Image courtesy of Vestavia Hills Historical Society.
The original plans for Wald Park as prepared by Rust Engineering for the city of Vestavia Hills.
When city leaders revisited Wald Park in 2014, the beloved community space was showing its age. Baseball fields, the civic center, the pool and the Senior’s Lodge all needed attention.
Councilman Steve Ammons recalled playing there as a child but acknowledged the reality: “We wanted the highest and best use for Wald Park. There is clearly a need for many types of upgrades. We have an aging civic center, pool and lodge area.”
The city created a park committee and launched a three-phase plan. Phase one began with geotechnical testing to examine the ground beneath the park. In July 2014, the council approved $11,500 for Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood to perform subsurface work. Mayor Butch Zaragoza explained why it mattered: “We want to make sure we know what is underneath that ground. We don’t want to build anything on unsuitable soil.”
Phase two called for community input on sports and recreation needs. Phase three focused on drafting a master plan tied to the U.S. 31 corridor and long-term financing. “We are looking at what could happen on the site to leverage our sports facilities,” City Manager Jeff Downes said.
The careful planning echoed earlier moments in park history. Wald Park opened in 1963, and in 1964 hundreds of students petitioned for indoor recreation, a push that led to the 1969 civic center. Just as residents shaped the park’s early decades, the 2014 reset positioned Wald Park for the changes that followed.
