People who live in, work in, and enjoy the downtown area of Murfreesboro, including property owners, business owners, community leaders, interested citizens and the general public are invited to come to a Public Open House to review and provide feedback about the study area's preliminary plan. The Public Open House is Thursday, November 10, from 5:30 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. at Patterson Park in Meeting Rooms A, B and C. The Open House format is come-and-go, with a brief presentation at 5:30 p.m. The study team will also solicit input and ideas for a designated name for this area of downtown Murfreesboro.

Ideas on the table include expanding Murfreesboro's downtown to this area; ways to improve the connectivity between the southern and northern areas of downtown, including the possibility of a bridge across Broad Street and/or multiple pedestrian-friendly intersections across Broad; adjusting the existing road network; establishing an arts and entertainment district here; and daylighting and re-introducing Town Creek as a key feature.

"We are nearing the juncture where we will be taking the plan forward to the Planning Commission and then to the City Council," said Donald Anthony, AICP, Principal Planner for the City of Murfreesboro and lead Murfreesboro planner for this project. "We very much want for the community and our stakeholders to review the preliminary plan and provide us with their feedback before we take these next steps."

This is the second Public Open House for the study. The study area is historically known as "The Bottoms" because of its low terrain and frequent flooding an includes the area of downtown Murfreesboro that is south of the historic Downtown Square, east along Southeast Broad Street to Discovery Center, and west along Southeast Broad Street to Memorial Boulevard to the CSX Railroad as the western boundary. The study area includes Murfreesboro's Civic Plaza, Cannonsburgh Village and the West Main Street area, to name a few keylandmarks.

The study's results and deliverables include a future land use plan, a development scenario, potential industrial, civic and cultural uses, possible infrastructure improvements and market recommendations based on retail, office and residential uses.

"We have received valuable input, ideas and feedback from the public since this study began some months ago," said Anthony. "The area has a rich cultural history with many natural resources in place that could be developed into a real destination area. Right now, the area feels separate and apart from our historic downtown, due to the street network, the railroad and the expanse of Broad Street. We're ready to see what can happen here to make Murfreesboro even better."

Follow and join the Historic Bottoms Planning Study on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MurfreesboroHistoricBottomsStudy/

For information about "The Bottoms" project, contact Donald Anthony, Murfreesboro Planning, at 615.893.6441 or via email at danthony@murfreesborotn.gov.