Like their neighbors in the city, Holt and surrounding homes are putting together a long-term recovery plan to help put their community back together after a tornado devastated parts of it more than three months ago.
But unlike those in the city of Tuscaloosa, people in the Holt area don’t live in a municipality with powers over land use and zoning. The long-term plan for Holt will be different than Tuscaloosa, but its blueprint could be as important outside the city as inside.
“It’s a great step forward, because Holt has the opportunity to be better because of this,” said the Rev. Shaun Faulkner of the long-term plan.
Faulkner, who grew up in Holt, is a pastor at Soma Of Christ Church in the Holt area. His house off Holt-Peterson Road was destroyed in the April 27 tornado. In the two meetings he’s attended, Faulkner said people are excited and passionate about what they hope the Holt area looks like once it begins to rebuild.
“The greater Holt community coming together and having one voice is a good thing,” he said.
The Tuscaloosa County Commission requested that the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s long term community recovery program work with the Holt community in devising the plan. FEMA offers the service to cities, towns and unincorporated communities hit by a catastrophic disaster at no cost to the community.
