‘A good place to be’: A 10% population increase shows that Mountain Brook is an attractive city, officials say

The U.S. Census Bureau compiles an enormous amount of data on almost every aspect of American life.

That data includes everything from housing, education and income to insurance, transportation and even computer and internet use.

But the data that attracts by far the most attention from the media and public is that related to the population of cities and states.

And when data from the 2020 U.S. Census was released in August, Mountain Brook got some good news.

The city saw a 10% increase in the number of residents the last 10 years.

The city’s population grew from 20,413 to 22,461 from 2010 to 2020.

This increase was somewhat unexpected, according to some Mountain Brook city officials.

“I certainly hoped for it and certainly was not surprised, but 10 years apart you have no idea what the data is gonna give you,” Mayor Stewart Welch said.

But Welch and other officials told Village Living some of the reasons that this increase is a good sign for the overall health and vibrancy of the community.

“We are excited to see people continue to want to be in this community and want to bring their families here and raise their families here,” Welch said.

City Councilor Lloyd Shelton said that the city is “a wonderful place to live, work and shop.

The population increase “is a sign that people still find this to be a good place to be,” he said.

“It is a good indicator of the appeal of Mountain Brook and the desire to live here,” said City Councilor Alice Womack, who serves as the council’s liaison to the Mountain Brook Chamber of Commerce.

The 10% increase “shows the city continues to be vibrant, maintains a high quality of life and is a good place to live, work and play,” City Manager Sam Gaston said.

The increase benefits the city, at least in part, because it “provides more shopping power for our commercial areas,” Gaston said.

The city can make use of the increase from a marketing and recruitment standpoint, said Assistant City Manager and Finance Director Steve Boone.

“Anytime you can show a continued interest in moving to Mountain Brook, the city benefits,” Boone said. “A growing population is instrumental in recruitment of new businesses to our area.”

Gaston said that he was pleasantly surprised to see a 10% increase in Mountain Brook’s population over the 2010 census.

That 2010 headcount was “flawed and low,” however, Gaston said.

The U.S. Census Bureau did not allow the city to count about 125 houses in 2010 because the city could not prove when they were annexed, Gaston said.

In addition, the old Lane Parke apartments had been demolished when the 2010 census occurred, and the 276 new units that replaced them had not been built.

Even with those glitches in the city’s 2010 head count, the city “saw a good amount of growth,” Womack said.

“New families have moved and continue to move into the city,” she said.

The growth in Mountain Brook is coming despite the fact that the city has little vacant land and is almost landlocked, Gaston said.

“Infill commercial and higher density residential developments are keeping the city growing and moving forward,” he said.

Officials identified some of the factors that seem to draw people to Mountain Brook.

The key factor for Welch is “overall, lifestyle,” he said.

However, “at the very core of that, what you want to do is have a young, vibrant community, and you want to see people coming in with young families,” he said.

And the “No. 1 draw” for such families “is and, I think, always will be the school system,” Welch said. “We have had a nationally ranked school system for literally decades.”

Womack, who serves as the associate managing director of Oakworth Capital Bank, said that she often works with individuals and families moving to Mountain Brook.

These people are “very much drawn to the school system and the quality of services offered here,” she said.

In addition to the schools, Shelton thinks that people are drawn by the quality of city services, including police and fire protection, public works, and parks and recreation.

“It’s fair to say that there is excellence throughout the city government,” Shelton said.

In fact, the city regularly receives positive emails from residents who “have been overwhelmed by the services they have received from a particular person or department,” Boone said. “These emails often cite the professionalism of our city staff or the speed at which the city attends to concerns.”

In may cases, residents may be unaware of certain situations in which services have been provided by city staff, Boone said.

Gaston also cites such factors as low crime, a great library, “quaint” commercial villages, “lush” urban forests and convenience to downtown Birmingham, U.S. 280 and Interstate 459.

For Mountain Brook or any city, there can be downsides to growth, Shelton said.

“Certainly more people means more demand on your services, so we have to make sure we are adequately staffed,” he said.

“There could be a downside to growth if you don’t pay attention to the details and make sure you are still providing excellent city services and education,” Shelton said.

The city must take account of population growth in its zoning efforts to ensure that its new residential developments are compatible with neighboring property, Gaston said.

“Since the city has grown little in physical size, we are seeing larger households and  more housing units built,” Gaston said.

However, the 10% population increase as shown in the recent census data does not necessarily impact most of the long-range planning carried out by city officials, Boone said.

“The census measures population at a specific point in time,” Boone said. “Local governments continually deal with actual population and student enrollment issues in the delivery of services. The latest census confirms what Mountain Brook city leaders already suspected.”

“In a census, you take it 10 years ago and then 10 years later, and it pops up a couple of thousand people, and that seems like a lot, but what actually happens is families are moving over that period of time, so you’re seeing much more gradual growth as you are managing a city,” Welch said.

Officials are “always monitoring services” and responding to requests from citizens, Welch said.

“It’s a living, breathing process,” he said.

Gov. Kay Ivey and scores of other state and local officials encouraged all Alabama residents to respond to the census in 2020.

They said the state was in danger of losing one of its current seven representatives in the U.S. Congress.

The city of Mountain Brook also encouraged residents to participate, Welch said.

“My guess is we had a very good response rate,” he said.

City residents “are very responsive, and they want their voice heard and they want to be counted,” Welch said.

Alabama got good news in the census in that it appears the state will keep all seven of its congressionals seats, Boone said.

Many cities, such as Birmingham, strive to get all their people counted because they are dependent on the types of federal funding that are affected by population.

However, Mountain Brook “does not receive federal funding for social initiatives,” Boone said. “Virtually all of the city’s federal awards are for infrastructure projects, most often sidewalks and the ongoing roundabout project in Mountain Brook Village.”

The population increase also does not necessarily have a direct financial benefit for the city budget, said Shelton, a certified public accountant who serves as the chairman of the city’s Finance Committee.

This is became a large portion of the city’s budget comes from ad valorem taxes that are not based on population, Shelton said.

The city receives some allocations from the state each year from such sources as the gasoline tax and bank excise tax, and these are affected by population

However, these allocations are very small and do not “materially affect us financially,” Shelton said.