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| A map showing the proposed brewpub overlay zone. The different colors indicate the various existing zones (Residential, Commercial, etc.) Map courtesy of City of Huntsville, GIS Division. |
Next month, Huntsville’s Planning Commission will hold a
public hearing regarding an overlay zone for commercial areas that brewpubs
will be allowed to operate in. (I have provided a map of the zone above.) Until
2011, state law forced brewpubs to operate only in buildings that had been
historically designated; the law was changed that year to allow them in
historic districts as well as “any economically distressed area” as designated
by the City. The latter is the reason why the overlay zone was necessary--
while it would be great to have brewpubs in, say, Providence or Hampton Cove,
it would be tough to justify classifying these areas as “economically
distressed.”
Areas included in the brewpub overlay include:
- Downtown
- North Parkway to Mastin Lake
- South Parkway to Airport (including John Hunt Park)
- West Clinton (sometimes referred to as "Downtown West")
- Pratt/University from Washington to Jordan
- Jordan from University to Oakwood Ave.
A copy of the full proposed ordinance can be found at http://www.huntsvilleal.gov/Planning/Proposed_Amendments_Ordinance_Brewpubs.pdf.
A high-resolution version of the map above can be found here: http://www.huntsvilleal.gov/Planning/brew_pub_areas_map.pdf
It's a shame that the majority of the Parkway is considered “economically distressed”, but as someone who drives it every day, I have to agree. When I was growing up, everything we came to town for was either on the Parkway or University. Now it seems that most everything is moving farther away from the heart of the city.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree...being a resident for 20+ years, I'd like to see more of "Old Huntsville" revived. But also to keep up with the market, more brewpubs need to move to the newet-built areas to keep up with growth demand.
DeleteDictating where to place these establishments is ridiculous. Perhaps if some of these distressed areas were cleaned up people would want to establish there. I would not place a business in an area that appears dirty and run down. Clean it up and get the current businesses on board!
ReplyDeletewish someone could explain the correlation between brew pubs and economically distressed areas, I don't get it.
ReplyDelete