Emily Featherston
As the city of Vestavia Hills works to complete the Community Spaces Plan that began several years ago, the project’s third phase has hit a snag.
Due to the cost of construction supplies, the returning bids for phase three came in more than $3 million, “significantly over” the city’s budget of about $1.8 million.
“Contractors are scared to death to bid a project because they don’t know what the price is going to be,” said Ken Upchurch of TCU Consulting, which is handling the Community Spaces Plan for the city.
Upchurch said it’s important to take time and figure out what to do, whether that is changing the scope of the project or possibly delaying some aspects of the project, which was slated to include new tennis courts, a tennis pavilion, a dog park and walking trails, along with site work and improvements to the maintenance facility and road infrastructure.
Cinnamon McCulley, the city’s communications director, said the plan is not to cancel any component of the plan, but it might be done in pieces, as opposed to being constructed all at once.
Because of all of the unknowns regarding pricing for the projects, McCulley said a timeline for the work is not known. It originally was planned to be finished in early 2022.
When the work is done, it will give Vestavia residents a park of which they can be proud, City Manager Jeff Downes said.
“Once completed, we will have a very robust regional park in Vestavia Hills that can serve many different purposes,” Downes said.
Everything being done at Wald Park was identified as priorities through community surveys, with respondents expressing a huge desire for dog parks and walking trails, he said. With the addition of dog parks at Wald Park, Cahaba Heights Park and the Sicard Hollow Athletic Complex, Downes said there are now dog parks in each of the three sections of Vestavia.
The tennis courts will replace the courts that previously existed at the park, Downes said, and come as tennis advocates have urged the city to improve facilities and host tennis programs.
Rising numbers at Aquatic Complex, ballparks
The new Vestavia Hills Aquatic Complex has been a “rousing” success,” with a roughly 150% growth in membership, Downes said. The complex opened for the summer season on May 29, its first full season after a limited opening last fall.
The city also recently opened new ballfields at both Wald Park and Cahaba Heights Park, as well as the new Miracle League field. The first season of Miracle League has wrapped up, and Downes said the city is especially proud of having a field for people with disabilities to call their own. There were four full teams during the spring season, and the league also had many volunteers help with the players, Downes said.
The work at Wald Park also included completely renovating the press box and concession stand.
While the city has improved drainage around the fields at Wald Park, there now is a problem with the infields being too firm, and the city is working to fix it, Downes said. The fields at Cahaba Heights Park are artificial turf, so there have not been issues of rainouts there.
Still, the parks have been used to their fullest capacity, and any day play is scheduled, Downes said there are hundreds of people at the parks.
With the grand lawn officially opened on June 24 during the “I Love America Night” event, the city can also now host new events with the lawn and the stage, leading to some great opportunities for future events in the city, Downes said.
