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By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Publisher

The rumors have been swirling for a while in the city of Chelsea: Chick-fil-A is coming! Target is coming! HomeGoods… Lowe’s. You name it, it has been mentioned.

Now, the city has the opportunity to head in a much better direction than just proving some of those rumors true after approving an incentive package to bring a major development to the city—the largest retail development in the city’s history.

Chelsea Plaza is planned to be a 13.34-acre development to serve as a shopping center for the city located at 16485 U.S. Highway 280 that also has frontage on Chesser Crane Road.

The plan is to host many big-name businesses on the space’s pads and leased plots, with the plots being anywhere from 1,500 to 25,000 square feet.

Yes, we can confirm that Chick-fil-A is very interested in the development as well as other restaurants and retailers.

But this project doesn’t need to be one that is thrown up quickly with the thought of filling space to earn money faster.

This is Chelsea’s chance.

I look at this project as setting the stage for the future of Chelsea and, in my opinion, it is the biggest project in the city’s history.

I say that because it offers an opportunity to create a city center that could one day turn into an entertainment district for the community.

That, however, can only happen with proper planning, pulling in the right retailers and a design process that could lead to a cohesive retail design across the city to tie everything together.

Oftentimes, you look at other parts of 280 or other areas of Shelby County and beyond, and you have random retail centers thrown up, random businesses with frontage on the highway and no cohesive look.

The cities that think about the future when it comes to their design and planning phase typically have the most sustained success.

My vision would be to eventually tie this together with future development in the land behind what will be the new Aldi and across Shelby County Highway 47 into the vacant lot that currently hosts the Big Kaboom.

That would take Barber Companies, Inc. either selling the property they own or working with Chelsea Plaza developers and the city of Chelsea to make it happen.

In addition to that, refurbishing current shopping centers and businesses on Chesser Crane Road to match this effort.

All of a sudden, you would have a cohesive entertainment district that is walkable with entertainment, food and shopping.

Imagine the entertainment district you see in Trussville known as The Gateway or what you get at Lane Park in Mountain Brook and what Alabaster is about to do on the old school property right off of Alabama 119 and Thompson Road. I also urge you to look at Woodstock, Georgia’s Main Street and what that has done for the quality of life there.

Yes, you will have the people who want to keep Chelsea the same and avoid change and growth.

I understand that. Change is hard.

But, Chelsea is now a city of nearly 17,000 people, growing by more than 12,000 since 2009.

A lot of those new residents are young families who want to be able to enjoy the community they live in.

Instead, many of us are having to drive over the mountain into Hoover to eat a lot of the food we like and get supplies from many of the stores we enjoy.

You also have to factor in infrastructure. As a Chelsea resident, I see some of the complaints in the neighborhood groups about improvements to the city, but keeping up with the growth is tough if you don’t have the revenue to support it.

Not only does a cohesive city center offer a major boost to the city revenue, but it enhances the quality of life for the families of Chelsea. However, it has to be done correctly rather than just throwing up buildings and parking lots.

It needs to feature green spaces, entertainment areas, trees, good lighting, water features and anything else you can imagine intertwined with walkways and businesses for an area that makes people proud to call Chelsea home and draws visitors from other areas because of its incredible concept.

It would take a lot of pieces coming together, but, to me, it is worth it to create something special in one of the Birmingham-metro area’s top cities.

This is my letter to city of Chelsea officials, Moiz Foulad and Barber Companies. Let’s do something special.