By Larry Mason

Cummings Research Park (CRP) is looking for a new director. Maybe now to also a good time to look for a new direction, or at least make a few well-planned course corrections. To be perfectly clear CRP has been a great success bring economic development to the Tennessee Valley; arguably the best light industrial, commercial corporate research park in the nation. However, rather than resting on laurels the CRP Board, The Madison County Chamber of Commerce and the City of Huntsville could reexamine the CRP mission and how it can best serve the future of Huntsville and the North Alabama metropolitan area.

Much has changed in the years since it was first conceived by Milton Cummings and Joe Moquin. The dream in the 1960 to bring space and aerospace engineers together, and combined with the UAH Research Foundation provide a way to cluster the brightest minds in space exploration. It worked. However, with the NASA move in the 1970s, and the defense cut back in the late eighties and now the increased pressure of the BRAC to relocate many of the defense contractors onto Redstone and Marshall facilities, the need to diversify the park is obvious.

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In today's economic diversification and development landscape, Huntsville is trying to attract new, innovative and creative types of businesses and the CEOs to lead them. To do that, we need to look at the lifestyles of the new generation of business leaders. In short it, is time to take another look at the land use and the master plan of the CRP and test some of the old assumptions, and explore new ways to increase the livability of the people and companies that make up the CRP community, ensuring that it is "the place you want to be."

After almost a hundred years of Euclidian zoning practices, planners, urban designers and economic developers are discovering that the most effective way to make a "place" special is to mix it up a bit. Mixed-use projects and Planned Unit Developments (PUD) have been shown to be highly effective in promoting new economic activity, increasing land value by creating communities where people want to be. What are some of the ways that Huntsville could subtly start to move CRP in the direction of a more livable place that attracts attention and people.

Revisit zoning regulations, explore ways to let tenants more easily lease or subdivide property near the sidewalks to allow for small-scale neighborhood commercial establishments open to the public, such as cafes, bakeries, lunch and sandwich shops, dry cleaners etc.

Allow some well design small residential units or townhouses of two three and four unit structure designed to showcase LEED and sustainable living in innovative and architecturally designed small footprint building on smaller lots.

Common parking decks, with interconnected transit option, hopefully exploring the use of electric and even autonomous vehicles when the technology is legally available. Make the bus system a "fareless" system. Connect with future Huntsville-Metro bus routes at Bridgestreet and encourage Transit Oriented Development (TOD) projects near the Highway 72 entrance, at the Bradford Boulevard entrance and the Farrow Road entrance.

Continue the development of interconnected running and pedestrian paths around the various ponds and lakes. Allow street vendors around the walking paths. High-speed WiFi and charging station (solar) throughout the park in the public areas.

Design guidelines that bring buildings closer to the streets and put parking lots behind buildings, enhancing the streetscape.

This is not to say all of these change should happen immediately nor even in the long term, but what should happen is that the new director undertake a fresh look at the some of the ways to improve sustainability, livability and "place making" in the CRP Master Plan. The key to developing a walkable and bikeable community is to not lump all similar activities in one place. All living units should not be in one big apartment complex, all commercial retail should not be in one big "mall" or shopping center project. Rather the plan should look at very fine grained zoning, as well form based codes and design overlays districts so that various activities are spread evenly throughout the park.

While the original intent of the park was to gather "related" technology businesses to together, where neighbors are in the same business, it turns out that there is very little interaction between the technology companies. This is because there is very little chance of "bumping" into the neighbors. If there were more social places within the park there might be more serendipitous and spontaneous communication the kind of conversations that often leads to innovation and new business opportunities. An updated Master Plan can address this problem.

Every effort should be made to make CRP an evening and night time business, arts and entertainment center for the Huntsville Metro area, in addition to its daytime activities. CRP should be a vibrant neighborhood, a community that attracts creative, innovative startups and thriving businesses at all times. A place where the new breed of creative CEO and leaders want to be, not because of tax breaks but because of the lifestyle, it is the cool place to be to either start a new business or continue to do business with friends and neighbors.

And then there is the bottom line, the simple fact is that by increasing the density of activity in the park the ROI on the infrastructure is greatly enhanced. By adding more activities in the park, land values, economic development opportunities increase and of course user fees and tax revenue. All that while making the park more attractive, walkable, and sustainable.

The time for taking a new look at the CRP Master Plan is now. Not because there is anything wrong with the build out of the original idea, but precisely because it has been so successful.