A Bigger and Batter Downtown for Madison (Huntsville, Hazel Green: sales, 2014)

[rnc76]

Originally Posted by julilg

AL weather makes anything outdoors or dependant on pedestrians a risky venture.

Not really sure why it is any different than the rest of the eastern United States. AL has heat and humidity in the summer and a decent amount of rain. So does the rest of the Southeast. Look at Franklin, TN. The weather there is no different than here, yet they have a charming little walkable downtown that is busy most of the year, especially on the weekends. The Northeast and Midwest have cold winters but also lots of rain the rest of the year and it isn't that unusual to hit the 90s in the summer in many areas. Each area has its weather challenges, with proper planning and design, you can make a nice pedestrian friendly area.

[rnc76]

Originally Posted by autobahn

Huntsville Development News: Madison wants a real downtown

I can't really wrap my head around why expanding the area of downtown 10X would help downtown flourish. That area is huge and in no way walkable. Shouldn't they focus on developing and renovating the downtown area that exists?

[SteelCityRising]

So here is Madison's tiny downtown in its current state.






The "expanded" vision for downtown includes this massive football stadium, this sprawling Wal-Mart strip center, an industrial park, and many other low-density obstacles. I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer, but how many HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of dollars will it take town taxpayers to afford to acquire and demolish all of these properties through eminent domain in order to give Madison a proper downtown? Shouldn't this have been planned years ago before all of this development occurred?

[Houston3]

Originally Posted by dee 42

What's a batter downtown?

A short stack with eggs...

[friday13]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

how many HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of dollars will it take town taxpayers to afford to acquire and demolish all of these properties through eminent domain in order to give Madison a proper downtown? Shouldn't this have been planned years ago before all of this development occurred?

Wasn't that essential, but the expansion and updating of the roadways to accommodate the population explosion should have been.

[julilg]

Originally Posted by rnc76

Not really sure why it is any different than the rest of the eastern United States. AL has heat and humidity in the summer and a decent amount of rain. So does the rest of the Southeast. Look at Franklin, TN. The weather there is no different than here, yet they have a charming little walkable downtown that is busy most of the year, especially on the weekends. The Northeast and Midwest have cold winters but also lots of rain the rest of the year and it isn't that unusual to hit the 90s in the summer in many areas. Each area has its weather challenges, with proper planning and design, you can make a nice pedestrian friendly area.

Who knows, maybe Alabamians are more weather sensitive. Hopefully with so many newcomers outdoor stuff will be more sucessful. Bridge Street seems to be doing better than many locals expected.

We certainly have a lot more restaurant patios than in years past and they seem to be utilized. Whereas in my early years here, the few outdoor dining options were usually empty; except for me, and I'd get a lot of weird looks plus angry wait people forced to clean leaves and debris off seldom used tables.

[julilg]

Originally Posted by rnc76

I can't really wrap my head around why expanding the area of downtown 10X would help downtown flourish. That area is huge and in no way walkable. Shouldn't they focus on developing and renovating the downtown area that exists?

The area discussed in the referenced article doesn't make sense to me either. I can understand in the long run, trying to extend "downtown" north to include the library, but south to Madison Blvd. is illogical IMO.

Speaking of library, I think it was the Mayor quoted as saying the library would be included, but the library is actually north of the proposed northern boundary. Though not by much, maybe they just didn't have a better point than BF/OMP to reference as a boundary.

I agree they should continue to focus on improving what's there before trying to expand. This is not the 1st time "they" talked about improving downtown and believe it or not, it actually is improved.

There were once plans to convert the old hardware store into a brew pub. As I recall, it was properly designated on the National Register of Historic places making it eligble under the alcohol brew/sale laws at the time. According to talk of the day, something went south between the investors - the local property owners and a partner affiliated with Montgomery's brew pub.

[oldschoolcarnage]

Isn't there already a Wal-Mart strip mall on Hwy 20? That's not very far from downtown Madison...

[tammie2]

Originally Posted by oldschoolcarnage

Isn't there already a Wal-Mart strip mall on Hwy 20? That's not very far from downtown Madison...

This is the south, you can never have too many Walmarts

[NovMystic]

I think they should leave Madison alone. It's been raided and pillaged enough already!