City of Hoover, school system plan more than $40 million in projects in 2023
The Hoover school board and city of Hoover in 2023 plan to embark on at least $40 million worth of capital projects, officials said.
The timelines and costs for capital projects are very fluid, so the dollar amount is subject to change and does not include projects for which costs were not yet known.
School projects
The most expensive project the two entities have going this year is a $16.5 million performing arts center the school system is building at Hoover High. The 36,000-square-foot facility is being built right next to the new band room at Hoover High and will seat 940 people in the new auditorium, compared to the current 270-seat theater.
School officials broke ground on the project at the end of September, and Blalock Building Co. expects the job to take 16 to 17 months to complete.
Meanwhile, plans for a 10-classroom addition at Bluff Park Elementary School have been put on hold. Superintendent Dee Fowler said the school has experienced an unexpected decline in enrollment.
The 10-classroom addition remains in the school system’s five-year plan, and money ($4.5 million) is still allocated for it, but “we will continue to gather enrollment data and monitor,” Fowler said.
Another project put on hold is an estimated $2 million worth of upgrades to the bathrooms and concession stands at the on-campus football stadium at Hoover High.
This project had been slated for fiscal 2023 when there was some talk of Hoover High moving its varsity football games away from Hoover Metropolitan Stadium and back on the school campus.
However, Fowler said, “the city continues to graciously allow Hoover High to utilize the Met for their home football games. Their generosity has removed the urgency of this project.”
A $1 million roofing project at Gwin Elementary and a $600,000 roofing project at Brock’s Gap Intermediate School also were delayed a year, and planning has not yet started for a $1.6 million addition to the transportation building, said Matt Wilson, the school system’s director of operations.
But there are numerous other school system projects moving ahead in 2023.
The school system plans to seek bids for an upgrade to the athletic facilities at Bumpus Middle School in January and hopefully get started on that project late spring of this year and complete it in the summer of 2024, Wilson said.
The Bumpus upgrades should include new home bleachers, restrooms, concessions, lighting, a press box and fieldhouse for the football stadium and a press box for the softball field, Wilson said.
Similar upgrades are planned at Berry Middle School, but planning for Berry is not as far along, so there are questions about the timetable there, he said. A total of $4.45 million is budgeted for the athletic upgrades at Bumpus and Berry.
A $1.5 million theater upgrade at Spain Park High School should get into the design phase in early 2023 and hopefully have construction under way in the summer, Wilson said.
School officials also this year hope to begin a $1.3 million multi-year project to upgrade the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems at Green Valley and Rocky Ridge elementary schools and the Farr Administration Building. The low bid for a separate project to upgrade the HVAC system at Gwin Elementary came in higher than expected at $1.4 million, but the school board agreed to award that contract in December.
The school board also allocated $250,000 each to Deer Valley, Trace Crossings and Riverchase elementary schools for new playground equipment this year. The Riverchase and Trace Crossings playground projects should begin this summer, but school officials still were waiting on a proposal from Deer Valley, Wilson said.
The board budgeted $1.2 million for restroom upgrades at both the Hoover and Spain Park baseball and softball fields, and that work hopefully will be completed by the end of the summer, Wilson said.
The school board is partnering with the city of Hoover to replace the natural turf on 11 baseball and softball fields in the city with artificial turf.
The city of Hoover plans to pay an estimated $9 million for artificial turf on seven fields at Hoover city parks and the varsity baseball fields at Hoover and Spain Park high schools, and the school board has budgeted $1 million for artificial turf on the varsity softball fields at each high school.
The Hoover City Council in November hired Lathan Associates Architects to do the design work for its part, and Wilson said he expected the school system would work with the city to coordinate the two efforts. Timetables for the actual conversion of the fields were undetermined at press time.
The school board also has budgeted $1.8 million for a potential automotive academy and $600,000 for a potential cosmetology/barbering program at the Riverchase Career Connection Center, $100,000 for a shower upgrade in the Hoover High football locker room (with boosters matching that amount), $600,000 for security improvements at schools and $1.1 million for miscellaneous flooring, paving, lighting and painting projects in fiscal 2023, with most of that work likely to take place during the summer, Wilson said.
City projects
The city of Hoover has at least $15 million worth of projects in the works for calendar 2023, including the artificial turf project with the school system. But numerous additional projects don’t have cost estimates yet.
The Hoover City Council in October agreed to pay $1.3 million to buy a former bank property on U.S. 31 as a site for a new fire station to replace Fire Station No. 1 in Green Valley and in December voted to pay $1.9 million for the Lorna Professional Building on Lorna Road for conversion into administrative offices for the Fire Department. The plan is to tear down the former bank building and build a brand new fire station, but the office building will need only interior renovations, said Jehad Al-Dakka, the city’s chief operations officer. Both of those projects are expected to move forward in 2023, he said.
One of the more important projects at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex is the repaving of the parking lots, which will be done in phases, Al-Dakka said. That project also will include some changes in the design and striping of the parking lot at the stadium, he said.
The locker rooms and batting cages at the stadium also are slated for an upgrade, Al-Dakka said. Cost estimates were not yet available, but all the work at the stadium should begin right after the SEC Baseball Tournament at the end of May, he said.
A new traffic signal is scheduled to be installed at the main entrance to the Hoover Met Complex off Stadium Trace Parkway as well, likely in the spring of 2023, Al-Dakka said.
Another new traffic light is planned to be installed on Chapel Road at the entrance and exit for Gwin Elementary School, but that won’t take place until Jefferson County finishes the final touches on its project to redo the intersection of Chapel Road, Patton Chapel Road, Chapel Lane and Preserve Parkway, Al-Dakka said.
New traffic signals also are slated for the intersection of U.S. 31 and Hendrick Hoover Auto Mall (with construction expected to start in the spring), the intersection of John Hawkins Parkway and ATI Parkway (with construction expected to start in the fall) and the intersection of U.S. 31 and Patton Chapel Road North (construction time uncertain).
The city also has a final design for a new pavilion at the Bluff Park Community Park on Cloudland Drive and is seeking bids from contractors, Al-Dakka said. He hopes to start construction this spring, he said.
The Hoover-Randle house is slated for a roof replacement, including replacing a temporary tent over the outdoor patio with a permanent covering, Al-Dakka said. The budget for the project is $370,000 to $400,000.
The city’s 911 center needs additional space to accommodate extra staff during inclement weather and disaster situations, so $320,000 has been budgeted for that expansion, which Al-Dakka said he hopes will begin this year.
The Hoover Senior Center is slated to get improvements for its vestibule, with work likely in the spring. That $100,000 project was made possible by a $50,000 donation from an individual, Al-Dakka said.
Two drainage improvement projects are scheduled for South Sanders Road and Maiden Lane, with $412,000 budgeted.
The city expects to complete a rehabilitation project for the Inverness sewer plant and upgrades for Inverness and Riverchase pump stations in the spring, and it also plans to spend $1.6 million to replace a sewer pump station in the Applecross community and an estimated $700,000 to upgrade the Woodford pump station.
A project to replace street lights on U.S. 31 between Patton Chapel Road South and Interstate 65 should be completed this fall, Al-Dakka said.
The city is partnering with Jefferson County to make several improvements at Russet Woods Park. A plan developed by Leadership Hoover included stormwater pipe repairs, new playground equipment, a small amphitheater, gazebo, pavilion, pickleball court, fresh grass, benches, dog waste stations and a designated parking area. However, those plans are still being reviewed to see what all can be accomplished with the $150,000 coming from Jefferson County and $100,000 budgeted by the city, Al-Dakka said.
Hoover also is partnering with Shelby County to install eight pickleball courts and a fitness court at Veterans Park. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama has provided $50,000 to assist with the fitness court.
Installation of a new sidewalk on Chapel Road between Matzek Road and Park Avenue should be complete this spring, and work already has begun on a $150,000 project to repair sidewalks in The Preserve.
Additional sidewalks are scheduled to be built this year on Oriole Drive, Old Columbiana Road, Al Seier Road, Sulphur Springs Road, Maiden Lane, Inverness Center Drive and Russet Woods Drive.