Planners with the Alabama- and Tennessee-based firm Farmer Morgan LLC announced Wednesday they’ll complete a Highway 182 redevelopment and marketing initiative by the end of September.
Starkville residents and property owners will have ample public input sessions this month to shape its contents as a community design charrette is scheduled from June 20-24.
The charrette features four meetings: an open presentation and visiting design workshop from 6-8 p.m. on June 20, a concept plan presentation from 6-7:30 p.m. on June 21, a day-long open-door session for interested residents on June 22 and a closing presentation from 6-7:30 p.m. June 23.
Those meetings will be held at City Hall’s second floor conference room.
Planners tentatively scheduled a charrette findings meeting for July 21 and will present the first draft of the overall development plan on Sept. 1. A meeting on the second draft is set for Sept. 15, and the final product will be unveiled Sept. 30.
Economists will analyze the Highway 182 corridor before the charrette, firm managing partner Benjamin Farmer said, and other team members — architects and engineers — will be on hand during the process to help take the community’s ideas and turn them into visual plans.
“I have no vision,” Farmer said emphasizing the importance of community input. “We don’t do pre-design. We’ve not been mandated from the city about what to do. This process is one that’s very fluid.”
While planners map out the area this summer, Mississippi State University marketing professor Michael Breazeale and his students will work on a branding campaign for the area that captures its cultural history and distinguishes it from other areas of Starkville.
Focus groups are expected to add input to the process.
“From a marketing standpoint, it’s going to be really important to know what makes that area unique,” he said. “Branding is storytelling, so the best way we can brand this area is to tell its actual story through everything we do.”
Residents in attendance during Wednesday’s opening public session, which was described by city staff and planners as an informal opportunity for the public to get to know those involved in the process, said they want the Highway 182 corridor to attract new businesses without negatively impacting the area’s infrastructure and aesthetics.
Specifically, residents raised concerns about the area’s stormwater drainage capabilities and traffic issues while saying the corridor needs to retain its positive characteristics and be accessible with parking elements and pedestrian pathways that link to Main Street.
One resident said she hopes marketing and redevelopment initiatives help the Highway 182 corridor escape the stigma of an area with substandard developments now known as “that side of town.”
“Thirty to 35 years ago, East Atlanta Village was ‘that side of town,’ but now you can’t get a storefront. It’s just that hip of a spot,” said Community Development Director Buddy Sanders. “Millennials want more urban places that are different. We have an excellent opportunity to make (the corridor) something special and unique.”
Sanders previously said planning efforts could yield special zoning designations to help entice new businesses. Specifically, those zones could ease restrictions for small business owners who cannot afford to bring older facilities up to specifications mandated in traditional commercial zones.
Starkville is utilizing money from a previous Environmental Protection Agency brownfield grant to cover the planning exercise.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.