Master plan for stadium site under way

By Staff
Thomas Tingle
Record Managing Editor
A master plan for the site of Madison City School's new 5,000-seat multi-purpose stadium and central office/teacher resource center is under way and will soon be completed.
Last October, the school board named Fuqua Osborn Architects as the firm to build the stadium and central office. The $4 million project will be located off Celtic Drive behind the Spencer Square Shopping Center.
The architectural firm is a familiar name to the Madison school system. The company built Rainbow Elementary School two years ago and will design the new classroom addition to Discovery Middle School. The firm recently completed the $3 million addition to Bob Jones High School.
Danny Osborn of Fuqua Osborn Architects said the first step in developing the project is the creation of a master plan for the site. Osborn said his has met with school board members and interested parties in the development of the master plan.
"Once the master plan is done, we will then design the stadium and the central office/teacher resource center," Osborn said.
"The central office will be moved out of the Sullivan Street location and into this new building – which will also contain an auditorium," Superintendent Dr. Henry Clark said.
Shielded lights and a 6-foot tall berm edging the west side of the property that borders the Home Place subdivision are planned in the project. The berm must be planted with vegetation that will grow up to six feet tall and be 80 percent opaque. This is being done to ease the minds of residents of Home Place who earlier voiced concern over the project being built close to their homes.
Osborn said this is the first time for his firm to actually build a multi-purpose stadium of this caliber and consultants and experts in this area will be sought.
According to Clark, within the next seven to 10 years, another high school will be built in Madison. Approximately 80 acres of property on County Line Road has been purchased for the new high school. With Bob Jones High School needing a new stadium for its various sporting events and with a new high school in place in less than 10 years, Clark said the multi-purpose stadium would solve those needs.