Mayor outlines $30M Main Street rebuild, housing push and flood work in State of the City

MADISON — Mayor Bob Courtney told a packed audience at the Fairfield during Madison City’s State of the City that the administration will begin reconstruction of Main Street in 2025, accelerate housing projects across the city and continue large stormwater mitigation work after severe flooding in 2021.

Courtney said, “Madison is on the move,” and summarized investments and programs that he said are meant to preserve historic districts, expand housing and protect neighborhoods from flooding. He highlighted a slate of recent accomplishments — including the grand reopening of Crystal Beach Aquatic Park, six ribbon-cutting ceremonies in 2024 and three recognitions that the city received last year — and laid out infrastructure and housing priorities for the coming years.

The mayor said the Main Street reconstruction will be the city’s largest single road investment in decades and that about $20 million of a roughly $30 million total rebuilding effort is scheduled for the next three years. He said the project will use a mix of Community Crossing grants, federal highway grants and local funds; he thanked the governor’s office and the state legislature for support.

Courtney described housing as “the most important thing” for the next three years, saying the city expects multiple housing projects to move forward including downtown housing, apartments at Sunrise Crossing and Madison’s first subdivision in decades. He estimated “about $100,000,000 of investment in new housing” over three to five years and said those developments are intended to provide workforce and family housing and to grow the tax base.

On stormwater and flood mitigation, Courtney described long-term work on the Crooked Creek watershed after the June 2021 flood that required resident rescues. He said the city and county have already invested roughly $1 million in the Crooked Creek initiative and that Sunrise Crossing now includes a 3,000,000-gallon detention basin. Courtney said the city has compiled a 600-page action plan and adopted a new stormwater management policy to require better detention with new development; he also said additional work will involve collaboration with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and could include relocating residents out of flood-prone areas.

The mayor gave several budget and finance details: he said the city holds what he called “liquidity” that is allocated across projects and that roughly 60% of the annual operating budget is covered by property taxes, with the remainder coming from fees and other sources. He described recent capital projects including a roughly $13 million clean-water improvement project (mostly on the hilltop) and a solid-waste initiative of about $2–2.5 million to stabilize collection operations.

Courtney also highlighted economic-development programs and private investment leveraged by city incentives. He said the city’s PACE program supported about $4.4 million in private improvements across 31 projects in 2024 and that private donations and volunteer fundraising have contributed more than $30 million to riverfront improvements over decades. He said Sunrise Crossing has attracted more than $50 million in private investment and that the city anticipates another $50 million or more in riverfront investment in 2025–2026.

On public safety and municipal services, Courtney said Madison remains relatively safe but needs continued investment in recruitment, retention, equipment and training for police, fire and EMS. He listed parks and recreation work — including continued investment in Brown Gym, Damon Welch Park (JC Park), Crystal Beach Aquatic Park and a master parks plan — as an ongoing priority. He announced that Main Street construction will cause multiyear work downtown and apologized in advance for construction impacts.

Courtney described a new, three-year pilot chemical addiction and reentry program funded by a grant from Bethany Legacy Foundation that will put evidence-based substance use and mental-health services into the jail and connect participants to housing, job training and peer recovery supports on release. He also named partnerships with local foundations, Hanover College, Madison Consolidated Schools and state offices as critical to health and workforce goals.

Several local officials and community leaders were noted as present during the event, and moderator Trevor Crafton led a conversational format that included short “fun fact” segments from local civic leaders. No formal votes or council actions were taken at the event; Courtney’s remarks were a mayoral address and program update.