the development occurs correctly. So that wherever that development occurs, it’s the right place, it’s the right way. And if there is an ability to develop a portion of the property and conserve a portion of the property, then that’s obviously the best thing that can happen for both conservation and the city’s growth.”

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Huntsville city officials are not aware of Native American artifacts or native species on almost 400 acres of land the city annexed in Limestone County earlier this year.

But Thomas Nunez, the city’s manager for planning and zoning services, said site assessments will be done on the property during development on that site. The Huntsville City Council approved the initial zoning of the land near the Interstate 65-565 interchange on Thursday that could pave the way for a Village of Providence-type development.

Nunez said there were state regulations in place and guidance from the city’s own sustainability committee that would protect sites of historical significance on the property, as well as species native to the area.

Nunez was responding to concerns raised by Arbor Drive resident Joy Johnson, who repeated concerns from local environmental advocates that the property was home to Chickasaw Indian plum trees and was a former village and orchard site.

Johnson also raised concerns about the proposed development’s impact on the neighboring Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge, which covers an area on both sides of the Tennessee River.

Nunez said the refuge was a protected area “and will remain in its natural state.”

He said the city’s engineering department had water quality requirements that the developers must meet with water runoff into the refuge. Development near the refuge is not new. Huntsville’s Greenbrier Preserve also borders the refuge, as do subdivisions in Priceville and Decatur. It is also down river from several industrial plants in Decatur’s industrial park.

The City Council voted 4-0-1 to zone the property known as Westmoore Landing Residence 2B District and Highway Business C4 district. District 1 City Councilwoman Michelle Watkins abstained during the vote over concerns about the impact of the development on Huntsville City Schools, which is having to address enrollment issues in growing parts of the city.

She voted against the annexation earlier this year.

Nunez said developers planned to build between 2,200 and 3,000 homes on the more than 395 -acre site. Retail development is also planned.

Nunez said developers are planning a mixture of housing types including single-family homes, townhomes, duplexes, and multifamily units. He said many of the single-family homes would be cottage-style and manor-style.

The development would be across the interstate from the Decatur city limits. Decatur once had plans for a similar development on the southwest corner of the interchange with a Bass Pro Shop and hotel included with housing called the Sweetwater Development, but that development fell through more than a decade ago.

Nunez told the Council the development will come before it and the Huntsville Planning Commission multiple times throughout the development process. That includes a possible zoning change to a planned urban development.

See story: Huntsville’s Limestone annexation a game-changer? 4,000 homes may be coming - al.com