Courtesy of City of Vestavia Hills
Altadena Valley park
The city's proposal for a park at the former Altadena Valley Country Club include a variety of active and passive uses.
Athletic fields, playgrounds, picnic space, a dog park and a canoe launch - all of these options are on the table for Vestavia Hills' proposed park in part of the former Altadena Valley Country Club.
On Thursday, Aug. 13, the Planning & Zoning Commission will consider a proposal to annex the property and turn the country club and golf course into a recreational area. The commission will give a recommendation to the city council, who will make the final decision on whether to annex and rezone the property on Sept. 28.
“There’s going to be a lot of voices to be heard," city manager Jeff Downes said of the Aug. 13 meeting. "It’s going to be a packed house.”
The concept that the commission will consider, created by Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood, includes about 19 acres of passive use, including walking trails, green space, a disc golf course, a canoe launch into the Cahaba River and areas for children and pets. Downes said some cross-country runners have already expressed interest in the new trails. The design also sets aside space for two baseball fields, two soccer fields and two football fields.
Downes said the athletic fields are located in the property's floodplain, so the design includes elements to mitigate the impact of flooding. He also noted that these would be practice fields, not competition fields, and so they would not include concession stands, bathrooms or press boxes.
“It still serves a need for us as a community,” Downes said.
Keith Development, which sold part of the Altadena Valley property to the city, is using the remainder of the property for a new residential development. Downes said the plans for that are mostly finalized and include around 58 homes with a starting price of $450,000.
One of the big challenges of the proposed park is traffic. With the current concept, park traffic would use Lakeland Trail as the sole entry and exit point. Downes said the city has been talking with residents and designers to create both temporary and long-term solutions to the extra traffic burden.
He said short-term solutions include blocking off Lakeland Trail after the park entrance so residential streets are not used by through-traffic, or creating traffic-calming measures at the Acton Road/Lakeland Trail intersection.
Long-term, the city could add more entrances to the park or widen Acton Road and straighten the S-curve on the north side of the Altadena Valley property.
“Right now, the challenge is: what do you do with cars at this point [Lakeland Trail] coming and going from here?” Downes said.
If the council moves forward with the plan on Sept. 28, Downes said they will enter the more detailed design phase and begin pricing the project. There is no timeline for construction yet, though he noted that the park would be completed in phases.
