Waterway will be like a canal linking Big Spring with Pinhook Creek
1/21/2004
Huntsville planners today got their first official glimpse of the planned "riverwalk" that will run from Big Spring International Park through the new downtown hotel site. The project was on the agenda of the city's subdivision committee.
Citizens can weigh in with their comments during a public hearing Tuesday before the full city Planning Commission. That meeting begins at 5 p.m. in City Hall.
The waterway actually will be more like a canal connecting Big Spring Lagoon with Pinhook Creek.
The canal extension is part of a multimillion-dollar drainage and street-scape project tied in with the planned 10-story, 300-room Embassy Suites. Construction crews are rerouting major stormwater ditches to make room for the hotel and planned waterway.
Ben Ferrill, a city planner involved with the canal project, emphasized that the waterway design is only a concept. "This is a conceptual drawing that is subject to change," he said.
The design shows landscaping and sidewalks flanking each side of the waterway as it flows from the lagoon. The canal extension will cross under an elevated Monroe Street and continue southwesterly between the hotel and Von Braun Center South Hall. The drawing shows it tying into Pinhook Creek between the South Hall and the MarketSquare shopping center. An outdoor amphitheater (with a seating capacity of 100-200 people, Ferrill said) is sketched in where the canal flows into Pinhook Creek.
Ferrill is seeking Planning Commission approval for the "location and extent" of the proposed project. The "character" part of the planning, essentially the final design, will be submitted later for planning approval.
Subdivision committee members seemed pleased with the proposed design. "Aesthetically, it looks nice," said board member Ed Starnes.
The width of the canal hasn't been determined. Although a small boat landing is sketched in the design, commission members seemed uncertain if the canal could accommodate boat traffic as some officials and media reports have stated. Ferrill said the 1,100-foot canal extension would be similar in width to the narrow canal on the upper end of Big Spring Park but not likely more than 10 to 15 feet wide.
The city is applying for a $1 million Economic Development Association grant to help pay for the estimated $3 million waterway, landscaping and sidewalk project. The EDA is administered by the federal Commerce Department.
The rest of the project, along with major street, drainage and site work, will be paid for with city money, state Department of Transportation funds and money from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Officials hope to begin hotel construction this summer and complete the project by late 2005. Ferrill couldn't say when the canal extension work might begin.
In other action today, the commission:
Gave preliminary ap-proval for a new quarter-midget racetrack south of Johnson Road and west of Huntsville Spring Branch. The track, concession and bleachers complex would replace the track that was torn down when a Sam's Club was built on the old Madison County Coliseum property.
Gave preliminary ap-proval for a 25,000-square-foot education training center for the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. The two-story building, complete with laboratory, classroom and library, is a joint project with NASA. It will be built on property just north of the Marriott.