Madison, A Sleeping Giant? (Huntsville, Decatur: property taxes, housing, rent)

[Charles]

We've been researching, posting, reading, and telephoning to get information on a potential move to the Huntsville area. We've found that Madison is a big part of the overall Huntsville metro. We've seen homes and communities in the southeastern section of Huntsville and Madison; They have a lot in common: good schools, nice homes, amenities.

One thing that we have also read is that Madison's infrastructure such as roads, have not kept up with the growth.

We're also reading new huge things planned for the Madison area, things that might generate enough tax revenue to help out with the alleged lack of infrastructure. Things like a billion dollar development, new YMCA, new high school, and new hospital. We've also seen all sorts of new subdivisions either going up or planned for the extreme western side of Madison County.

So, is Madison on it's way for a huge makeover, or do people in the Madison Huntsville region think these Madison developments are sort of in line with the normal flow of the region? Is this a huge notch up, or is it just a more gradual progression of pre-existing growth.

[autobahn]

I grew up in Northern Virginia in the 80's and it was all country roads and farm land. Over time, we got new malls, more subdivisions, new roads, new schools, etc. Madison is doing the same thing that I saw growing up. With time, the infrastructure improves to keep up with the growth in housing. Thankfully, the commute to jobs from Madison will not nearly be what it was like around DC.

[FlourChild]

It always struck me as odd that a community chock full o' engineers would have an infrastructure so woefully inadequate. One engineer explained that in particular, roads are about ten years behind where they need to be, as a general rule. As autobahn says, however, Madison and Huntsville are still a lot easier to navigate and deal with than other, bigger towns.

[TimG]

Originally Posted by Charles

So, is Madison on it's way for a huge makeover, or do people in the Madison Huntsville region think these Madison developments are sort of in line with the normal flow of the region? Is this a huge notch up, or is it just a more gradual progression of pre-existing growth.

Hey Charles, I moved to Madison from Seattle in early 2002 and it has really grown. ...The road situation is totally true and new school construction is also a current issue.

A year or so ago the Mayor and City Council presented a huge development plan that included many road improvements and some of the projects you mentioned. They attempted to raise property taxes to expedite the planned development but it was voted down by the community.

This summer (lol as I write) there is a lot of road construction going on and its currently very inconvenient because some of the main thru roads are being detoured. Not a happy camper but the work is really needed.

Madison is most definitely a 'Boom Town' and I believe the recent announcements and along with nearby Bridge Street are a huge notch up for the community. I go into to work on the Arsenal ~6:00Am from west Madison and it takes me 20mins. ...So funny I shouldn't complain it sure beats my 45min commute in Seattle.

On the housing front Madison has been over built in the last few years, thus the current Madison home inventory is larger than Southeast and East Huntsville thus price appreciation has slowed to a greater extent in Madison when compared to those areas. Pretty much flat last year. ...A good time to buy especially in the upper price ranges alot of builders are willing to make some deals.

Kind Regards,

Tim

[java85]

I lived in Madison for 10 years, and boy, this area has grown so much! I remember being 13 years old and used to seeing Madison having just a few stores like a Kroger, a Winn Dixie before it became Star Supermarket, and a Bruno's on the same strip off of 72. There were very few selections of restaurants at the time. Normally I would ride to Huntsville just to do all of the shopping and dining. Madison is a really nice place to live and is a very good place for future growth and expansion. Now, I don't understand as to why the roads are not being expanded to accommodate morning and rush hour traffic. I am talking about Hughes Road and Old Madison Pike. I live off of Old Madison Pike and that part of the area is seeing a lot of traffic than in past years. Madison needs to have 4-lane traffic lanes instead of believing that a 2-lane traffic lanes will do good. The population is starting to swell up in Madison and they need to do something about it before the traffic gets a lot worse in the future.

It's not really surprising to me that ALDOT wants to take their time doing infrastructure on Madison and Huntsville roads. They just don't realize that there is a population boom in the cities. They can't even get the North Parkway project completed. They have been on that project for nearly 6 years now. I can't believe how long that's taking!

[Charles]

What are the biggest subdivisions in Madison in terms of number of houses? I've noticed at least one subdivision or maybe "superdivision", Heritage Plantation, Provence, Station???, seems to be comprised of several subdivisions - I don't think they are contiguous either, see link below:

Heritage Station - Making life Memorable


Does this sound right? I haven't really found a good database on this yet, you almost have to look at the plot maps and count the homes.

Most of these seem to be out on the far west end, near County Line Road. I presume most of these folks are commuting east towards the Redstone Arsenal or Huntsville, or west towards maybe Decatur?

We'll check it out in two weeks.

[autobahn]

Here is a list of subdivisions in Madison:
The Madison HOA Network - Communities