Design work ongoing in Community Spaces Plan

TCU Consulting is currently working to design the work to be completed throughout Vestavia Hills as part of the Community Spaces Plan, City Manager Jeff Downes said.

“They are well under way in developing a design team to take the vision of the community into a reality,” Downes said.

The plan calls for building and renovating numerous areas around the city to enhance quality of life and includes pools, ball fields, the senior center, athletic facilities, Miracle League fields, roadways and other projects, including stormwater improvements.

“It is the most aggressive series of capital projects in the history of the city of Vestavia Hills,” Downes said.

While a timeline has been set, laying out expected completion dates of the many projects, Downes said work is being done each day. “It is a work in progress, a daily effort,” he said.

The city’s plan is to take ideas from 20 to 30 public meetings and council projects and bring them to life.

The City Council voted on Aug. 8 to approve a $57.6 million bond issue to pay for the projects. The debt payments will be almost $3.2 million per year for 30 years, funded by revenue from the 1-cent sales tax increase that went into effect on June 1.

Downes said it is too early to say whether the cost of the project will have to be changed, but said there are contingency funds inthe budget.

Downes said he’s hopeful the Community Spaces Plan projects can be bid out in the spring of 2019. The timeline calls for some of the work to be completed in the next two years, while more of the work will be finished in 2021.

Bids for the first set of construction projects at Wald Park are expected to be awarded in September, Downes said.

The city also recently received the $510,000 payment by the former tenants of Gold’s Gym, paid so they could leave their lease early. The city will use the space to temporarily house some city employees while designing the building to be used as part of the Community Spaces Plan.

The building will be used temporarily for some athletic functions, such as basketball, a walking track and swimming lessons, but Downes emphasized the city will not be operating a gym; it will not be open 24/7 and the city will not be in competition with the private sector. The Community Spaces Plan calls for three gymnasiums, and the Gold’s Gym space is only one gym, Downes said.

Currently, Downes said students and other community members must travel outside city limits for dances, meetings and other activities that should be held in the city.

“We do not have a very robust offering of programming or facilities for use by the public,” Downes said.

Under the plan, the city will have three gymnasiums, Downes said, and those events should come back to the city.

As for stormwater efforts, there are 27 drainage projects to be addressed, and while they cannot all be accomplished within the timeline of the Community Spaces Plan, Downes said he feels they can do most of them. Those projects are only on public roads and property, as the city cannot address drainage problems on private property.

While the plan is not without detractors, Downes said, the community as a whole has bought into the work, which is necessary for successful projects. Downes added that the work can be done at this time in Vestavia’s history because of the “cohesiveness” of the elected officials, community leaders and residents.

“It’s gratifying because I know that these are once-in-a-lifetime opportunities,” Downes said.