Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney
Altadena Valley Park in Vestavia Hills, Alabama
The Vestavia Hills City Council on Monday night is expected to consider acceptance of a grant from Jefferson County to help with the construction of playground and exercise equipment at Altadena Valley Park.
The $20,000 grant comes from Jefferson County Commissioner Mike Bolin’s discretionary fund and will make up just more than 25% of the $75,000 price tag for the project. Other funding sources include a $15,000 grant from Innovate Alabama and a $10,000 grant from state Rep. Mike Shaw’s legislative discretionary fund.
The remaining $30,000 is included in the city of Vestavia Hills’ fiscal 2025 general fund budget. In a recent interview, City Manager Jeff Downes said the City Council prioritized upgrading Altadena Valley Park, and the grants will help make the vision to transform the space into a premiere “passive” nature park.
“Here is a commitment from our City Council and our park board that Altadena Valley Park is going to meet the demands of our residents for outdoor recreation without a bunch of athletic contests and without a bunch of demand for infrastructure," Downes said. "But when you have a nature park, you want to have a few amenities there to serve the people."
Downes pointed to additional improvements the city has made to the park in recent years, including a trail system that continues to evolve, and a collaborative project with Shelby County to build a pavilion and restrooms. Downes said the new grant funding will allow the city to build playground and fitness amenities “without creating formalized programming for the area.”
A 66-acre park located in the former location of the Altadena Valley Country Club golf course, Altadena Valley Park runs along the Cahaba River, and, while Downes said the park experiences occasional flooding issues, the park “is a beautiful natural area that our residents can utilize and engage with, and we're trying to do everything we can to support that.”
In other business, the City Council on Monday also is expected to consider an economic development agreement between the city and Altera AIP-Vestavia to convert the long-vacant Sprouts market at 1031 Montgomery Highway into a new location of Picklr, a premium indoor pickleball court club chain.
If approved, the agreement will include several financial incentives, including an initial $300,000 grant. Additionally, for the next 10 years, the city would rebaite 50% of the sales and non-educational property taxes collected from the new development, up to a total of $1.4 million. The purpose of these incentives is to support economic growth in the city.
According to the Picklr website, which already lists the Vestavia Hills location, the club will include 10 indoor pickleball courts, a pro shop, a private event area and locker rooms.
Monday’s council agenda also includes almost 20 annexation and rezoning requests and a resolution adopting the use of an electronic vote counting system provided to the city by Jefferson County.
Monday’s council meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. at Vestavia Hills City Hall.
