Like Huntsville, the City of Madison is on a rapid growth trajectory, with the growing pains to match. Madison City’s leaders are taking active steps to address its changing needs with the launch of Madison On Track 2045, a policy document for use by city leaders, developers, business owners, and citizens to make informed decisions about future growth, development, policy, and capital improvements.

On Wednesday, Feb. 2, Madison City Hall hosted a kick-off public workshop introducing the comprehensive planning process, the consultant team, the project goals, and the timeline for the plan.

During the meeting, attendees were invited to provide input on both community challenges and opportunities via a realtime interactive mapping exercise, as well as paper boards and sticky notes placed around the room with spaces for local residents to provide feedback on items of importance to them.

“Our goal for this project is to get a lot of citizen engagement because Madison needs to grow the way the citizens want it to grow,” Madison Development Services Director Mary Beth Broeren stated. “Our goal is really to come up with a plan that reflects the vision of Madison residents.

The City of Madison hired Orion Planning + Design (OPD) to take on the task of spearheading the creation of Madison’s new Comprehensive Plan. Representatives Carol Rhea, Allison Mouch, Bob Barber, and Bert Kuyrkendall presented information to those in attendance both physically and virtually through the livestream.

Partnering with OPD on this project are TischlerBise Inc., which will focus on economic and market analysis, Skipper Consulting Inc., which will examine the City’s transportation and utility infrastructure, and the Matheny-Burns Group, which specializes in mapping and analysis.

Madison Development Services Director Mary Beth Broeren

Mouch stated that anyone who wishes to contribute to the interactive map can access it through the link provided through February 14. Community members can use virtual pins in their selected locations to note potential opportunities for improvement such as the addition of multi-use trails or traffic signals, as well as assets, meaning things the community values and wishes to protect.

There will be a community survey coming out in the coming months as well, which Mouch explained will help them to further narrow down the public’s needs and desires.

The Madison On Track 2045 comprehensive plan will come together in three distinct phases: Phase 1 is the “Discovery” phase, which includes stakeholder and public engagement, research and diagnostic reports, and the preparation of a Community Profile. Phase 2, the “Direction” phase, allows the community to solidify its vision and decide upon a future growth scenario that best fits that vision and community values. Phase 3, the “development” phase, comprises the drafting of the plan and the adoption process that will bring it from concept to reality.

The planning team will work closely with the Advisory Committee, whose members were selected by City staff and elected officials based on knowledge, expertise, geographic representation, and Board/committee representation.

Advisory Committee members will help guide the direction of the plan, provide feedback, and advocate public participation and representation throughout the process.

For more information visit www.madisonontrack2045.com.