Madison plans for growth

Residents examine proposed growth plans for six key areas in Madison during the last of three public meetings Tuesday at the Madison Municipal Complex.

By BRAD GASKINS / Special to the Record

The future of Madison was discussed Tuesday in the last of three public meetings for the city’s growth plan.

Two associates from Urban Collage, an Atlanta-based firm hired by the city, presented growth plans for six key areas in the city to residents gathered at the Madison Municipal Complex.

Key areas include County Line Road, South Madison/I-565, downtown and midtown, Old Madison Pike, the Highway 72 Corridor and the Western growth area.

Urban College Associate Principal Eric Bowman presented a brief overview of the progress, complete with maps and artist renderings of what the six key areas could look like in 15 to 20 years.

The plans were based on community input from previous public meetings.

Each key area had a display area setup. Residents were asked to place green dots on the maps for ideas they agreed with and red dots on the ideas they didn’t like. Comment cards were accepted.

Residents were given $5 million in fake Monopoly-like money – “Mad Money,” it was called – and were asked to decide which projects they would spend the money on. The $5 million was enough to cover about five of the 20 possible projects, Bowman said.

“This is not really a silly exercise,” Bowman said. “You’re helping us prioritize these projects. You’re going to help some of the cream rise to the top based on how you use your dollars. The ship is going to sail a little bit after tonight.”

Madison Mayor Paul Finley said the city started the project when “we realized that the city had grown so dramatically.”

“We’re looking for a roadmap, an idea of where we want to go,” Finley said. “We wanted to do it with community support and feedback.”

The community did its part, said Dennis Madsen, an associate with Urban College.

Madsen said the first public meeting for the growth plan, held in November 2010, was attended by double the amount of people that normally attend such planning meetings in other cities he’s worked with.

Online surveys were conducted, and the response was overwhelming. A total of 1,040 responses were received, including more than 300 responses for the County Line Road area alone. At least 100 responses were received for each of the key development areas.

Urban Collage planned to take feedback from Tuesday’s meeting and finalize a growth plan.

“They’ll bring it to council and planning and zoning,” Finley said. “In turn, what we’ll have as a city is a true road map done together.”

All presentation materials from the three public meetings are available on the city’s website.