By Lee Weyhrich
PINSON — The Pinson City Council on Thursday voted to cede property to the Jefferson County Board of Education for the purpose of a future practice field.
Residents in Innsbrooke have been upset to learn that the new football practice field will abut to the neighborhood’s entrance. The council purchased the land in the last year.
The council is requiring a 35-foot buffer zone between the field and the neighborhood with fencing and vegetation to be put in place to keep the character of the Innsbrooke neighborhood intact while still allowing the high school to build the practice field.
“That property was actually zoned commercial when we purchased it, so it could have been a Walgreens or a Chevron or something,” Mayor Hoyt Sanders said. “In addition, all the trees are pretty close to the right-of-way.”
Pinson City Hall
file photo by Gary Lloyd
The current right-of-way is roughly seven feet from the curb, so the council has made every effort to allow room for buffer. Sanders’ position is that, as it stands, the council will be better able to keep the character of the neighborhood unchanged with this project than if they had never purchased the land to begin with.
Councilman Robbie Roberts, an Innsbrooke resident, did have a few issues with the plan. He said he has no doubt that the current school board would honor any commitments, but he wanted a covenant added to the contract that would protect the look of the neighborhood permanently by requiring the school board to not only build a fence to block the view, but maintain that fence in perpetuity.
“I have no doubt that the current group will work with us on that,” Roberts said. “It’s the group 20 years from now I’m worried about.”
Councilman Joe Cochran suggested the fence issue be added into the ordnance as a request rather than a binding covenant, and Sanders suggested planting crape myrtle, cedar and cyprus as a buffer that would create a natural buffer, and fence to block the view of the field.
Roberts said he understood there is a dire need for a practice field, but he felt like the whole process could have been handled differently. Roberts had hoped the council would sell the property to the board, rather than ceding it. The money from the sale could then be funneled directly back into academics.
Roberts repeated this refrain, and one other when the subject of the girls’ softball field was broached. Like the high school football field, the Rudd Middle School softball field has fallen into a state of disrepair. Coach Shell-lee Dawkins requested $8,170 to replace fences at the field. The field needs several major repairs, but the fence is the most pressing issue.
The entrance to the Innsbrooke subdivision in Pinson
file photo by Gary Lloyd
The coach, the players and the community have put thousands of dollars into the maintenance of this field, and toward the support of this program, Cochran said.
“Once you have your field, it is up to you as an organization,” Cochran said. “You are responsible (to take care of it) by whatever means you can, fundraising or whatever.”
Roberts worries the new football practice field could be another drain on resources as the field ages, especially since the practice field will be used as player parking on game nights, causing additional wear and tear.
Pinson Valley High School scored poorly in academics this year, and the ACT scores were also low, Roberts said.
“I just don’t know what message we’re sending that we support these athletic groups and all without getting in here and saying we want these kids to be successful in English, math, reading and these other things,” he said.
Cochran pointed out that extracurricular activities were often needed to keep people in school. He said without those programs he probably would have lost attention in education altogether and fallen by the wayside. He also added that the athletic program helps build community.
Roberts voted against ceding the property to the school board and against funding the fence project.
The Jefferson County Board of Education in August 2014 voted to purchase seven acres of property near Willie Adams Stadium on the Pinson Valley High School campus for $150,000. The purpose of the purchase from seller Jane Engesser was to provide land for the expansion of athletic facilities.
The property Pinson has ceded to the board is located between the football stadium and the south side of Innsbrooke Parkway. Part of this tract will contain the sidewalk that will begin soon as part of a Safe Routes To Schools sidewalk grant the city received, Sanders said.
