MADISON – There are a lot of ongoing projects in the city of Madison right now and the city council and Mayor Paul Finley provided updates on and plans for these projects in 2024 at the Wednesday, January 24 work session.

After a discussion last year about abandoning plans to transform a former Hexagon property in Town Madison into a new fire station, the plans are now solidified to turn the building into a Public Safety Annex. The 38,000-square-foot Annex will hold the new Fire Station 4, a training classroom, evidence storage and more.

Mayor Finley commented on some of the new capabilities the Annex will have, “This training facility seats about a hundred people [and] can be used for both police and fire. A lot of the classes that they have, it gives them far more room to get done what needs to be done, and they can bring folks in from other places, which is exciting.”

A request for bids will be issued by the city later this year for the $4.7 million project. Once construction begins, the city expects eight to ten months for the offices to be completed and at least fourteen months for the fire station to be completed.

A new animal shelter is planned to be installed at the temporary Fire Station 4 on Celtic Drive. The city plans to sell the former fire station on Sullivan Street and use the funds to set up animal control at the Celtic Drive facilities. The project is expected to cost between $100,000 and $175,000.

Next door to the Public Safety Annex in Town Madison, at the new recreation facility, where renovations have already taken place on the fields, field lights will receive upgrades, fencing at the softball fields will be completed, and lights for a pathway between the recreation center and Public Safety Annex will be installed this spring and summer.

The new Community Center at the former Three Springs facility on Brownsferry Road is more than halfway done and projected to open in August of this year. The city’s remaining plans for the facility include installing a parking lot in late spring across the street from the building that will also have access to Bradford Creek Greenway.

Another public recreation area, Sunshine Oaks along Mose Chapel Road, is almost finished at ninety-five percent completion.

“Sunshine Oaks is one that we continue to be really excited about with a lot of the things that have been done. The project balance is…a $550,000 project and we’ve got a lot coming,” Finley stated.

The items yet to come include a parking lot that connects to the Bradford Creek Greenway, road widening, additional pavilions, a playground, bathrooms, and renovations to a barn for storage and events. The highlight of the park will be the Hall of Fame Disc Golf Course designed by hall of fame disc golfer, Lavone Wolfe. The course is expected to bring in more tournaments to the Huntsville-Madison area with the existing courses at Brahan Spring, Monte Sano, and Redstone Arsenal.

Keep an eye out for progress on these projects and more around the city.