In coming years, Madison County’s middle school may call Hoover Ridge home. Madison County Public Schools officials are working to develop a timeline for future school construction and renovation projects – including building a new middle school. 

Madison County officials discussed the cost, size and current status of the county’s Hoover Ridge athletic fields project at a meeting Tuesday night. 

Since 1950, Madison County has lost about 735 acres of working farmland every year, according to a county-appointed committee report. The county’s forests are also diminishing – with more than 20,000 acres lost to development in the past 24 years, the report states. The group – made up of local residents chosen by the board of supervisors – has spent the past year developing a local “purchase of development rights” program in an attempt to stop this trend. 

It’s been almost six months since the Hoover Ridge athletic fields project was completed and yet the fields are barely green. Madison County officials are currently working to create “a plan of attack” to promote grass growth on the 11 new fields set on the county-owned property near Madison Primary School. 

Rows of towering, green cornstalks are a common sight on numerous Madison County farms this summer. The healthy produce is in stark contrast to 2007’s crop that was left thirsting for relief from high temperatures and little rain. “We’re definitely in a different moisture situation than we were last year at this time,” Madison County Cooperative Extension Agent Brad Jarvis told The Eagle last week. 

Later this year, most Madison County residents will be forced to fork over more money to cover their tax bills. The board of supervisors recently approved a 10 percent increase of the equalized real estate rate – bringing it to 44 cents per $100 of assessed value.