By Emily Williams
After developing a master plan for the city’s recreation facilities, the Vestavia Hills Parks and Recreation Department has decided to think bigger.
Headlining the department’s new Community Spaces Plan are the re-development of Wald Park and the potential development of a community center.
At the Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce’s March luncheon, former Parks and Recreation Board member Tommy Dazzio presented the department’s new Community Spaces Plan.
“What this plan does is it addresses the city’s needs in terms of recreation facilities and green spaces,” Dazzio said.
The new plan builds on the foundation set by the 2015 Recreation and Athletics Master Plan, with recommendations from national company Brailsford and Dunlavey as well as feedback from town hall meetings held in November and December. Dazzio explained that one of the main issues this plan addresses that the 2015 plan did not is the need to widen the scope and enhance facilities across the entire city.
“We have a disparity between the quality of our facilities and their access to our population,” he said. For example, Dazzio noted that the Sicard Hollow Athletic Complex, while being the most updated of the city’s facilities, is not easily accessible to the majority of the city’s population.
The most work to be done will be in Wald Park, with each option involving mostly new development.
“The goal here was to make Wald Park a destination park,” Dazzio said. “Right now, it is a place where you go to watch your son play baseball, or your son or daughter play basketball. It’s not really a park where families go to spend time and hang out.”
Two options for the development were presented, both addressing the improvements laid out in the 2015 plan: installing artificial turf on athletic fields, updating and improving existing facilities, increasing parking and constructing covered batting cages.
The bulk of the work will be in expanding the park’s green space by removing non-sports facilities, including the Vestavia Lodge, and making it more walkable despite the changes in elevation.
Dazzio noted that option two of the park plans has been the most well received. It includes buying a plot of land in the northwest corner of the park and using it for additional parking. He said the owner of that property is willing to sell it.
A favorite aspect of the design, Dazzio noted, is the opportunity to move playgrounds to the areas with varying elevation and using design features such as slides to connect higher elevation with lower.
“We have the opportunity to have something unique, that no other city has and that you might not be able to find across the country. We have the ability to have someone custom design something for us that you can’t find anywhere
else,” he said.
The Recreational Center at Wald Park has its own section of the master plan. Two options are presented to make the existing center function better for the community.
Both plans include updates to the facility and an expanded design for the pool.
The first option is the bigger undertaking. It would include building a third-floor event space to accommodate non-sports activities that had been going to the Vestavia Lodge.
The last part of the Community Spaces Plan suggests developing a community center next to City Hall to accommodate non-sports activities.
“As we’ve had town hall meetings, a lot of people have questions as to why this is necessary,” Dazzio said. “Right now, at peak times – which is every weekend and every afternoon during the week – our rec center is maxed out. There is no more space available in our rec center. The rooms at the library are maxed out. There is no more activity space at the library. The New Merkel House – the seniors have to share that with other groups.”
The project team is working on a proposal to buy the building adjacent to City Hall, which now is owned by an out-of-state company and leased by Gold’s Gym.
“We approached the Arizona company who has tentatively agreed to sell the property to the city,” Dazzio said.
Should the building be purchased by the city, the Community Spaces Plan includes two options. In the first, the building would work solely as a multi-purpose event space. The second option would use the first floor of the building much like a gym, including fitness and workout rooms, locker rooms, dance space and a practice court.
“Basically we are at capacity now and we can’t really build anything big enough that works at (the) Wald Park site, and we need this additional space to accommodate the needs of our residents as we go forward for the years to come,” Dazzio said.
The second floor would include activity rooms and large event spaces to accommodate non-sporting community or civic needs.
“This is what could satisfy the needs of the city for all of our programming for the next 20 years,” city manager Jeff Downes said.
The cost of making changes in the plan is projected at $49,702,000, including additional improvements to Altadena Valley Park, the Cahaba Heights ball field and the Old Berry Middle School athletic facilities.
With various options from the plan still under consideration, the planning committee will continue to collect feedback from the community.