Maybe ONE Last Chance for Madison Aquatic Park......

[PhilEllis]

Hi Everyone.

The Madison City Council is scheduled to consider the land swap agreement between the City of Maidson and the Water Board for the Madison Quarry Site on Monday January 9, 2006 during their scheduled 6PM meeting. If the swap occurs, it would close the door permanently on any potential to use the facility as a recreational diving park.

While I personally feel that this land-swap idea has lots of momentum on the City Council, Monday night would be the LAST opportunity we have to convince the city to delay approving such a swap. We need EVERY possible diver to attend the Monday night meeting just to show the council that there are lots of divers in the area that would like for the city to reconsider their swap proposal.

Monday night is not the time to be angry, to promote any particular future operator over another, or to seek approval for future diving at the facility. We simply need to show a large enough presence to persuade the council members to DELAY approving the land-swap pending further investigation. A temporary delay on disposition of the property is the ONLY chance of saving this property as a diving facility.

If you have any questions, you can contact Greg Ogle at Southeastern Divers in Huntsville at (256) 536-8404 or Phil Ellis at Dive Sports in Decatur at (256) 350-1122. It is imperative that we make a large showing at the Madison City Council Meeting on Monday night. Let's use this last opportunity to save this quarry as a diving site. Thanks.

Phil Ellis
Dive Sports Online
www.divesports.com
(800) 601-DIVE

 

[rdharbis1]

Phil,
Is the date correct on your post? If so, we have already missed this opportunity.

Randy

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Jan 9th has already gone by?

 

[Diveral]

My watch says today is January 6th.

Where is this meeting and how do you get there?

AL

 

[RocketMan]

My watch says today is January 6th.

Where is this meeting and how do you get there?

AL

Here is the link to the City Council site

http://www.ci.madison.al.us/Council/Council.htm

the address is 100 Huges Road Madison AL

Use this MapQuest like for directions because Google Maps doesn't seem to know where Huges Road is located.

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.ad...00+Hughes+Road&city=Madison&state=AL&zipcode=

 

[mike_s]

You can also write/email the Mayor and City Council with your concerns at the following email addresses and tell them how you’d like to keep the quarry open for recreational divers. Be sure to mention how good the quarry is good for the city and the economic impact your visits have to the quarry and the surrounding businesses/stores. The mayor can be reached at mayorsoffice@ci.madison.al.us and the City Council at citycouncil@ci.madison.al.us. (be sure to email both)

Please send this email as soon as you can, as the meeting date is very close.


Your attendance at this meeting and writing the Mayor and Council members will help all divers and local dive shops in this area to help keep the quarry open.

 

[Diveral]

You can also write/email the Mayor and City Council with your concerns: Please send this email as soon as you can, as the meeting date is very close.


Your attendance at this meeting and writing the Mayor and Council members will help all divers and local dive shops in this area to help keep the quarry open.

Excellent idea! I have sent the following e-mail to the Mayor and City Council. Feel free to copy and modify it.

"Mayor and City Council
Madison, Alabama
Date 1/8/06

Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing in regards to disposition of the Rock Quarry known as the Madison Aquatic Park. I am a local scuba diver that uses the facility. This is the only full service diving location I know of between Birmingham and Nashville. It is a rare treasure and provides residents of North Alabama and South Tennessee a safe and convenient place to dive, learn new skills or update old skills. This location is widely used, I have met numerous divers from Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, and Kentucky there.
I have observed many local citizens enjoying non-scuba related aquatic activities in the park while I have been diving there. It is a very popular place in the summer.
This is a very rare and unique facility and we a very fortunate to have such a facility in our area. I ask that you consider a means to insure that public access is maintained for this facility
Sincerely yours,

 

[mike_s]

Just wanted to post the "results" from the Madison City Council meeting tonight on what happened. Thanks to all the divers from the local area who came out in support of keeping the quarry open.

Three local TV news channels (WAFF, WHNT, WAAY) were on hand and showed
the story on their 10 o'clock news.


The best summary is prob one that local dive shop manager Greg Ogle sent out tonight. I'll post it below:


Date: Mon, 9 Jan 2006 21:20:57 -0500
From: Southeastern.Divers@sdiscuba.com
Subject: News from tonights Madison City Council Meeting

Tonight at Madison City Hall local divers turned out to show their
support of keeping the Madison Aquatic Park open to recreational diving.
It looked like we had around 75 divers come out. The public showing of
faces and the email campaign of the last few days did have a positive
impact on the council. According to the council president he has been
recieveing between 3 to 5 emails per hour for the last 10 days or so.
He even jokingly asked if we could just send a group email the next
time. Thanks for the effort everyone. It definitely made an impact.

All 3 local Huntsville television stations were there and will air
stories tonight at 10. They may also air them again tomorrow morning.

The short of it is, the Council has not reached, and does not appear to
be close to reaching, a final decision about the status of the quarry.
They are currently waiting on a proposal from the Madison Water Board.
The Water Board is studying the feasablity of using the quarry for
emergency water supply. The Water Board has questions that need to be
addressed by the Alabama Department of Environmenal Management.
Specifically, could the water be pumped out and purified for use while still
allowing divers to use it.

In the interim the Mayor asked for, and received (by a 3 to 2 vote),
permission to go ahead and send out the new Request For Propsal (RFP) for
a new quarry operator. Keep in mind that the city will be under no
obligation to accept any proposal submitted. They will be using the RFP
process to gather information on how the quarry could possibly be
utilized in order to make a more informed decision on which way to go.

While this in no way indicates they will decide in favor of reopening
the quarry to diving, it did accomplish what we set out to. That being
that the council will at least listen to us and reconsider before
making a final decision.

The Mayor should be sending out the new RFP in the next few days with a
deadline for response of 28 February, 2006.

While I view this as a minor win, the battle has just begun. Keep your
fingers crossed and stay in touch.

If you have any thoughts or input as to how the quarry should be
utilized please email them to me.

Thanks for your support so far,

Greg Ogle
Manager
Southeastern Divers, Inc.
Huntsville, AL

 

[RocketMan]

I was at the Council meeting and yes there was a fair turnout of divers and others in support of keeping the quarry open, but I wouldn't hold my breath. At least 2 of the Council members have already made up their mind in favor of the Water Board. Oh well, I guess I'll be going to Moulton and Pelham a lot more this year than I had original intended and eating a lot less in Madison.

 

[rdharbis1]

I am such a dork. I work too much and my dates are all skewed with a schedule I am working in. I apologize if I caused anyone to miss this council meeting. I understand how important it was to our community. I did see the outcome of the meeting on the news and there seemed to be a good showing. Not a wonder I cannot get out to dive, I don't know what day it is!
Regards,
Randy