Huntsville could soon close more public housing complexes in the center of the city, shuttering buildings that sit along Governors Drive, just west of Memorial Parkway.

The news about the possible closing surfaced in federal court today, during a hearing about the city’s efforts to desegregate the city school system. The closure could slow desegregation in a couple of majority-white elementary schools near the city center.

School officials and federal attorneys raised the possible closures. During the desegregation hearing today, Chris Pape, an attorney for the school district, told Judge Madeline Haikala that “unofficial” information shared with the district indicated that the Huntsville Housing Authority plans to close public housing that would affect students at Blossomwood, Jones Valley and Sonnie Hereford Elementaries.

Butler Terrace is the largest public housing development owned by the Housing Authority where children are zoned to those three elementary schools. Two smaller public housing complexes, L.R. Patton and Brookside, also sit near Butler Terrace in the effected school zones.

Michelle Watkins, school board representative for District 1 in North Huntsville, told Al.com that she learned a few weeks ago of the plan to close Butler Terrace. During a meeting about the school system’s strategic plan with the superintendent and members of the North Huntsville Community United For Action, she said City Council President Devyn Keith, who represents District 1 on the council, told them that the Housing Authority had applied for permission to tear down Butler Terrace and that those residents would be given housing vouchers.

When contacted by Al.com and asked if Butler Terrace would be closed, the Huntsville Housing Authority said: “There are no definites at this time.”

A representative from the mayor's office said city administration was aware that the Housing Authority has applied for grants that would revitalize aging public housing through public-private partnerships.

Watkins said she was concerned that stakeholders like the school district were not being given information about the closure of Butler Terrace.

“It will have significant impact on zone lines that the judge and the district crafted,” she said. “Give us ample time to plan and prepare. We need to know where students are going.”

The Authority is already in the final stages of closing Sparkman Homes, which also sits just outside of the downtown area, along Holmes Avenue. Residents there have until October to move out. The closure has been in the works since 2015.

The Authority, which has been moving away from larger public housing complexes, also closed Councill Court downtown, near the hospital, in 2009.

When Huntsville City Schools moved school zone lines in 2014 as part of a desegregation consent order, children in majority-black Butler Terrace and nearby neighborhoods were rezoned to majority-white schools like Blossomwood and Jones Valley elementaries, which served some of the most affluent neighborhoods in the district.

Attorneys for the DOJ told the court they had also been made aware by community members that the closure could be coming.

“We have concerns about the impact of these closures on desegregation in the district, and we will continue to monitor the situation as it develops,” said Andrea Hamilton, a DOJ attorney working on the Huntsville desegregation case.

In the five years since rezoning, Jones Valley went from being 6 percent black 26 percent black, according to district data shared at the hearing. Blossomwood went from being 20 percent black to 38 percent black during the same timeframe.

Haikala expressed concern that closing public housing would affect the ongoing integration efforts at those schools.

Pape later told AL.com that information on the potential shuttering of public housing at the city center had “trickled” up to him through several community members, and he mentioned it in court because he didn’t want the court to be blindsided if or when the closure happened. He declined to say which public housing property he had heard would be closing.

The Housing Authority has listed the possible closure of many of its largest public housing complexes, including Butler Terrace, on its publicly available five-year plan.

Lindsay Pollard, public relations coordinator at the Housing Authority, confirmed the Authority has applied for a federal grant that would redevelop the Butler Terrace complex, but does not know yet whether they will be awarded the grant.

The grant is called Choice Neighborhood, and would create a public-private partnership to build mixed-income housing on the Butler Terrace site. In mixed-income housing, some units are reserved for low-income residents, while others are offered on a sliding scale or at market rate.

During the citizen comment portion of today’s desegregation hearing, a handful of community members voiced concern about a possible Butler Terrace closure.

Kelly Suber, PTA president at Jones Valley Elementary, told the court that the closure and possible loss of Butler Terrace children at Jones Valley could undo the progress being made at the school, which she said is currently “thriving” after a rocky start five years ago.

“If Butler Terrace closes,” she said, “all of that is for naught.”

Oscar Montgomery, pastor at Union Hill Primitive Baptist Church in north Huntsville, said he was concerned the closure of Butler Terrace would impact struggling schools in his neighborhood.

“At least 75 percent of those students will end up in Northwest Huntsville,” he said. If those students are lower-performing, they might “further exacerbate” existing achievement gaps at North Huntsville schools, he said.

Butler Terrace and the Butler Terrace Addition comprise 254 housing units, according to Huntsville Housing Authority records.