Starkville officials and out-of-town consultants concluded a week of public input session on a redevelopment plan for Highway 182 Thursday.
The plan, which officials from the Alabama- and Tennessee-based planning firm Farmer Morgan LLC developed through the week as the public offered feedback through multiple charrettes, will attempt to revitalize the economically and aesthetically fledgling corridor.
With the public input sessions complete, the team will begin compiling results and drafting a formal plan. The findings are scheduled to be presented on July 21. The first draft is set to be delivered on Aug. 11, the second on Sept. 15, and the final draft is scheduled for Sept. 29.
Consultants presented a number of proposals during Thursday’s charrette. They focused on a stretch of Highway 182, from its intersection with Long Street to the one with Douglas L. Connor Drive, to show possibility for adaptive reuse of existing buildings.
The area’s aesthetic could be improved by giving a face-lift to the street-facing portions of existing buildings. Old buildings that aren’t in use could be redesigned, revitalized and put to use.
As an example, a specific proposal suggested taking the gas station at the corner of Highway 182 and Douglas L. Connor Drive and turning it into a restaurant, “Roosters,” named after the rooster that used to roam Starkville’s streets. The proposal kept the core of the gas station in tact within the restaurant and created more room for dining and entertainment by enclosing the area around the pumps,
Near the Montgomery Street intersection, a proposed development would add a two-story, mixed-use building. The development would have retail space on the first floor, with residential space on the second floor.
Another proposal for the northeast corner of the Jackson Street-Highway 182 intersection suggested building a small grocery store in place of an unused lot north of the Shell service station.
Proposals also suggest lining Highway 182 with trees and placing utilities underground. The utilities work would be expensive, as Farmer Morgan managing partner Benjamin Farmer said they could make up about $11 million of $18.3 million in construction costs.
Starkville will seek outside funding for the redevelopment plan through Transportation Alternative Program (TAP) grants or Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants.
Mayor Parker Wiseman said that some of the redevelopment plans goals may be lofty, but it’s important for the city to aim high as it seeks to improve the Highway 182 corridor.
“A limited vision is of limited value,” Wiseman said. “We want to start with the idea of what the maximum potential of the area should be. It’s important not to hold anything back in stating our aspirations, and I believe the community did that this week.”
Farmer said the 14-member team did not start designing the redevelopment plan until the charrettes began, thereby allowing the team to collect feedback from the public.
“We had to have that citizen engagement to direct us in what we need to be doing,” Farmer said. “That’s a key part in our process.”
Wiseman said he is satisfied with both the consultants and public input after Thursday’s session.
“In setting a vision, you want a vision that inspires, and you also want a vision that has local buy-in,” Wiseman said. “The best way to build that vision is to have local stakeholders be the driving force behind the vision.”
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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