By Lee Weyhrich
PINSON — The Pinson City Council voted on Thursday to accept Clements Dean Building Co. as the contractor for the new city park.
Clement’s base bid was $1.498 million, a bid $44,000 less than the nearest competitor. The council also accepted all five Phase 1 alternates. These include $37,000 worth of canopies for shade, a $16,000 disc golf shelter, a $14,000 entrance sign and $6,000 worth of landscaping at the park entrance.
This resolution did not include playground equipment. Councilman Robbie Roberts has asked that those items be revisited. At an earlier meeting he suggested having Kaboom, a nonprofit organization that specializes in play equipment for children, do the work.
“The playground equipment came in at $56,000 and that’s still four pieces of playground equipment,” Roberts said. “Kaboom is saying it could be done in the $20,000 to $25,000 range.”
The original architect estimated the equipment to run around $60,000. The council will likely revisit this issue at its next meeting Thursday, June 19 at 6:30 p.m. at Pinson City Hall.
The park will be located near Center Point Parkway between Sweeney Hollow Road and Glen Brook Road in Pinson. The city council hopes the park will be able to be opened in conjunction with Pinson’s 200th anniversary as a community in 2015. Councilman John Churchwell made a motion at the council’s first March meeting to have the Enhancement Committee begin planning the event. The motion was accepted unanimously.
In other Pinson news, the city council annexed 120 acres of land between Pinson Valley Youth Association’s property and Highway 75 into the city limits. The land was part of a settlement between Pinson and a land company. The land could be used for PVYA, as well as commercial real estate, Roberts said.
Property owned by the Center Point Fire District, just off Highway 79, was also annexed.