Town Madison Cooperative District meets after weather delay

Louis Breland lays out an updated map of a portion of Town Madison during the devlopment’s cooperative district board meeting March 4. (Record Photo/Nick Sellers)

By Nick Sellers | Staff Writer

MADISON – After being postponed one week due to the significant snow event that started the afternoon of Feb. 25, the scheduled Town Madison Cooperative District board meeting was moved from that date to March 4 at Madison’s municipal complex.

The board consists of three members – Madison City Council President Tommy Overcash, Madison County District 2 Commissioner Steve Haraway and Kenneth Watson – all representing different parties in the project.

The March 4 meeting, which lasted around 15 minutes, held a purpose of developer Louis Breland updating the board and other attendees of the current road preparations. The recent stretch of unfavorable weather has put the road preparations back several weeks, Breland said.

Breland remained tight-lipped about any businesses that might occupy “Phase 1” of the project, which is about one-seventh of the 700 total acres of the project just south of Interstate–565 between Wall-Triana Highway and Zierdt Road.

“Any theoretical businesses that sign up will be based on a lot of contingencies – the approval of the interstate ramps, x-amount of construction, so no construction will state until the roads are substantially constructed,” Overcash said.

The board did vote to do business with Reed Contracting Services, Inc. for further construction work on the roads leading to the development.

“Other than the weather, our main goal is just to get the construction done as fast as possible,” Overcash said.

Overcash also mentioned the “theoretical design” being lined up by Sembler includes two big-box stories and smaller businesses nestled among those two stores in the first phase, “which they call a ‘power center,’” he said.

At Town Madison’s groundbreaking in August, Breland estimated the retail development to eventually provide some 1,600 jobs when completed.