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MADISON, Ala. – Madison City Schools is taking another step forward as they prepare to build a new elementary school on Wall Triana.

Thursday night, the city planning commission approved the Location, Character and Extent plan which is essentially a site plan for construction moving forward.

Before approving the plan, commissioners heard from two residents about some questions and concerns moving forward. It should be noted that both residents are in favor of building a school.

The community unanimously passed a 12-mill property tax increase back in September.

The first question from residents centered around the potential for loud HVAC-type systems.

“They can be quite noisy with compressors and powerful fans. What have you done in the design of this building to mitigate potential noise from the facility?” asked John North. The builders explained the HVAC compressors will be located near the running track, which is more centrally located on the property and away from residential properties. The builders did mention that location is not considered normal, but the decision was made with respects to people living near the school. Additional concerns surrounded opaque privacy fences and flooding issues near the school property line. “Right now I’ve lost a storage building because of this flooding,” said Mike Tipton. “We are getting the water out of the ditch, getting it underground to a pipe system that will keep it underground and prevent the flooding,” said a project engineer in response. “With Kroger, their lights shine in my back yard, cars coming out of the back. You can’t sit on your deck without car lights hitting you while sitting on your deck,” said Tipton as he asked about how the school could stop from making the problem worse. Tipton has lived in Madison for more than 3 decades. The planning commission did make a motion to amend the height of a privacy fence to roughly 8 feet high. “These folks have been here a long time. We should require the government to do something similar to what we should require a large business to do,” said Tim Cowles, a member of the commission. It also appears a second amendment was motioned for in regards to expanding sidewalk access around the elementary school property to better protect children.

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