PIKE ROAD — Pike Road voters will go to the polls on August 26 with the option to re-elect Mayor Gordon Stone or elect political newcomer Mark Spurlin.
Stone has served as mayor of the Town of Pike Road since 2004. He told 1819 News in a recent interview that his reelection message is “pretty simple and straightforward.”
“We’re confident that the people of Pike Road will value experience, relationships, and a proven record of getting things done. We just think those are critical aspects of what it will require for us to continue to make the progress we’ve been so blessed to make over the last 21 years,” Stone said. “The plan for Pike Road has to be a plan that includes: how do you have residential growth and in what manner do you guide that and direct that so it’s balanced and it’s consistent? We’re one of the few cities in America, one of the first cities in the Southeast, and probably the only city in Alabama to adopt SmartCode as a code by right, which means that all of our planning jurisdiction, which is 160 square miles…you have the opportunity to use SmartCode in the incorporated part. If you’re using SmartCode, that gives you certain rights to develop certain things because you’re the landowner but it also creates open space and design standards and landscape standards and all the other. Managing that is part of the plan. Making sure that we’re reasonable and realistic about those kinds of growth as well as conventional growth.”
Stone continued, “We’re still seeing the filling in of areas that Montgomery had originally planned before we even incorporated, like right here around Town Hall, where the shopping centers are, and some of these neighborhoods.”
“As that begins to finish filling in and we begin to have more SmartCode-type growth, I think you’ll see Pike Road continue to develop really nice neighborhoods that people are going to love moving into which will give us consistent growth but I don’t think you’ll see Pike Road having enormous growth like we did in the past because all those things we inherited are just about now full. The plan has to take all of that into account. Really, it’s based on maintaining character and then kind of that balance moving forward,” Stone said.
Spurlin, the owner of a residential construction company, told 1819 News that he and his family moved to Pike Road from Montgomery in 2018. He said he wants Pike Road’s growth to become more strategic and orderly.
“The past five years have brought a lot of disappointment to us, and we just really want to be a voice to get Pike Road back on the track that it can be on. That’s one that has the public participation and the public’s support,” Spurlin said. “About three or four years ago, I just became aware that leadership was making decisions that were against hundreds of voices. It showed me that there was a disconnection there. I’m running to try to restore that voice. Pike Road’s vision and growth is not as represented by the public as it used to be. The vision of the public is just not there. They don’t have a say in it. I’m literally trying to introduce myself as a citizen that is willing to bring them back to the table.”
Spurlin told 1819 News, “Ultimately, the growth pattern is a very frustrating thing within developers and residents alike. There’s just such a tension in growth here. I’d love to work on kind of revising a comprehensive plan and creating more of an aesthetic for Pike Road so that as we build, we’re organized but we’re also more premier in our end product.”
“If I win, it’s going to be because the majority has spoken that the growth pattern is what they see needs the most attention. I’m experienced with some urban planning background. That’s how I can identify problems in the growth. I believe the town is seeing problems, and they’re open to someone that can have a solution. If I win, it’s going to be because they want to hear me come to the table with solutions,” Spurlin said. “It’s a problem because it stretches out all of our resources and crowds classrooms and stretches out teachers and administrators. It maxes out our facilities. It has overplayed our infrastructure. We have a lot of traffic congestion in parts of town. It even puts a strain on safety services like our fire department. More houses, more people with needs. Overall, the cost usually lands on the school when the town grows too fast, and the school is also like one of the number one reasons why we’re growing.”
Stone said, “I think it’s really important for people to look at this election and say, ‘You know, what does the current administration bring to the table when it comes to managing the plan?’ I think if you look at it, you’ll see that we’ve hit all of our goals and surpassed our goals over the last 20 years.”
Stone said he wants to continue to build on the past successes of Pike Road.
“I’ve only missed two council meetings in 20 years. I’ve been a part of everything that’s happened here since it started. I’m excited about where each piece of that puzzle: planning, quality of life, our education, and all of our services are. We have unique models here. We’re not like a lot of other cities because we learned how to grow our services without growing our debt, how to build reserves that we could leverage for bonds for the school systems, etc. Pike Road is not a perfect place and we don’t want anybody to think that, but we have so many really, really wonderful assets,” Stone said. “We have 160 square miles. We’ve got a lot of area that has not even been tapped. We’re basically still a rural, agrarian town. How do we manage that so we maintain that character? That’s very important to us, and we have a great plan for doing that.”
Spurlin told 1819 News that Pike Road has lost the pursuit of excellence.
“I think Pike Road has kind of lost some pursuit of excellence there. We’ve been stretched and we’ve been kind of complacent in some areas because we’re just stretched. I think if we can get back to the idea of let’s pursue excellence and let’s bring in the best resources that we can to identify that excellence, that’s what I hope to do is bring people back to the table,” Spurlin said. “I want to look from the safety side at proposing a long-term safety plan for Pike Road, which essentially would be a police department. I’d like to look at some avenues of what that could be, and how much it would cost, and what kind of federal grants we could apply for and present that back to the public.”
Spurlin also stated that he wanted to expand recreational options in Pike Road.
“When it comes to things like recreation, we’ve got to hone in a little bit more. The public is kind of all over the place about recreation, but I know we have the Pike Road Playhouse that is very interested in a permanent home in Pike Road. Currently, it meets at a facility in Montgomery. There are some needs that they have that I would love to explore with them in more detail,” Spurlin said. “The other thing is I’ve been working with River Region Trails discussing some visions they have to do trails in Pike Road. Then I have a little bit of experience in and some contacts in the park industry and I would love to see a really enhanced playground come here. A lot of people have said a splash pad (too). I would just kind of say, I think if someone were to hire me, there’s going to be a lot of administrative changes and a lot of social media changes, but as far as an end user utilizing the town, I want to bring out the safety proposal and see how the public responds to it (and) what they care about and then look at enhancing recreation in Pike Road.”
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