11th Hoover fire station among many projects for 2020

The city of Hoover has broken ground for its 11th fire station and hopes to have it operational in early 2021, fire Chief Clay Bentley said.

Signature Homes, the developer behind the newest phases of Trace Crossings and the adjacent Blackridge community, is building the fire station in Trace Crossings at its own cost.

The station is being built at the corner of Stadium Trace Parkway and Langston Ford Drive, just south of the turn to Bumpus Middle School. Putting the station there should greatly improve response times in western Hoover, Bentley said.

Right now, everything along Alabama 150 from Lake Cyrus to Hoover Toyota and communities along South Shades Crest Road, Shelby County 13 and Shelby County 93 is served by Hoover Fire Station No. 6, which is near Deer Valley, Bentley said.

That station’s territory is roughly 14.7 square miles, he said. Station No. 11 essentially will cut that territory in half, giving each station about 7 square miles to cover.

Station No. 11 will pick up calls along Alabama 150 on the east side of Interstate 459 all the way to Hoover Toyota, including calls in Trace Crossings and Blackridge, Bentley said.

Station No. 6 will continue to be the primary Hoover station covering communities along South Shades Crest Road, Shelby County 93 and Shelby County 13 (south of Shelby County 52).

Hoover homes in the south-westernmost area on the south side of Shelby County 52 will still remain more than five miles from Station No. 6, but Hoover gets automatic aid from the Helena Fire Department to serve those homes, as Helena can arrive quicker than Hoover in those areas, Bentley said.

The addition of a new station in Trace Crossings will greatly enhance response times in the Station No. 11 territory, which includes the busy Hoover Metropolitan Complex and three schools. Currently, “it’s a good hike over there” from Station No. 6, he said. There also are still about 1,600 more homes to be built in that territory, he said.

The new 8,800-square-foot station will include three pull-through bays, an emergency operations center for the Hoover Met complex, a classroom, kitchen, dining room, living area and sleeping quarters, Bentley said.

Signature Homes will spend up to $1.5 million to build it, but the station likely will be worth $2.3 million to $2.4 million, he said. The city likely will spend $200,000 to $300,000 for things such as furniture, lockers, a generator and fuel tank.

“It’s going to be a very nice station,” Bentley said.

The plan is to staff it with 11 firefighters. That will provide three people on duty at all hours every day, including people to cover for off days, Bentley said.

Eight of those firefighters were hired in fiscal year 2019, and have been working out of Station No. 6. Three additional people are expected to start work Jan. 4, 2020. The three newest will work from Station No. 2 in The Preserve until Station No. 11 is completed, he said.

The three newest firefighter positions were added with the help of a federal grant that will cover 75 percent of their salaries and benefits for two years and 35 percent for the third year, Bentley said. The city must pick up the full cost in the fourth year.

The Fire Department plans to move a truck with a 75-foot ladder from Station No. 6 to Station No. 11, as well as put a reserve rescue unit, reserve ladder truck, reserve fire engine, an inflatable boat with a trailer and some specialty water rescue equipment there, Bentley said.

The boat and water rescue equipment will come in handy for both the 100-acre lake in Blackridge, along with lakes in Trace Crossings and the Cahaba River, where Signature Homes plans to build a canoe launch area.

Signature Homes should have the station completed in 12 to 18 months, Mayor Frank Brocato said. Bentley said he is optimistic that firefighters will be working in it by January or February 2021.

The fire station is just one of many projects the city and Jefferson and Shelby counties are undertaking in 2020. Here are some others:

POLICE TRAINING CENTER

Construction of a $3.28 million police training center is under way next to Hoover Fire Station No. 4 on Municipal Drive. Work started slowly due to issues with a wet site and utilities, but the project should be completed by late spring, said Tim Westhoven, the city’s chief operations officer.

The facility will include training rooms and storage space for police specialty vehicles, such as the incident command center and armored rescue vehicle.

SOUTH SHADES CREST ROAD

Design work is complete to add a second northbound lane on South Shades Crest Road between Willow Lake Drive and Alabama 150 to help relieve some of the traffic congestion.

However, Jefferson County cannot bid the project until CSX gives permission to replace the bridge over the CSX railroad tracks, Deputy County Manager Cal Markert said.

The expected cost of the project has ballooned to about $5.5 million, with Hoover and Jeffferson County splitting the cost, Markert said.

CITY HALL RENOVATION

The City Council in November awarded a $2.7 million contract to Duncan & Thompson Construction for renovations at Hoover City Hall, and work began in mid-December.

This project will include gutting and rebuilding the council chambers, council conference room, council offices, numerous administrative offices and a small conference room just off the lobby, City Administrator Allan Rice said.

The lobby area, which is on the third floor of City Hall, will be expanded by building a floor over a large open space that now looks down onto the second floor, allowing more of a gathering space outside the council chambers, Rice said.

Workers also will add a new, large room on what is now the patio on the third floor, just off the lobby. That room will be used for community meetings, conferences, staff training and other gatherings, Rice said.

Finally, the City Hall renovation will include repairs to the fourth floor enclosed glass bridge that goes over Municipal Lane to the Hoover Public Library. Construction should take eight to 10 months.

PATTON CHAPEL ROAD REALIGNMENT

After more than a decade of planning, a realignment of two intersections on Patton Chapel Road near Gwin Elementary School should actually begin in February or March, Markert said.

This project, led by Jefferson County, came in about $3 million over its $8 million budget when it was bid recently, he said. However, Hoover and Jefferson County would like to press forward, and the state is reviewing that request.

Most of the project is being paid for with federal money, but Hoover and Jefferson County each are chipping in $1.25 million, Markert said. The project will combine Patton Chapel Road’s intersections with Preserve Parkway and Chapel Road into one intersection and add a 1-mile sidewalk between Gwin Elementary and Crayrich Drive.

HOOVER PUBLIC LIBRARY ACCESS AND VISIBILITY

Plans have been completed for a project to take down the hill along U.S. 31 that keeps drivers from seeing the library and to add a sidewalk along the highway, Municipal Lane and Municipal Drive.

Another sidewalk will cut across more directly to the library entrance, and the project includes lighting, landscaping and improvements to make the library more accessible to people in wheelchairs.

The city is waiting for the state to approve the plans but hopes to seek bids for construction in January or February, Westhoven said. The city received a grant to cover 80 percent of the $800,000 project and will contribute $160,000 of city money.

STAR LAKE IMPROVEMENTS

When the city sought bids for improvements at Star Lake in the Green Valley community, all responsive bids were over the $375,000 budget, Westhoven said. City officials now are considering doing some of the work with city workers to reduce costs and hope to do the project this winter when the lake is used less, he said.

The project includes creating one-way traffic around the lake, replacing the existing sidewalk, which is 5 to 6 feet wide, with a 10-foot-wide sidewalk, increasing the number of parking spaces from 12 to 36, and adding some lights.

BLUFF PARK PAVILION

Bids for demolishing the Bluff Park Community Center and building a pavilion also came in over the $200,000 budget, Westhoven said. As with Star Lake, city officials are considering doing some work with city workers to reduce costs and hope to do the project this spring before the adjacent pool opens in May.

INVERNESS GREENWAY

This $1.3 million project to complete a 1.8-mile sidewalk and trail along Inverness Parkway from Valleydale Road to and through the Inverness Nature Park has been delayed because the Alabama Historical Commission has requested an additional environmental study to see if the project will impact anything of cultural or historic significance, Westhoven said.

Construction had been expected to start in June 2019, but now the timeline is uncertain, he said. Most of the project is being funded with federal money, while Hoover and Shelby County each are paying $150,000.