New Grissom High School - West side of South Parkway (Montgomery: sale, new home)

[HammerLady]

The previous "Weatherly" site was effectivly an island in the middle of national wetlands. After learning about the burial ground, it made sense that the spot was not designated as Wetlands, but everything around it is. I suspect the EPA and the forestry department might not like filling in national wetlands. The filling they've already done over the past three years might even turn some heads.

[Reactionary]

Here are maps of the proposed locations (the upper right photo is the "proposed site off of Weatherly Road":

Proposed relocation of Grissom High School causing upset in south Huntsville (updated) | al.com

The Huntsville Times described the site, saying "The options for Grissom include a 60-acre site off of Weatherly Road, which so far has received the most attention" and "Building at the Weatherly Road site, which Madison County tax records show is owned by Hylis Inc. (Hays brothers, owner of Haysland Square)".

Also: "The City of Huntsville is also committed to building a five-lane road into the school if the district rebuilds at Weatherly Road, Wilson said in his presentation. A new four-lane loop would also connect the site to National Boulevard.

There would be some disadvantages to rebuilding there, Wilson said, including the need for new traffic patterns and the fact that the district does not already own the site."

Sam's is on National Boulevard.

Another problem with the proposed Grissom site is that it is in a spring-fed swamp, er wetland - look up Byrd Spring Lake. [edit- see HammerLady's comment]

[writerwife]

I'm thinking that the traffic on the parkway in the morning and afternoon is going to be horrendous.

(the puddle in my backyard could be declared a wetland if someone with some pull wanted it..ugh.. another thread in and of itself)

[BMW Dave]

Reactionary, I retract my previous remark.

I like most was mislead as to what "Weatherly Rd" meant.

Also too bad Ole Hickory isn't around, he would let some ancient burial site stand in the way!

[GentleVoice]

hard to keep up with, but I think they've dropped the 'weatherly' part. the old site was sorta behind Haysland and could be so construed to confuse. The new site is actually (as I understand) behind Sam's which is quite a way down the parkway and up a different street, National Blvd. Altho I guess they could still do a road that split haysland sq and then jogged over to cross National blvd? jeeez

i really hate seeing it. We just moved close to weatherly and i fear that Grissom leaving will sorta kill off that whole area. The Jones Valley part will be fine.. but the energy will move to surround the new school and there will not be redevelopment down in the grissom commercial area, but more freakin sprawl.

well, duh.. missed that others had already cited this LOL

[LCTMadison]

I am sure this news is going over like a lead balloon in SE HSV. The HSV BOE might need to get ready for riots, because people will NOT be happy about Grissom moving ACROSS the Parkway. And you are right, most of the Grissom population is east of the Parkway, not west.

Yeah, I don't think I would let my teen drive the Parkway in the morning to school. Heck, I'm a seasoned driver and I absolutely HATE driving on the Parkway during morning/afternoon commute. Give me Madison stand still traffic.....at least I don't feel like I am on the Indy Speedway!

Although Bailey Cove traffic will clear up some

[BMW Dave]

Originally Posted by LCTMadison

Yeah, I don't think I would let my teen drive the Parkway in the morning to school. Heck, I'm a seasoned driver and I absolutely HATE driving on the Parkway during morning/afternoon commute.

That is a very good point, I remember having friends who weren't even allowed to drive on the parkway in High School. Putting the new high school on the other side is just asking for a car pile up...

[GentleVoice]

LTCMadison, I think the point is housing development around the new site... there are some newish developments that way, but it would really take off with the school.. and that's why my concern about the Bailey Cove stretch being abandoned.. hmmm

maybe when Hampton Cove area gets it's own high school, the 'old Grissom' area folks can go over the mountain, instead of across the Pkwy?

[Wandering_Missourian]

Wow, terrible idea. Walkscore of Grissom today is 52/100. Walkscore of proposed site is 28/100 (which in reality it isn't even that since Parkway acts as a Great Wall of Death preventing pedestrians/cyclists from easily crossing from one side to another).

Why does everything have to get more and more car-dependent in a time when gas prices are near an all-time high? Why does a school have to be built miles away from where the kids actually live (in a time when teenage driving rates are plummeting... kids can't afford a car today).

This boneheaded idea will rip SE HSV apart, cause property values in the older sections of SE HSV to drop like a rock, and accelerate the flow of people from the area to Hampton Cove or Madison. When gas hits $10/gallon 20 years from now..... kids won't be able to bike to school without getting run over, dogs and cats will lie together, and zombies will tear down the school walls. The fate of the world is in the balance!

[Reactionary]

Wandering_Missourian - here's an issue upon which we agree! However, I spoke to one of the best property appraisers in town and he believes that building Grissom across the parkway won't hurt property values (won't help either). I trust his judgment (I don't see how property values won't be affected, but then again he's usually right because he bases his judgment on data). Note that he still opposes the proposed GHS site for a host of reasons, but property value wasn't one of the reasons. In fact his comments were much the same as yours - it will destroy the vitality and sense of community.

BMW Dave - I needed someone to call BS on the hyperbole so I could explicate, thank goodness it was you It takes a strong person to retract their comments.

I spent the late afternoon running errands and asking for peoples' opinions about the proposed GHS site (yes, I do ask complete strangers trying to mind their own business what they think about current local issues - I've been doing that for so long that I'm not surprised by the fact that people like to talk about it - plus you get some interesting perspectives). Only one person thought it might be a good idea - and that was only because it was a new facility.