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Friday, February 22, 2008

City Council considers Big Spring building ban

Councilman Glenn Watson unveiled a draft of an ordinance that would ban building on Big Spring Park and the adjacent Holiday Inn hotel site, which is owned by Big Spring Partners, a downtown redevelopment company formed by the city a few years ago. Other council members voiced their concerns about the consequences of the ordinance, including future expansion of the Von Braun Center, a proposed federal courthouse, and a proposed hotel on the site of the current Holiday Inn.

Speaking of that proposed hotel, it is being developed by John Q. Hammons, the same developer who built the Embassy Suites hotel across the street from the Holiday Inn. Looks like he's back for seconds.

Huntsville Times article

The city council already has the authority to restrict what goes into Big Spring Park- it's city land. Huntsville has one of the "greenest" downtowns in the country, with more greenspace on the way with the proposed "riverwalk" along Pinhook Creek. I think that they should lift the height limit on downtown buildings first. Developers could then build "up" more than "out", and there wouldn't be any need to take up more greenspace!

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