By Lee Weyhrich
The Pinson City Council last week voted to allow the architectural firm of Goodwyn Mills & Cawood to begin preliminary exploratory for soil conditions and elevations in the future city park.
The park will be located near Center Point Parkway between Sweeney Hollow Road and Glen Brook Road.
The survey will allow the firm to adjust its design to the terrain, as well as determine the location and size for the septic system for the proposed visitors’ center. The cost of the analysis will be $15,000. That money was already factored into the park’s budget, but the city council is moving up the time frame of the survey.
Jane Ross of Goodwyn Mils & Cawood last year presented plans for the proposed park, which includes a caretaker residence; a multiphase building for concessions, meetings and dressing areas; numerous walking trails; a creek-side boardwalk; an amphitheater; a splash pad; a dog park; and a frisbee golf course.
In other news, Palmerdale Homesteads Community Center received some bad news when it was announced that work on the new roof will not proceed as planned. At the last meeting, the council approved a bid from Weather Guard to replace the leaking roof with a new metal one. Weather Guard won the bid, but could not make the contracting agreement. The other three bidders for the project could not make the warranty requirement set by the council. The council will meet to see what can be done, from an administrative aspect, to resolve the issue.
The city will have to decide how to proceed with another project as well. After receiving a letter from Pinson Valley High School head football coach Matt Glover, the council is exploring the possibility of allowing the school to use a parcel of city-owned land near the north end zone of Willie Adams Stadium.
Glover has asked the city if the land can be developed for use as a practice field, as well as additional parking. The council will seek estimates for the work before making any decision. Trees will need to be cleared, and some members of the council, as well as the public, expressed concerns over the loss of a barrier between the field and the Innsbrooke neighborhood. There had been talk of developing the land for other purposes.
The council also moved a step closer to the adoption of a vacation policy for city employees. City Attorney Shane Black suggested three minor changes that would better define excused absences, and allow Mayor Hoyt Sanders to make decisions on a case-by-case basis.
Under the proposed plan, employees will earn a day of vacation and a day of sick leave per month of work in addition to the 12 holidays a year, for a total of 36 possible days per year in time off. Existing employees will have 30 hours of paid vacation and sick leave available immediately after this plan would go into effect
.