Starkville”s Board of Aldermen heard suggestions Tuesday on how to shrink the one-and-a-half miles from campus to downtown.

For $57,000, Starkville hired the PlaceMakers planning firm to devise a plan for a better way of integrating downtown with Mississippi State University and stimulating development in general. Two lead representatives from PlaceMakers, Nathan Norris and Howard Blackson, and their team spent last week analyzing the roadways and thoroughfares connecting campus and downtown and presented their findings to the city board Tuesday night.

First, to establish perspective, Norris and Blackson pointed out that Starkville was similar to Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Oxford in the sense that the cities” respective SEC university campuses were a mile or more away from their downtown areas. Downtown Auburn and Athens, however, are immediately adjacent to their respective campuses, creating a seamless transition from students to customers in terms of travel convenience.

Since MSU”s campus won”t be flush against downtown Starkville anytime soon, the PlaceMakers suggested ways to improve the trek from campus to downtown to attract coveted student dollars.

Main Street received much the same treatment it did from the Mississippi Main Street Charrette team which visited Starkville in March. Specifically, adding trees and a piece of civic art at the west end for a “sense of enclosure.” But the PlaceMakers also stressed the need for a civic space or common area, suggesting the extension of the sidewalk in front of Cadence Bank to take up space currently reserved for on-street parking and adding a pavilion and fountain to the area. Norris said Cadence Bank expressed a willingness to sacrifice the front parking because it has ample space in the back, and the civic space would further encapsulate the section of Main Street between Jackson Street and West Main as a destination.

Highway 12 received perhaps the most radical overhaul, with Norris suggesting the section intersecting Russell Street at the entrance to campus being completely reworked with side access roads upon which commercial buildings such as restaurants could be constructed.

The problem with that section of Highway 12, said Norris, was that it no longer functions as a bypass of town, yet traffic is moving far too fast to consider developing the area as it exists. The side access roads, he said, would allow the main flow of traffic to continue along the highway while slowing traffic in front of businesses to a speed at which people would be comfortable using sidewalks or curbside dining.

This, he said would transform Highway 12 from the “Great Divide” between campus and downtown to the “Bullyvard.”

Paying for such an expansive project is an obvious concern, but Norris contends that if the city, the university, the Mississippi Department of Transportation and our representatives in Washington, D.C., all buy into the idea, Starkville would likely be “first in line for some TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grant funds.”

Meanwhile, Norris said change could be effected at the local level to reinvigorate Lampkin Street.

Through zoning, he said the area could incorporate a mixture of commercial and residential developments, which could share the same building if the city saw fit.

Parking, he said, could be moved to the back and buildings brought closer to the street to facilitate foot traffic and new stores could be built with second stories that serve as office space or apartments.

Norris and Blackson said the mixed-use zoning could be spread around downtown and even to other parts of the city. Because most of downtown is zoned C-2 (commercial) there can be no residential use without a variance.

Along Highway 182, the PlaceMakers offered few suggestions other than their endorsement of placing a new police station on the corner of Jackson Street and Highway 182 to spur development. In addition, Blackson said the power lines and utility cables could be moved to the north side of the street to reduce clutter and the sloped north side would be ideal for housing while the south side focuses on commercial development.

The PlaceMakers now have four weeks to deliver the first draft of the form-based codes which will guide their suggestions. The city will have two weeks to make comments or suggestions and PlaceMakers will deliver the suggested codes within two weeks of the close of the comment period.

For more information on PlaceMakers” ideas visit starkvillecorridors.com.

In other business the board:

• Reluctantly approved a change order extending the period of time for Ellis Construction to complete the Pat Station Roadway Extension Project.

  Representatives for Ellis Construction stated rainy weather in March and April put the project to connect Pat Station Road to Garrard Road behind schedule and estimated the project could be completed this summer. But a pair of aldermen bristled at the idea that the construction company couldn”t help falling behind.

  “We approved the project last year. It was supposed to be done last year. We should be driving on it by now,” said Ward 5 Alderman Jeremiah Dumas. “We”ve given them one extension already and tonight is the second change order.

  “This is the last straw. There were several times when I went by there during the winter, great working days, and there was no activity for several months.”

  Ward 6 Alderman Roy A. Perkins stated flatly that he would not vote in favor of another extension following Tuesday”s meeting and suggested the city attempt to recoup expenses if the delay persists.

  The connection of Pat Station Road to Garrard is intended to enhance public safety by allowing emergency vehicles faster east-west access to the north side of Starkville.

• Heard from Parks and Recreation Director Matthew Rye and Heather Carson regarding the Playful City USA program application. The program emphasizes the importance of physical play for children across America and offers millions of dollars in grants to assist communities to that end.

Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.